My Beloved Mangina

Language is powerful and in the Republic of Gilead words are invisible shackles of suppression and power. These frames of identity through a language that denotes the status of every person delineates the hierarchical system. Those separate from society are referred to after Scripture are ultimately cleansed from the system. Women, vital to sustaining this power structure through the oppressive needs implicated on them and are named Handmaids, Wives and Marthas, and lastly, the domineering male species that withhold this power are militant and identified through rank like Commander and Nick (Ha!). The creation of this language serves its purpose in keeping people in line, failure to comply results in punishment. Eventually, language is an additional facet of demonstrating how a dystopian society controls its people. Delegation of this language is done through stripping the women of their identity—‘Of’ then, insert property owner’s name cleverly kept the women from questioning the system and numbly letting their Commanders “fuck” them. In comparison to our language today, words of insult are all genderized: bitch, cunt, whore, slut. Of course, we don’t go around calling our moms, sisters and girlfriends by these names on a daily basis, “Hey, bitch can you pass me your sluttish eraser. Thank you, whore!” but the scope of these words can be as insulting if you direct them to a man. I would name a few more but my word bank is limited in this area. I don’t know where I’m going with this comparison but I think that the language showed me how our language is as powerful in subjugating people into a niche that consequently, makes them less than what is required. LGBQT have various vernacular terms that are insulting but are as accepting too. Women who are successful and powerful are sometimes referred to as bitches because they dare to step into men’s realm and men who are jerks are simply called dicks. It is evident that words pay a vital role in shaping how people perceive others and these frames are constructed to put people in position of power or subservience, but language is recycled and new terms will always emerge. Soon enough we’ll be calling men “manginas” as a term of endearment because planet Earth will be ruled by crazy, radical, leftists feminists who will change the existence of our very own language!

the elite

In the Handmaids Tale the story is reflecting what is going on during the time ofwar. The men are trying to show their supperiority as so are the women. this story is showing the class seperation.the women are superior than their workers as are the men..But here some women are being given more power than the men. The men need to ask for permission to be able to have a women or get married. women need to do the same but there seems to be more restrcitions on men.
in this time no one needs to get permission. but i wonder how men wuwold react if they nneeded permission to have a women?

The thin, almost invisible, line

Women and property have always been interchangeable. There is hardly a time in history when a woman was not used as a bargaining chip. In The Handmaid's Tale it is a given that the women in the story are nothing more than property and used and treated as such. Offred was pulled from her husband and daughter and forced into sexual slavery and reproduction. Once she is barren her life will be worth even less. Right now she has some value, however small it is, but after she has "dried up" she will be worth almost nothing. The only thing she will then be good for is some cooking and cleaning, maybe.

It's hard to shake the idea that even today women are still viewed as someone's property and this isn't just a societal mindset this is a religious mindset. Across the world societies that are different on every level, but have religion have found it necessary to view women as property. Property of their father/family, property of their husband, property of their "God". It is amazing. If you're not with one you're with the other and if you have neither you still have your "God". How can we change the way society views women if religion still prevails and enforces this concept?

This issue was brought up in the last reading asking if the women of the middle east needed saving. When is culture just culture and when is it a serious issue of oppression? Where is that line in the sand? What side do I stand on to make my choice? There isn't one that I can see. I have to say. So how then do we distinguish oppression and culture?

Margaret Atwood has completely lost it!

The first part of The Handmaid’s Tale is very detailed and gives good descriptions of clothing, surroundings, and behaviors around Offred. The thing that is most clear is the way women are treated in this novel. This makes it a little hard to follow when all you read about is the objectification of women and how they are prohibited from talking and have no voice at all in the novel. For example, when Offred describes her room she calls it “the room” and does not dare attribute that it belongs to her. When tourist come around, the handmaids are not allowed to look at them and when they do, Offred describes the women in a nostalgic manner as she describes them and the way they dress. The chapter that grasped my attention the most was chapter 11 in which the doctor offers his “services” to Offred as a way out or in order to save her life. This book is the complete opposite of today’s society which makes it difficult for anyone to imagine. They mention that the cause for such oppression to women was the war but what could have possible happened for women to receive a horrible oppression. The novel brings back numerous oppressions that women have gone through in years past, however to me this seems a bit extreme and only makes me wonder if Margaret Atwood is traumatized because the idea’s she has throughout the novel are CRAZY!

