Shorter Danielle Crittenden: Throw the Niqabi Off the Train!

Props for anyone who gets the movie reference in the title of this post.

Non-Muslim women have pontificated on the niqab (face-veil) and its relation to Western culture before. *cough* Admittedly, a lot of our comments, my comments included, can be rather presumptuous and patronizing, even if we don’t mean them to be. I’ve been doing a lot of soul-searching on this issue lately, and it seems to me that sagely opining about these things with an air of authority can be just as unhelpful as, say, going off on a self-congratulatory spiel about breast implants and the supposedly poor, pathetic women who get them.

Should we reserve aesthetic judgment? As a writer, I say no. It’s damn near impossible to do that anyway.

But aesthetic judgment is not the same thing as ascribing motivation, as dissecting the ideology, as practically eliminating the humanity of other people. It’s one thing to say – “I personally wouldn’t wear niqab, and here’s why…” or even “That niqab is cute but not this one” – and quite another to launch on an investigation of those Other women and why they do the things they do. I’ve tried to refrain from doing that in my earlier writings on niqab, but, you know what? I’ve tripped up before. And I’ve tripped up in my logic as well:

I argued that the face veil is especially problematic in countries such as the U.S. But thinking about it now, if veiling one’s face should always be about choice, then the U.S. is a fairly good place for that. Choice is much more restricted and more nebulous in more conservative religious environments (not saying the U.S. is some sort of progressive utopia – we’re not – but we’re “tryin’ real hard to be a shepherd,” dang it).

Being in the UAE has certainly helped shape, or, as the fact may be, enhance, my opinion on the matter, particularly in a “Western” context. Which is why reading Danielle Crittenden’s smug series on the face-veil has been so tedious.Continue reading “Shorter Danielle Crittenden: Throw the Niqabi Off the Train!”

Post-Soviet Feminism and “Nashi”

The word “nashi” means “our” or “ours.” I use it as a tag on this blog not as a reference to the members of Russia’s political party: Nashi. However, it’s obviously appropriate here.

Last week, Lyndon asked some question in relations to the, ah, creative ways that members of Nashi have come out in support of Putin. For the uninitiated – Nashi are a youth movement – its members are often referred to as Nashisti (rhyming with “fascisti”) by Russians and Russian-speakers alike. They ostensibly exist to target the spread of Nazism in Russia, but their politics have been aggressive, reactionary, and downright intimidating – particularly wherein Putin’s critics are concerned – at the very least, that’s the way I see it. Admittedly, I’ve never sat down with a member of Nashi for a chat, but this is the sort of image they have cultivated.

Lyndon was particularly interested in the revealing outfit that the young woman from Nashi was wearing. How do we explain it in terms of post-Soviet feminism?Continue reading “Post-Soviet Feminism and “Nashi””

The only thing I can say right now is ROT IN JAIL

(trigger warning, ladies and lads)

By now, many of your heard about the death of Aqsa Parvez. My sentiments in regards to the people who who did this to her are in the title of this post.

My sentiments to the author of the following post on a Facebook group created in memory of Parvez cannot be expressed in human language. A screencap for your reading displeasure:Continue reading “The only thing I can say right now is ROT IN JAIL”