We are suffering from the knee-jerk actions of a president who can't be bothered to discover the difference between "Muslim" and "terrorist". A little education would go a long way here! Some of the mysteries that seem opaque to dim bulbs like him are illuminated by Dalia Mogahed appearing on the Daily Show. For instance some of the reasons a Muslim woman wears the hijab are obvious, like expressing her faith. Another that really caught my attention (at about 4;15) is that she's thereby "privatizing her sexuality". Amen to that!In a culture that splashes on sexy sauce to sell everything from cars to internet services to the state of Israel (really!) that does seem like an affront. In the spirit of the Trans Pacific Partnership, I can imagine corporations suing such women for destroying their right to profit from women's flesh. How dare a woman privatize her own sexuality! (For the irony-deficient that's satire.)
As hard as it is for us to step outside of our own cultural conditioning, I encourage us to try. There is a critical difference between the sexual and the beautiful body. For example, among plains Indians cultures there was a tradition that if you had a beautiful body it was your duty to share it with the tribe as a thing of beauty. (Let me put this in context- the women wore pretty modest clothing, so this expectation most likely referred to men's bodies. Also, in a culture that is not so sexualized as our own, this would not be seen in a context of sex, but of beauty. Can we wrap our heads around that?)
Whether or not our culture recognizes it, there is a crucial difference between sex and beauty! They do often coincide, but distinguishing the difference helps us to appreciate both more honestly. Recognizing and discussing that difference would carry us a long way toward a healthier culture.
No comments:
Post a Comment