Essay 'Saudis In Bikinis' By Nicholas Kristof

In order for Saudi Arabian culture to have adopted such a mentality they must have had large amounts of people - particularly males - with the same belief in extreme modesty and male superiority. If at the inception of the Saudi Arabian culture individuals believed females were inferior to males, Saudi Arabian culture must have adopted policies that implied male superiority and misogyny. The means by which cultures create consensus upon shared beliefs such as male superiority and misogyny is to make the shared beliefs into a generally accepted ideology or law. Laws are made of rules; they determined “how the [ideology of gender roles] was formulated, applied and implemented” (Yahyaoui 38). In order to make particular gender roles a generally accepted Saudi Arabian ideology, the ideology must have been supported by laws both directly and indirectly. One form of direct control of women is religious police or vigilante. Women aren’t allowed to socialize, act, or dress in a fashion that isn’t considered appropriate. In order to ensure that no woman is behaving outside of what the culture condones, Saudi Arabian males created

Accustomed to stereotypical depictions, Westerners are told that Middle Eastern women are passive, weak, and always veiled. It is often assumed that the severe conditions in Saudi Arabia—where women are not even allowed to drive cars—represent the norm for women throughout the Middle East and in the larger Muslim world. In reality, Saudi Arabia’s versions of both Islam and sexism are rather unique in their severities, although the rule of the Taliban in Afghanistan is now emulating the sexist Saudi model. Women enjoy political and social rights in many Muslim countries, and Egypt has recently granted women the right to divorce their husbands. In Tunisia, abortion is legal, and polygamy is prohibited. Women have served as ministers in the Syrian, Jordanian, Egyptian, Iraqi, and Tunisian governments, and as Vice President in Iran.

Jean P. Sasson wrote a true event story about a Saudi Arabian princess. It was about Sultana’s own life story and the whole book is in her point of view. To protect her identity she had to change names and obviously not explicit hers. It’s a nonfiction story of the outrage that is forced upon women throughout Saudi Arabia even today, a story that leaves readers praying for change before it is too late for the next generation of girls growing up in Saudi Arabia. This story is quite scary and very unbelievable how women around the world are being treated. Even though Arabians have a very different point of view of religion and marriage it’s really all sexist and very sad what women have to go through, no matter rich or poor.

Being born and raised in America, I and many other Americans have been taught that we live in a country of freedom. Women and men are treated equally; every human being has rights, and you have the freedom to move at will and without restrictions. Women have come a long way in our country, gaining rights ever since the dawn of patriarchy and proving that they are just as good as men with the ability to think, speak, and act for themselves. However, discrimination of women still exists in America and many other countries, but women are taking a stand and trying to eliminate the inequality between genders, such as the difference in salaries, and the bad representation of and portrayal of women in the media.

Apart of the problem is American feminist, beyond critiques of minority exclusion, is there goal to fix these oppressive patriarchal cultures is misdirected. Many do know fully understand the practices they are fighting against and are too quick to judge them as “wrong.” “American feminist began to focus spectacularly oppressive practices that were easy to mobilize around: female genital cutting, enforced veiling, or the honor crime” (Lughod, 8). She explains in her book how debates on the veil and discussions of honour crimes are deployed as 21st century political projects. Lughod challenges the assumptions that these countries need to be saved and critiques the west obsession of ‘culture’ as the cause for repressive regimes. Abu Lughod in Writing Against Culture raises critiques of what anthropologist are supposed to study. She raises the issue of the difference of feminism and anthropology. Lughod talks about how anthropology really came from the divide between the west and the non-west. And naturally because the west is the hegemony anthropology has be mainly dominated by western anthropological thought. Which is why Lughod suggests anthropologist need to realize this difference and move to writing against culture (Lughod, 1). Though in more recent years the crisis of representation is beginning to get more voices from "different" cultures that are non-western. She challenges

“Life is full of unhappiness and most of it caused by women (Harik and Marston 11)”. For women in the Middle East life is faced with great and unequal odds, as their human rights are limited, due to Islamic beliefs and that of patriarchy. From their daily actions at home to their physical appearance, Middle Eastern women are portrayed as quiet, faceless women veiled from head to toe. While this image is just another stereotype, women in the middle do face many obstacles and challenges of creating their own identity as they are frequently denied a voice in their rights. Living in a society dominated by men life is not, but regardless women in the Middle East, predominantly Muslims, continue to fight for

