Posted by Kevin Bates You are right though to suggest that we are often on the band-wagon wihtout adequate understanding and I think much media attention came from that need to have a quick fix, and nail a victim - we love to have an enemy or a victim to have a go at. Finally, your note about how lovely these Muslim women often look and the fredom they have in their dress is spot on. There are lots of things for us to learn in Ajustralia about respect, about culture and about good taste!! Thanks again Cathy., Good wishes and peace., --Previous Message--
on November 8, 2006, 6:09 am, in reply to "The Mufti's Ill-Chosen Words"
Hi Cathy and thanks for the greetings for my birthday. Thanks too for your thoughtful response to the issue of women's dress and culture. The mufti's comments seems to have come from a more fundamentalist perspective, especially in view of the clumsy imagery he used to make his point.
Kevin
: The controversy over the comments made by
: Sheik Taj Aldin al Hilali shows no sign of
: subsiding. I haven’t been able to work out
: exactly what the Sheik said, or what he
: intended to say, but this incident certainly
: indicates the problems which arise when
: people from very different cultural
: backgrounds try to co-exist. If Sheik
: Hilali did mean that women themselves are to
: blame if they’re raped, his comments should
: certainly have been criticized. However, I
: wonder if people new to our culture may have
: thought the outcry was excessively vehement,
: the reason for the vehemence being, I
: suspect, that not so very long ago our
: society suffered from a “blame the victim”
: mentality, so this issue is still a very
: sensitive one for us. (I hope I explained
: that adequately – I’m certainly not
: suggesting the outcry was unwarranted!).
:
: Even before this current controversy, I’ve
: often thought it must be hard for migrants
: who come from a culture which demands very
: modest standards of dress for both men and
: women, and where sex is a strictly private
: matter, to adjust to a Western society where
: we have, perhaps, gone a bit too far in the
: opposite direction. Blatant sexuality is
: thrust at us from every direction, it seems
: – on TV, in magazines, newspapers and
: advertising brochures, even walking through
: a shopping centre you’re confronted by large
: pictures of women in scanty clothing or even
: underwear! As for the idea that traditional
: Muslim clothing demeans women: perhaps the
: full veil with only the eyes showing (I
: forget its Arabic name) is a bit excessive,
: but here in South Australia at least you
: rarely see women dressed like that. The
: traditionally-dressed women here
: usually have long garments and veils which
: leave the whole face showing – their outfits
: are often brightly coloured and the veils
: embroidered or beaded. I find I almost envy
: them – no matter what age or size they are,
: almost any woman dressed like that can look
: beautiful. On the other hand, to look good
: in Western fashion you really need to be
: young, and you certainly need to be slim.
: Is it any wonder that anorexia is a problem
: among young women?
:
: I keep hoping some enterprising fashion
: “guru” will come up with a design which
: integrates the traditional Muslim style of
: dress in a way that would be acceptable to
: modern Westerners. It could be just as
: attractive as the present fashions – and
: probably a lot more comfortable!
:
: Cathy.
:
: P.S.: I really enjoyed looking at the photos
: of your 60th. birthday celebrations, Kevin.
: I’d love to know what those two young girls
: were whispering about! I’ve got a card I’ve
: been meaning to send you, but somehow I’ve
: never got around to it – I might yet send
: it! Anyway, belated happy birthday wishes
: to you, Kevin.
:
:
Message Thread:
« Back to thread