Read Associate Professor, Dr. Ayesha S. Chaudhry’s special editorial in The Globe and Mail: “Don’t politicize women’s bodies“.
Excerpt: “Neither forced veiling nor de-veiling actually serves the interests of women, though secularists argue that de-veiling ‘saves’ women from patriarchal oppression, and Islamists argue that veiling ‘saves’ women from an objectifying male gaze that turns them into sex objects. In both arguments, a woman’s emancipation or subjugation is measured by the amount her body is covered or uncovered. Both arguments infantilize women, expressing a profound mistrust in their ability to make decisions in their own self-interest. Caught in the middle, Muslim women simply cannot win.” [Full Article]
Dr. Ayesha S. Chaudhry is Associate Professor at the Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice; and Islamic Studies and Gender Studies in the Department of Classical, Near Eastern and Religious Studies at UBC.
