Silk Saris And Mini Skirts : South Asian Girls Walk The Tightrope Of Culture

In an autobiographical story, “Journey by Inner Light,” the author Meeta Kaur shares her audiences her rebellion against her cultures of Sikhism. With her life feeling lost, Kaur began feeling dissatisfied and decided to cut her hair against her cultural belief in order to fit the young American lifestyle. She felt like she had lost her self-identity and her inner connections to her principles. As Kaur comes back home to her family, a mixed feelings of guilt and shame filled her when her mother saw her hair. After realizing her mistake, she returns to her mother and ancestors’ way of life to find a solid ground and foundation based of her people’s way of life. This autobiography made me realize that as much effort we give to run away from our

Women are discriminated against because since religion is connected deeply to culture, it is only “normal” for them to be circumscribed for their own good. Rasheed finds modern Afghanistan women and their behaviors such as not wearing

One of these incidents occurs when Marjane is in art school. When the students were told that they needed to wear longer headscarves, Satrapi immediately responded that “as a student of art…I need to move freely to be able to draw.” She further questions “why is it that I, as a woman, am expected to feel nothing when watching these men with their clothes sculpted on but they, as men, can get excited by two-inches less of my head scarf?” here Marjane questions the restrictiveness of the veil and comments on the injustice in Muslim society and the gender inequality. The veil represent the repressions and the gender injustices in Iran. By revolting against the veil Marjane is able to protest the repressions. On hearing Marjanes complaint, the school administrators asked Satrapi to design her own veil. Marjane accepts this offer while still in the confines of the veil. Marjane designs the veil to suit the needs of the students and

Through exploring transitions, one may face challenging and conflicting barriers that prevent an escape to the new world of beliefs and attitudes. However, these obstacles may be overcome to result in growth and change. The drama text “Shafana and Aunt Sarrinah, soft revolution,” by Alana Valentine and “Shrinking women” by Lily Myers focuses on the detailed harsh nature of obstacles when complying with a shift to the new world. In “Shafana and Aunt Sarrinah, soft revolution,” Shafana a young Afghanistan- Australian Muslim migrant ventures onto a spiritually journey during which she particularly explores the difficulty of decision making and the homogonous of humanity. Shrinking Women exposes the obstacle of the pressure on women to maintain a slim body image while complying with their mother’s traditions.

Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi is a graphic novel that provides insight into a young girl living in Iran during the hardship of war. Persepolis takes place during the childhood of Marjane Satrapi. It gives a background of the Islamic Revolution and the war in Iran. Satrapi attempts to guide herself in a corrupted world filled with propaganda. She tries to develop her own morality concerning religion, politics, and humanity. Satrapi was blessed enough to have high class status and parents who had an open mindset about the world around them. Thanks to her slightly alternative lifestyle, she is able to reconstruct gender norms that society has set by depicting the different ways women resist them. “Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving? Anthropological Reflections on Cultural Relativism and Its Others” by Lila Abu-Lughod is an essay detailing the misconceptions surrounding the veil. Through this essay we can see how colonial feminism, the form of feminism in which western women push for a western way of living on their third world counterparts, has shined a negative light on cultures all around the world - particularly Islamic women. The essay shows how women who don’t conform to American societal structures are labeled as women who urgently require saving. Through this essay one can develop a thorough understanding of the veil itself and the many representations it holds to different entities. Although in Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood Satrapi

Abayas, shailas, burkas, and chadors: all are forms of veiling in the Middle East, and all are perceived as symbols of oppression and patriarchy by the West. The veil worn by a Middle Eastern woman is striking and beautiful in its simplicity and elegance. The hijab, the most common form of veiling, leaves only the face visible with the neck and hair completely covered. Onlookers are in awe at the mystery and symbolism associated with the many veils created out of fine, exotic silk. But such notions of oppression and patriarchy often associated with veiling are not only inherently biased and ironic – it would be interesting to explore the symbolism behind a mini-skirt or a pair of five-inch heels, no? – but they are also inaccurate. Although veiling has most definitely been used in the Middle East as a “mechanism in the service of patriarchy, a means of regulating and controlling women’s lives” (Hoodfar, 5), it has also been used as a mode for rebellion and self-expression. Marjane Satrapi, an Iranian woman who grew up during the Islamic revolution, resisted the regime and the universalizing nature of the veil in the hope that she could maintain her individual identity whilst communicating her political ideologies. By examining the way in which the veil is represented in Satrapi’s graphic memoir, Persepolis, while also considering the history of veiling in Iran, it will become evident that the veil is not just a political tool used by male chauvinists; it also presents an

Although CBT is promoted by most psychological professionals and much of the research conducted on this psychological orientation thus far proves its efficacy, like a majority of past research, it was primarily conducted using a white population. Due to the lack of research, there is no way to assert CBT is the best treatment option for the specific population of South Asian female immigrants, even though this population suffers from mental health issues, such as depression, anxiety, and eating disorders, that CBT is known for treating.