Religion: Death to Us All

“Religion is the opiate of masses,” and Marx by no means was kidding. Oh, how the weak, feeble minded prevail. I’ve always known that organized religion would become the doom of us and upon reading Atwood’s novel my fears are further strengthened. I am no way advocating socialism despite by growing infatuation to it but I must say the political and religious structure that the Republic of Gilead had become is amazing. The power structure holds so much potential for dehumanizing the being of every woman and there’s order and a structured hierarchical society who wouldn’t want to live in such a world like that. For the sake of creating a society based on Scripture and “good” morals who needs the nuclear family structure. Punish “gender treachery” and “rebels” and unholy critical thinking people who want to live in a society with equality. But wait who dares to defy the Republic of Gilead, off with your head! Wow. What resounding similarity to issues that impact our society today. Of course, we don’t execute people who are homosexual and are from repressing women’s reproductive rights (ya, right) but don’t you grimace in acknowledgment that the events narrated by Offred are in no way different from ours? Grotesque propositions prohibiting the union of couples—ahem, Prop. 8—the numerous legislations in our country controlling the rights of women and by far the weirdest one (in my opinion) advocating the right to kill a women’s abortionist. Ah, yes, thank you America for reaping rights mandated for all! “Hush, you radical and your anarchists ideals”, says the equally, radical bible-thumping religious organizations. Did I have nightmares after I read the book? I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t.

Thinking a bit further

After reading the first five sections of “The Handmaids Tale” it made me wonder about a few things. First, it got me thinking about the war in Iraq. The characters in the novel (Offred, Ofglen, and the Marthas) mention that the societal change occurred because of a war. Their new way of living seems completely enraging, women’s rights have been taken! But not according to Aunt Lydia. She explains that before they had “freedom to” and now they have “freedom from.”

As I read through the chapters and how Offred described her emotions, I wondered whether the women in Iraq feel similar emotions with Offred. It seems as though the book is aiming to get the reader to think about the war in Iraq. Offred states that she sometimes doesn’t understand why they must do things the way they are done. Also, the women in the novel are not always fully informed about any war updates or news in general. I feel that the women in the middle east are also not allowed to watch the television or read the newspaper for current information about their country. These scenarios make me question whether the women in Iraq see a democratic way of living confusing, unreasonable, or simply unnecessary? Will the women of Iraq feel happy with the change in their lifestyle of will they feel like Offred?

The second thing this novel made me think about was women’s rights in general. The novel used many of the topics discussed in class to keep a system of oppressed women. They used the concept of horizontal hostility in the ranking system of the women. They set aside certain women for the sole purpose to reproduce- not with someone of their choice but by their commander. They were not allowed to read. They had to travel in twos. They had to wear a “uniforom” according to their rank. In our western world view, they were stripped from their freedom.

The Handmaid's Tale vs. Our Present

I noticed author Margaret Atwood used many realities of the modern world in developing her novel’s past and present. Several examples of this can be found within the first few chapters. The main character Offred describes her past as a place where “Women were not protected …” (Atwood 24). She then goes on to talk about rules that women followed in their everyday lives. She says that these rules were not written out but ones that every woman knew. These include not opening the door to a stranger, never reacting to a man whistling at you and not stopping for a motorist who seems to be in trouble. This description is applicable to today and reminds me of the Rape Schedule concept in which women live their lives avoiding vulnerable situations and are constantly on the defense. This goes along with Offred’s description of women being “interfered with,” killed and dumped on page 56. Upon reading this I thought of the women of Juarez, Mexico who are victims of such crimes in large numbers.

