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- The States
- Seen Nov 6, 2016
Maybe in the US, but a lot of places still really need it.
Just make sure to make a distinction.
For instance, the Muslim world is much different in their culture and ideation. Many women choose to wear a hijab or veil for religious purposes, or even to conceal themselves from men to avoid being harassed or pestered. Any woman wearing a bikini, might be asking to get pestered, or a man wearing a speedo similarly. Though the veil is often symbolized as a an article of oppression, it is not always the case, though some Middles Eastern cultures are more coercive. Generally, women choose to veil or unveil, often their choice is to create an identify separate from western women, many women in the Middle East don't want to be like US women. That is the issue with some sects of feminism, it's often a conversion to be modernized and assimilated to self-proclaimed dignified behavior.
Here's a great example to help reinforce this new perspective. Can you think of any group of women that wear heavy cloth over their heads, deprive themselves of sexual freedom, deprive themselves of pleasure in other respects, such as alcohol or certain foods, cannot decide if they can have children or marry, serve under men, may not work to acquire their own income or possessions, and do so in the name of religion? Sounds awful, right? They must not have chosen to live such a restrictive life? Yes, this is happening right here in the US of A too! We must certainly liberate these poor women!
Well, this group I refer to are the Catholic Nuns of the US. Yes, they do choose to live this life and understand the restrictions they place on themselves. Though, they believe that there is a benefit to living a modest lifestyle, and that benefit, to them, is more valuable than the pleasures and freedoms afforded to women who are not nuns.
Often feminism is fueled by a need to exert control over another societies cultures and customs, though this pressure is often perpetuated as a movement of liberation.
That is not to say women in the middle east are not negatively affected by misogynistic institutions. Rather, these women should be able to choose to wear a veil or not, rather than advocating that they should not wear a veil. And, in many areas of the world, modest dress is a choice made by women, due to true cultural or religious ideation.