Jarrar opens her essay with an example of how far appropriation has come. She explains how a Middle Eastern dance is visually portrayed by “white women in flowing, diaphanous skirts” (Jarrar), during this time she is trying to understand why and how this has become acceptable. Giving a brief description of when this action came to play, around the early 1890’s, where white women were to perform this traditional Arabic dance during world fairs. She’s disgusted by how these women still continue to exploit a “celebratory

Throughout history, women have been victims of oppression no matter what religion or background they come from. They have learned from a young age, that their appearance is important to fundamentally be happy in their life. The topic of oppression in woman leads to controversial discussion not only to scholars but women of all parts of the world. How a woman presents herself through appearance and clothing targets her in a society obsessed with each other’s business. In today’s society, whether we can help it or not, men are treated differently than women. There seems to be different “rules” associated with the acceptable ways they should dress as opposed to the strict rules that apply to women. Women who are westernized

In Khaled Hosseini’s novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns, women live in an oppressive, discriminatory Afghan society in which they are deemed useless and obtain little to no rights, yet still manage to endure the burden that falls upon them. After the immensely false interpretations of her father and the bitter fatality of her mother, Mariam’s father demands she marries a stranger considerably older than her at the age of fifteen. Rasheed prays daily in hopes for Laila to produce a male offspring and is exceedingly unappreciative and disrespectful when Laila produces a female instead. Rasheed and the Taliban claim it is extremely blasphemous and embarrassing for a married Afghan woman to look directly into a man’s eyes, wear makeup, or display her knees so Rasheed asserts Mariam and Laila wear burqas. Women’s diminished rights and limited input in society is evident when youthful Mariam unwillingly marries an outright stranger because her father and wives demands she do so.

The short store “Clothes” by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is about a young Indian woman, Sumita, and her cultural transition to America that is symbolized by her clothes and the color of her clothes. The traditional Indian attire for a woman is a sari and each one has its own purpose. Her clothes also indicate her progression from daughter, to wife, to woman.

In Jamaica Kincaid’s fiction short story “Girl” a mother is teaching her young daughter on how to society wants her to act as a female. She is teaching the young girl not to form her own identity and beliefs but to live by how others want her to live. The mother gives the daughter several rules to live by and suggests that if she doesn’t live by these rules she will become a slut. The setting of this story seems to take place in a Caribbean island. This shows that no matter what a female culture is, she is taught the same things like the rest of the world. The mother tells the daughter “This is how you iron your fathers khaki shirt so that they don’t have a crease; this is how you iron your fathers pants so that they don’t have a crease.” (Jamaica Kincaid 566) The mother is not teaching the daughter how to survive as an individual but how to survive and be accepted by a community that is more than likely ruled by men.

Traditionally, an Indian woman had only four roles and those were; Her role as a daughter, wife, sister, and lastly, a mother. The women in today’s time however are experiencing far reaching changes and are entering into new fields that were unknown to them. They are actively participating in social, economic and political activities. Unlike the older times, women today have received higher education.

Readers are told the story of Persepolis through the eyes and journey of Marjane (Marji). One example of the social reality of Iran that Persepolis presents to readers is women’s mode of dress. In the beginning of the novel, Marji states, “Then came 1980: the year it became obligatory to wear the veil at school” (1.4). At this time, Marji is only ten years old, yet she still resists the veil and somewhat realizes the gender inequalities present in her reality. Although both boys’ and girls’ clothes change within their separate schools, girls are the only ones who are required to wear the veil. The hijab is a piece of fabric that women are required to wear -- concealing parts of their face and all of their hair. Not only is this a significant part of the social reality, but this is a legal requirement of all women in Iran. Men are not legally bound by what they wear, nor are they required to conceal their

In this paper, I will be applying the concept of the sociological imagination to reflect on my life so far as a racialized female in society. I will discuss the impacts of social class, gender, race/ethnicity, and socialization in the settings of the Canadian, Indian, and Indonesian society as necessary. Being a third-culture individual has influenced certain areas of my life greatly, and accordingly, I’d like to analyze my own experiences through a sociological lens. The main purpose of this paper is to share how social contexts, especially socialization, has impacted me.