Another comparison I found was the way the Handmaids are dressed and how the tourists were gawking at them on page 29. This can easily be compared to modern veiled Muslim women. “He’ll be telling them that the women here have different customs, that to stare at them through the lens of a camera is, for them, an experience of violation” (Atwood 29). This quote can be taken out of context and describe a Muslim woman. The disturbing part was when the tourists ask the Handmaids if they are happy. In this novel, the Handmaids are not. But to compare this to all Muslim women, I felt was unfair of Atwood. Perhaps she was not specifically thinking of Muslim women when she wrote this but there certainly are similarities in her words and she does take a stance on this type of life style.

For Atwood, I believe these slight comparisons were not accidental. This novel is a very interesting parallel of our world.

Property of..... Fred

Margaret Atwood's novel The Handmaid's Tale is a different kind of reading, it's a reading that takes you into deep description of women that really have no voice, no face, no individualism other than they are in two different categories; the Martha's and the Handmaids. It's another reading of oppression because these women have no rights at all. It's all dependent upon which category they can best fit into. What I got from the reading so far is the Handmaids, Offred's duty is sexual and has to do with her reproducing. In the early chapters Cora comments that she could have done Offred's job if she hadn't gotten her tubes tied.

The different categories that the characters fall into are the handmaids, the Commanders, the Angels are the guards, and the servants are the Marthas. And very importantly these women are not to associate with one another or there would be consequences.

The women of the lowest group are categorized by having to wear the color red and they are seen as the lowest group there is. Even the Marthas felt superior to the women in "red." These women are face with an isolated life, an oppressed life.

Need to read more!

As I was reading The Handmaids Tale, I kept thinking to myself, what am I going to write my blog about? I do not think I read enough to fully understand what is going on the book yet. I do understand that each maid wears a different color which distinguishes them by their type of job. I believe that "the marthas" the author talks about are the cooks of each households but at this point, I am not positive. What I do not understand is where this is taking place, I know it is the outskirts of the town Gilead but I feel as though they have their own secret society. She talks about "The Guardians" and I know they are to protect the people, but from what? She also talks about her past life which was very different from her life now but what happened for her to be where she is today? Are Rita and Cora just other maids that live in the household too? I hope I am not the only one with all these questions but I know I just have to read more to find out and I am excited to do so!

Republic Of Control

The handmaid's tale is an interesting and intriguing starting in just the first few pages. Immediately you realize that the narrator, who we find out to be Offred, is not living what we perceive as a normal lifestyle. As she begins to explain the world she lives in and how she is under constant watch and control. Offred has been through a lot, she has been separated from her husband and daughter and forced to live a lifestyle that is controlling of her every move and aspect of her life. The women in this future based society in what is a post United States country based in Massachusetts called the Republic of Gilead are under control at all times because they are needed for their ability to bear children. The women that are viable are treated better than women that are barren. We quickly realize the society that Offred lives in is nothing that anyone could ever imagine and nothing like the life she had before. Writing is banned, television is not readily available to all and is mainly religious based. Offred is property to the Commander and used to give him a child. She has no money or property of her own, she has to sneak food in her shoe because she is not allowed to take food from the table that is uneaten. She and the other women which include handmaids and the marthas are controlled always and have learned to accept their situations as how life is for them. Women are important for only a couple reasons in the Republic of Gilead, one being childbearing and the second would be cleaning and cooking. But also used as for sex for men that have been loyal and stayed celibate for a lengthened period of time. This society is focused on control. Even the wife of the commander asserts her dominance and power on Offred immediately upon meeting her in the opening chapter. Control/Power and Sex are two things I see as focal points of this society and how they are used to reinforced each other.

Badges and Badges

The Handmaid's Tale, is an eye opener, but what doesn't seem to surprise me, is that we have been reading numerous "Tales" of women being oppressed all around the world. Women have to make a badge and wear it too. They have to mark their "S's" through and through, meaning that not only are they enduring hard labor and oppression, but they are also looked down upon for what they seem to be forced into doing. The voice of the women seems to be drowned out, and at times it seems like it's finally giving in, more though, it seems to me as if they keep pushing for what is just, they adjust to the music and tune their voice down another step (So they can hit that note that the oppressor wept).