In “News Coverage of a Woman’s Rights Campaign,” Saudi women are driving even though it is against the law and they could be thrown in jail. The women consider driving as a right that they should have. Mrs. Qahtani said, “I woke up believing with every part of me that this is my right, I woke up believing this is my duty, and I was no longer afraid,” (Collections 123 lines 19-20). Since men in Saudi Arabia can drive, they don’t understand what the women are going though. “Women in Saudi Arabia see other women in the Middle East making revolutions, women in Yemen and Egypt at the forefront of revolutions, being so bold, toppling over entire governments… The women of Saudi Arabia looked at themselves and they realized, ‘Wow! We can’t even drive,” (Collections 124 lines 43-49). The Saudi women want to make a revolution, they want to be able to do what the men can

In middle eastern society Many may claim that the women in the middle east are being oppressed but the same may be said about women living in the west. Until quite recently in time women here in the United States received an equal status to men. Whereas these traditions and

Have you ever wondered how people around the world live? If so, then at some point in time in your life you thought like a Cultural Anthropologist. But have you ever thought about how the way people in the Middle East live? Probably not right? Islam and Middle Eastern culture, might be the most misunderstood culture from around the world. It is especially difficult to understand by those in western societies. People who live in western societies tend to have this stigma towards people from the Middle East that they’re bad people and they’re all terrorist when in fact they’re not. They are a regular society, deeply rooted in tradition and culture. Westerners sometimes don’t understand that because it’s western ideology to be civilized and conform to what those with social power say what’s right. For many years, the people of the Middle East have been targeted by western imperialism to try and change who they are and what they believe in, but most countries put up a fight. The role of women in the Middle East has been especially difficult to understand by those outside of the culture. Contrary to what many people might believe, women play a major role in their society and are not as oppressed as many people may think. They contribute highly to education, the economy, and other social and cultural factors such as religion, family, and the social status of women in the Middle East.

In the article “the Saudi women” women are fighting for the right to drive. In some Arab countries, women are not allowed to drive without their husband in the car and can be punished with jail time and in some very restricted countries even death. Women have been trying to free themselves from men's rule for far too many years but have failed to do so as they need men to take care of them. Ever since the change of roles in the 21 first century women have been taking over what was once a dominated men’s society and have changed the rules for their equality and have even gone as far as speaking from their

1. Abu Lughod argues that the “liberation” from burqas, wanted by American women for Afghan women, is an extension of colonialism and western domination because the western women fail to understand what liberation is for the Afghan women. Western women think that the Afghan women are unhappy with their religion because it physically restricts them. On the contrary, Afghan women like their burqas because they feel it brings them closer to Allah. They also culturally disagree with the openness of American fashion. The idea that western women do not take into account the Afghan woman’s perspective on life, and automatically assume that they are trapped by their way of life, can be compared to America’s way of “helping” nations that they believe

This academic journal is relevant because Lindsay Markle discusses the challenges women in the Middle East confront daily due to gender norms that are embedded in culture, religion, and family structure. These gender norms influence the way women are able to participate in their economy and in the public sphere.

In the past decade, Islam has been viewed as a male dominant religion. Many people in the west proclaim that Muslim women are forced to wear and do things out of their own will and, therefore, the western society perceives Muslim women as a symbol of oppression. The main subject of controversy is the Islamic veil. In addition, the west proclaims Islam to be a sexist religion as the Muslim women are not held equal to men including a limited amount of women’s rights in Islam. In the Deepa Kumar article, Kumar exposes what the western countries try and have done to uphold women’s rights. The western countries compare the Muslim dominated countries to themselves which results in a clash of civilization. This is occurs as the western culture and values do not equate with the culture and values the Muslim dominated countries possess. In addition, France had banned the hijab on a similar argument as other western countries as they attempt to “liberate” Muslim women. In contrast, these rulings of “liberation” have backlashed on the societies affected. Deepa Kumar states that neither Afghan nor French women have benefited from the attempt of “liberation” but, in fact, made it worse. These controversies of “oppressed” Muslim women gave the west a humble chance to rescue the victims.

The women of Saudi Arabia have been oppressed by the men of the country for generations due to the ignorance of the people, their Islamic faith, and the government. They have no rights and they must receive permission from their husbands or fathers to work, travel, and receive medical attention. The memoir Princess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia by Jean Sasson, is an excellent example of the oppression of women in Saudi Arabia and the literary devices of characterization and setting help to bring the oppression to life.

This article is about the announcement that Saudi Arabia made regarding women being able to legally drive without. After decades women will be able to drive without violating the law. According to Bulos, King, and Ethhad women will be able to legally drive starting next year moving to break a longtime taboo seen as symbolic of the conservative kingdom’s representative treatment of women. This move triggered a happiness on social media from women activist which had a huge impact on social media because it led to “#women2drive.” Women in Saudi Arabia still suffer from social restrictions as Bulos states, “for example, needing permission from male relatives, sometimes their own young sons, to exercise