One strategy from Haydar's Piece and Summary of "The Muslim Woman"

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Jose Arroyo

Professor Werry

RWS 200 M & W 3:30-4:45

2 February 2015

One strategy from Haydar’s piece and a summary of Abu-Logodh's "The Muslim Woman"

            One strategy Haydar utilizes to her advantage is the use of comparing and contrasting the cultural values between the West and the Middle East. She states how the a women in the West wishes to, “appear in Stuff magazine,” as compared to her she wishes to not be seen as a simplistic piece of meet but rather appreciated for her personality and her whole self. This comparison is most likely more persuasive than many of her other claims because her audience (general American public) can relate this comment to a person in his/her life. But despite this great claim she does have a knack of overgeneralizing people in one of her claims. She talks about how wearing her veil she was able to rid herself of harmful experiences. She uses an example of how men try to harass girls who walk past a construction site. But she overgeneralizes on the aspect that every man will have a comment as a women walks past their view. This overgeneralization most likely works against her and makes her audience question her way of thinking.

            In Lila Abu- Lughod’s online editorial, “ The Muslim Woman” she calls to attention the misconceptions the West has on the image of a woman with a veil on. She quickly rewrites the misconception and reveals how the veil is sometimes a geographical reason or purely a personal choice. She also states how even if Islam threw away the “submission” for women to wear a veil if they would really stop wearing the veil. The claim I just mentioned above draws interest from me because she is right. Many women will not simply throw off their veil and wear jeans. It has become a way of life for these women and especially since some areas enforce this type of submission they would still be required to wear the veil.