The body is a tempting tool, an argument on what to do. We all know there's a truth to truth, so I make my badge and sell it, too. The oppressor of women, believe they have found the missing link, they find pleasure with heads of women inside a kitchen sink (oh please, please, scrub until you cannot scrub), thats definitely the missing link.

So what's a woman or girl to do? Men have turned into an epic flu, it seems are women a myth, a stepping stool. There in always implied expectations as to what has to be done and what is expected. Women seem to adjust to any circumstance that is given, they have been labeled by society ( particularly men). It's demeaning and embarrassing when we put women down for being a women.

Fracturing a Movement before it happens

Margaret Atwood's novel The Handmaid's Tale deals with a society where women are stripped of most of their rights and depending on which category you fit into, they can be completely stripped away. Some women are servants, some can be wives to Commanders or Angels, and some are handmaidens. Many of these groups do not get along with each other and anyone who rises up in this society in anyway is either killed or imprisoned.

I think it's interesting that the oppressing male class is separating women into classes who are really only identified by how useful they can be to the men of the society whether it be Commanders, Angels or otherwise. Anyone without real use (such as trying to start an uprising or going against the rules) are cast into imprisonment or killed. I think this makes for quite an interesting look at how this society could be overthrown or how someone could ever bring about change. Only certain people have access to weapons and the laws of the land benefit those people. There is infighting even between women as wives generally look down on the rest and even Marthas and Handmaidens don't get along well. I think it fractures any sort of way that a movement could take place for change.

Also it's been proven that the country has no respect for human rights and has no problem rooting out people for doing something wrong and using death to get rid of them. It would be interesting how an underground movement can function given the extreme police state exists in the society. It happens in countries now where human rights are disrespected but mainly because of the international incident it would raise as well as the fact that many times force is restrained not to bring attention to it. This society doesn't seem to have any problem with that which makes them more dangerous to any sort of movement going forward.

Propert of ______.

”The Handmaid's tale,” written by Margaret Atwood, is a very vivid & exciting, yet unsettling story so far. It takes my mind into the lives of these women. I feel as though I am a nameless face within the crowd, observing this story in person.

Reading through the beginning chapters, I couldn’t help but notice how the women in this story are placed under systems of hierarchy, men being at the top (of course, ha!) reigning as commanders. The women sleep in a room together on cots, and are forced to wear big, unflattering mu-mu like gowns. The colors of the gowns vary. The lowest of the low (handmaids) wore red gowns, the ‘Marthas’ wore green gowns, and the commanders' wives wore blue. I found it interesting that the lowest women on the totem pole wore red. It reminded me of the book “Scarlet Letter.” Just as Hester Prynne was forced to wear a badge of shame, a scarlet letter ‘A’ for committing the act of adultery, these women were deemed unworthy by wearing a whole cloak of scarlet. The scarlet ‘A’ that Prynne wore let everyone know what she had done. People felt as though they were better than her by seeing this mark of sin, just as the Marthas & commanders' wives, without doubt, felt superior to the women in the red cloaks.

Living a humiliating, isolated life is what these women are faced with. The commanders' wives would garden and knit just so they felt like they were needed or important in some way. They wanted a purpose in life, which these women clearly did not have much of.
The narrator, Offred, demonstrates the degree of her loneliness and longing to feel affection on page 11, where she says, “[…] I would help Rita make the bread, sinking my hands into that soft resistant warmth which is so much like flesh. I hunger to tough something, other than cloth or wood. I hunger to commit the act of touch.” How incredible is that?! These couple of sentences really stood out to be because I could almost feel her pain. She was so desperate to engage in physical human contact. I am never taking hugs for granted.
These women are controlled by fear, just as women today are controlled by fear. Women do not report cases of sexual harassment due to FEAR of not being taken seriously, women do not walk down dark alleys due to FEAR or being attacked or raped, or as Valenti mentions in our last reading, the "rape schedule." Just as women today hold back due to fear, the women in this book do the same. On page 18, Offred sees Nick, a guardian, wink at her. Offred could have used this situation to her advantage, yet she does not respond to Nick, fearing he is an 'eye' watching or testing her.
So far in this book we know there is a class system among the women, demonstrating horizontal hostility, and men being at the top in command. Women are isolated beyond all belief, and long to feel a sense of importance. These women are controlled through fear and live as objects for men, not for themselves. Even their names demonstrate the degree to which they are deemed property-- "Offred" aka "Of Fred." Daily, these women are reminded they are not themselves anymore, but property.

FAITH as an Institution

In an attempt not to summarize I am going to analyze a certain part I found to be very interesting in the book. When the narrator describes the cushion on the window seat and the inscription of FAITH in it I end up asking myself two questions. Is it a positive sign that FAITH is the last remnant of the past society, or is it a negative sign? One could argue that it is positive by mentioning the ability of faith to transcend time and space and the idea that the good and holy prevail. But when the narrator describes the inscription, she doesn’t exactly use any positive connotation words. In fact, she uses words like faded, dingy and worn. While describing the window seat that the cushion rests on, the narrator even mentions that it is too narrow for comfort, and she introduces the cushion as a "hard little cushion". All of these words indicate negativity and therefore lead me to believe that FAITH, in the case of the narrator, is not positive, but negative.
It is also crucial to remember though that handmaids are not permitted to read and they are not required to read in order to function in society. So the fact that she is given anything to read is a surprise in itself, so why the word FAITH then? Why not the word MALE, or PATRIARCHY, or INEQUALITY? Is it maybe that FAITH stands for something similar to MALE, PATRIARCHY, or INEQUALITY, or is it because FAITH somehow embodies all three of these concepts? I think an interesting answer in this case would be that FAITH does embrace all three of these concepts. If so then the author is going out of her way to show the view of "FAITH", or religion, in the eyes of an oppressed women, and in this case it is a negative one.

THE MARTHAS

Margaret Atwood’s novel so far has introduced an imagined world, a world in where women are always watched, alienated and oppressed. In where their every move maybe even detrimental to their safety. As I was reading the book I immediately became concerned with the term “Marthas”. These women are labeled by their assigned duties and apparently given the same title. I felt perplexed by the term and it’s usage. Labeling women and men into categories, It is a deliberate form of ranking; some have some power, others have all the power and most have none at all. To me these “titles” represent another form of taking a person’s identity and sense of power. It is stripping them of their own self. As I read the book when I thought about the titles it is as if you are just like the other one’s, like you do not exist as if you are unimportant or maybe even just replaceable. Like there is not value to your life. Another term that is presented is the term “Wives” which is another form of categorization. It is certainly a better and more prestigious one that has some advantages over the other women. These rankings between women and even in men, I think provoke feelings of superiority and inferiority accordingly and work to maintain everyone in their place. They are today’s gender roles but on steroids. I can only but associate these terms by the ones we use today. Name placements and such reminds me of the usage of words such as mother/father/sister/brother, which in itself remarks a certain gender; and with gender come the assigned roles. It is a scary though but I guess we are not too distant from the Republic of Gilead.

The Maybe Not Too- Distant Unlikely Future?

The Handmaid's Tale is an interesting book that takes place in a dystopian future. Life is extremely regimented and controlled. I believe the book draws many parallels between its own plot and the rhetoric of today. In the book woman are thought of as objects each that are only good for child bearing and working in the home. Woman are separated into different ranks each being distinguished by their uniforms they wear. The main character wears a white hat with a red dress covering up their body not showing any skin. This reminds me of today in that many women are delegated to work in the home and also wear certain clothes because the media tells them to. In one point in the book a woman walks in the market with obvious signs of being pregnant and Offred can't help but think that she is showing off because it is noted that pregnant woman don't have to leave the house. Childbearing is important in Gilead so woman who are fertile are revered. I also found it interesting about how she goes back and forth between her life right now and her previous life before she lived in this situation. People are hanged who used to be doctors and nurses which i am assuming used to do abortions or something along those lines. There is a reference to the fact that it didn't matter if it was legal before but that is illegal now and crimes are retroactive. Overall I like how the character is contrasting her life right now and when she was a child and when she was a mother before she lived in a society that virtually controls all that she does.

The Repression of the Handmaid

In the novel the Handmaid by Margaret Atwood, we meet Offred who we see in the very first pages struggles and is repressed. In the beginning, we learn that she is not to go out in public unless she is completely covered up. Nothing may show: hair, legs, arms, etc. Later on Offred goes to live in the home of the Commander. On page 16, there is evidence of how religion serves as an institution to repress women. Offred had stated that the Commander's wife was allowed to hit her because of "scriptural precedent". This could tie into what we've previously learned in this class about horizontal hostility. The Commander's wife demonstrated this when she looks down on Offred and treats her differently because Offred is of lower class. Religion served as a form of repression because religion was used as an excuse for violence against women. Offred struggled for power due to her class and we see evidence of this on page 22 when she speaks of how she was using her body to attract young men she saw on the road. She says she felt a certain power by withholding her body from them. Offred says that it was like "teasing a dog with a bone held out of reach". Offred longs for freedom and power and this moment gave her a small sense of freedom and power. Another form of freedom was how a woman was dressed. When a group of Japanese tourists came, Offred remembered a time when she dressed that way and said how "that [used to be] freedom". Offred also was not allowed to sing of freedom as shown on page 54 when she sings Amazing Grace. Lastly, there seemed to be a hidden message about the importance of child-bearing. It was very important for women to have children, probably as proof of their femininity. Offred was told that there are only 2 types of women :fruitful and barren. It was law and if women were fruitful they had to have babies. There are many instances of repression against women in this book. It will be interesting to see how this affects Offred and how she will handle it later on in this novel.

OWFI

I was very interested to learn about the Organization for Women’s Freedom in Iraq or OWFI. Since the end of Saddam’s regime this group was developed by women in order to fight for the women’s rights that had been lost due to the Gulf War and Saddam’s embrace of Islamic tribal law. The women of OWFI are very brave and fight for basic rights everyday in spite of personal death threats and the sight of women around them being abused, raped and killed. A fact that interested me was that women were not being attacked by Saddam’s regime, the government or anyone of particular power. These women who were being murdered were done so by regular citizens of the streets. “Now the violence is… being committed by everyone around you” (Fang 2007). Women with professional jobs and those attending university are often targets for death. This control over women in the last ten years has led to a frightening drop in the literacy rate from 75% to 25%. How is the education of women and their basic rights affect the men who are currently in power? Women are not asking to change the world, they simply want what is owed to them. “Often, the first salvo in a war for theocracy is a systematic attack on women and minorities who represent or demand an alternative or competing vision for society” (Fang 20007). When women and minorities are finally controlled, “less vulnerable” people are then attacked. The women of OWFI are not giving up even when the women they know are dying in the hundreds. OWFI women even work to hide abused women and sneak them out of the country in an “underground railroad type of system. This organization is very important for women today and is needed to change society.

Women in Iraq

"Wow" is all I can say after reading Fang's "The Talibanization of Iraq". I had no idea that this was going on in Iraq and I can not imagine how these women are feeling. It was interesting to learn that times are actually harder for women since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime and that he actually encouraged women to go to school and enter the workforce. Living in a free country like the U.S., it is hard to fathom not being able to dress the way I would want, get a job, go to school, or even walk to the grocery store without the fear of being sexually assaulted or murdered. Also, to know that if I am raped or murdered my body may not be claimed because of my family being fearful is somewhat understandable, considering the times in Iraq, but to know my body wouldn't get claimed because they are ashamed is just heartbreaking. What is so shameful about your own daughter/wife/sister being wrongfully and brutally murdered? The way women are perceived in Iraq completely blows my mind. Why do they feel that women are evil? How did this way of life begin? For violence against women to be committed by "everyone around you" in Iraq, it seems as though it is going to take A LOT of time before things can and will change. Im not sure if things are still this way in Iraq but I hope more women's rights activists are taking stands and doing what they can to help the women of Iraq.

Time to reveil me..

The Taliban on Iraq really gave me an insight of what happened after the fall of regime. To be quite honest, I guess I just didn't think about what happened to all the women in Iraq. Of course, we all know the stereotypes put out on Iraqi women and considered them as very oppressed because of all the things they are faced with but reading this story is very saddening. With the limited rights they had, they way they HAD to dress, not being safe at home or on the streets, having to hid, violence and the list could go on. It seemed as if women don't really matter at all after Suddam Husssein's regime, as if they aren't there anymore. What really stuck out to me was the percentage of women who were literate. According to UNESCO, in 1987, 75 percent of women were literate, and 13 years later it dropped to LESS than 25 percent?! That's absolutely crazy to me!!

I really do believe that Muslim women are being oppressed by having to wear a veil, and having to cover every inch of their body. Oh wait, they can reveal their eyes and hands! It's the men who can't control themselves and I believe this is why the women have to cover up. Here we are again, step 1, men having power and control over women. Brainwashing these women to make them believe it's respect. My sister once dated a Muslim man and all the women in his family were covered. But I do remember a party of the women's that I went to and not one of the girls were covered. It's kind of sad to see how relieved they were to not be covered up but once the men were coming to pick them up, they either hid or quickly changed. These women are getting raped for not wearing their veil and covering up!! This is crazy to me and leads me back to men. They can't control themselves and have to be in authority!

Do they need help?

Two of the stories we read have to do with the rights of women being given to them but for some reason those rights did not mean much. In “Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving” by Lila Abuh-Lughod women were given the freedom to take of the clothing they wear to cover their bodies and face, but they are not doing it. The story of “The Globe Trotting Sneaker” by Cynthia Enloe women are giving up their rights just so they can have a job. Women know that they can move on in life and not be so dependant on men, but men still find a way to keep them down. The reading of “Do Muslim Women Need Saving” reminded me of a scene from the movie Sex in the City 2.
The movie is taking place somewhere in the east. But the four friends are in a place where women cover themselves up from head to toe. One of the friends gets in trouble and the men from there want them out so they follow them. The girls finally find a place to hide with the help of one of the women. The four friends are hiding in a room full of women who are covered. But after a while the women take of their veils and show their clothing underneath which is all clothing from New York, which is where the four friends are visiting from. This scene showed that while women are accepting how the men want them to dress they still found a way to have their own style. But I wonder what would happen if men found out about this?

After is Worst Than Before

The Talibanization of Iraq shed some light on what really happened to women after the end of Saddam Hussein. With everything (propaganda) being shown to us about the terrible things women had to go through. With the way they had to dress to the limited rights they had, we in the United States were in horror of the way women were treated.
It doesn’t seem probable that women would be treated worst after the fall of Saddam, being given the way he led the country. At least during his reign women were able to be educated and hold a job. Then once he was gone, the value of a woman declined greatly. They were no longer safe as well as they were under Saddam’s regime. It was no longer safe for them to walk the streets without the fear of being harassed if their clothing wasn’t “right.” That does not make any sense to me.
It’s very admirable of the Organization for Women’s Freedom in Iraq to be stepping in to help the women who might need it most. However there is so much more that needs to be done to change the deplorable treatment of women. It doesn’t seem fair that, as opposed to our western way of thinking, there are others in another part of the world who are living a third-class lifestyle: living in fear, poverty and male domination. Of course there is all of that we must live with as well but not of the caliber in Iraq. I think that more can be done to fight this oppression but in a better way than using bombs. Ideally if everyone had similar understandings of the values of a person, then maybe this problem would be less common. All I’m saying is that there has to be a change and it has to start inside.

unreVEILing

If the laws on women in the Middle East have not turned them into complete masochists, then glory to them. I mean, what's worse than being under a veil at temperatures that on average peak the 90's-- Men, men is to blame for all this crap. Every women has to be an abiding citizen if they are Muslim, not to rain on the Muslim parade here, but aren't we in the 21st century? For God sakes, they are not granting women any rights. Women are being persecuted, abused, tortured, raped, and above all, they are being ransacked of their very own human rights, which is to simply live a life. Why is it that in this culture women have to cover up every inch of their body with minute showing of the eye area and the hands. Why don't we do what France did on April 11, 2011 and fine every person that cover their face with a veil, that'll cost you 150 euros. The oxymoron here in this story, is that in which Muslim men who spot a woman not wearing a veil will torture and at times even rape a woman??? Wait, wait, wait, wait, say what? Rape? A woman in a suit who is not showing any section of her cleavage is raped, apparently Muslim men get a hard-on by watching luscious hair dance freely in the wind, yes, yes, yes, if I ever wanted to be successful, I should start a soft-porn magazine in the Middle East which shows cases every type of hair. My point here is, Muslim men apparently can't grow up, I'm not by any means stating that all Muslim men are rapists or murderers, I'm stating in the overall concept of veiling, women don't quite have a say in any of this. Women socialist groups are even terrorized to go into Iraq and try and reform the mess that is present.

For the Love of Money

I have always been aware of the fact that shoe companies manufactured their products overseas, inparticular Nike. I had heard of them doing this years ago, but I had no idea that the wages they paid these women were so low. According to Enloe, hourly wages in China range from $0.10-$0.14, Indonesia from $0.16-$0.20, Thailand from $0.65-$0.74 and South Korea $2.02-$2.27. If this is not exploitation, I don’t know what is. These women have nowhere else to go for money and these companies know that. Nike and other companies are spending no money to get their products made and they charge high prices to the American consumer. Any company that can make a $298 million dollar profit knows what they are doing. However, when does money stop being the number one concern. All they care about is making a profit and they are willing to go through any means to make it. If the real concern was making a good product, they would manufacture their products here in the U.S. which could provide jobs for people here and help stimulate the economy. In fact if all U.S. companies manufactured their products in the U.S., we would not have the economic problems that we have today. There would be so many more jobs for people in the U.S. These companies try to make it seem like they are providing these people in other countries an opportunity to work and make money. They make it seem as though they are doing a service to them by providing them with work. We all know that’s B.S. They are doing it for their own selfish reasons to make a profit. If they were really concerned with giving them an opportunity to work, they would pay them a real hourly wage that they could actually live off. They would never pay them wages that they would pay workers in the U.S. Unfortunately, money makes people do the most immoral of things.

Life Under the Veil

The typical belief surrounding Muslim women is that they are in fact oppressed, discouraged, and mistreated by the men in their country. Although these things are true in some cases, I would like it to be realized that the veiling of Muslim women is at all times a cultural aspect and a part of their religion. The Quran states that women must be covered, and not seen. Nowhere in the Quran does it explicitly state that women must veil themselves or even wear hijabs. The veiling of women is something that was adopted by Islam from the Byzantine and Persian empires. In today's world western feminists see the veil as a symbol of oppression; however, to many Muslims it is a symbol of empowerment and rejection of Western culture, as well as a way to put themselves closer to their God. Don’t get me wrong, I understand the way women are treated in the Middle East, but I feel as that most people do not fully understand the meaning of the veil to Middle Eastern culture. Those are the true intentions of the veil, but there is also the negative aspect to it.

In the Middle East women are treated with such scrutiny that it would make an American woman’s head spin. In some countries, like Iran, women must completely clothe themselves from head to toe. In fact, they must actually go forth and hide their own figure. It is strongly believed in their culture that men cannot control themselves; this is why it is up to women to cover themselves so drastically. Aside from this, women cannot walk the streets alone; they must be with a man at all times, but not just any man. This man must be blood related, for if the woman is caught walking the streets with a man who isn’t family then she is called a whore, slut, and prostitute. What’s worse is that she is either taken to jail or beaten by mobs for her actions. The books “Persepolis” by Marjane Satrapi discuss this type of life style and living condition for woman in Iran, who does not even have to be Muslim to be veiled. It is in situations like these when the veiling is oppressive, and therefore must be stopped. I believe that the treatment of woman in these foreign countries is wrong, but being uniformed on the topic is even worse.