|
|
 Re: من المجموعه السودانيه لحقوق المرأه حول تصريحات فاطمه احمد ابراهيم (Re: Bashasha)
|
مساهمة في النقاش اقدم لكم مساهمة الاستاذة نازك حماد و المنشور في
http://www.secularsudan.net/Gender/FeminismBadWord.htm
Feminism As a Bad word
May 10 11997
The word feminism has acquired a a bad connotation in Sudan and elsewhere. It is interesting to try to understand why feminism has become such a bad word in Sudan and many other third world countries. I would like to consider interpretations other than feminism being a thing of Western white middle class women.
I think the major part of why feminism was (is) considered bad is because women's movements in many third world countries were born closely affiliated with the male-dominated national liberation movements that sought and brought about independence from colonial powers. These national liberation movements often tended to be ambivalent about how much rights and freedoms women should gain, for good reasons of course!! I will not go into why these national liberation movements thought it important that women should have at least some sort of organization, education and political rights but it is interesting how they tried to set limits to what women can achieve. Some nationalists believed that women could not be ignored and their efforts were sought in the struggle against colonialism (Algeria is a good example). Later it became important to stop the gains women achieved or at least stall them and make more of them harder to come by. This is what many people now call the opportunism of liberation movements in regards to women's rights. Add the fact that women are often asked to reproduce the dominant culture and defend it. Thus in Sudan men had no difficulty in replacing local dress with the Western trouser, shirt and even suit and necktie. Even the Sudanese Islamic Front bought the most elegant Western suits and neckties to its male members while imposing the veil (hijab) on its female members as a prelude to imposing it on all Sudanese women. Not only that, the first postcolonial generation inherited from colonial powers, in addition to the dress code, big houses with gardens and housewives, tennis, soccer, etc. The same generation of Westernized men made it impossible for women to dress like "European" women, whatever that may be. I will also argue that urbanization cost women many of the freedoms they took for granted in their coherent traditional settings!! Among intellectuals, men were did not see anything wrong with wearing Western tags and describing themselves as existentialists, Marxists, Structuralists, and now postmodernists and post anything they fancy! One may argue that these men were sometimes prosecuted and were often accused of importing harmful ideas from Europe. But this is precisely the point that I want to make, these same prosecuted intellectuals thought of feminism as a Western product that their women should stay away from. Frankly many never knew what feminism is all about. For example, Sartre was quite popular till the mid-eighties in Sudan but those same people who read or pretended to have read him, never read Simone de Bouvoir and regarded her as a feminist who is only concerned with sexual license!! I was also often saddened by the way many confuse in their minds the way women bodies are exploited in commercials and pornography in the West with feminism itself! They blame feminism for this although we all know that feminists in the West spend a good chunk of their time battling the degradation of women by the media and pornography! Even if this confusion is the product of ignorance, more often it is the kind of willful ignorance that people like to adhere to in order not to face up to something they find threatening. The Egyptian Nawal Al-Saadawai who argued that women's rights and needs are not limited to education and the vote, was often described as a feminist i.e. a bad person and an over-emphasizer of #######!! At the University of Khartoum a couple of professors who used to describe themselves as feminists were pointed out to us as not a good example to follow. And that is one of the reasons why activism concerning women issues on campus tended to follow the same 1950s-style even in the 1980s.
As to why some women also regarded and still regard feminism as being bad, I think this is due to the fact that many pioneering women tended to operate within the limits set by men, including men who thought of themselves as progressive. Thus many of these pioneer women used to start everything they say by the usual disclaimer that they have nothing to do with Western feminism. Sadly, the disclaimer sets the limits because after that, tackling any issue traditionally frowned upon by men falls within the domain of the "ugly" word, feminism, which was to be avoided at all costs. Yes, Western feminism may at various points have been dominated by middle class women but most gender activists in third world countries are themselves middle class. Many people regard feminism as a toy of middle class white women as if the women's movement in third world countries have sprung from shanty towns or is obsessed with the problems of women in shanty towns. Sometimes it is astonishing how the rhetoric of many "progressive" Sudanese men and women is not very much different from the rhetoric of reactionary religious groups such as the National Islamic Front when it comes to an issues like feminism and women's rights. The influence of the former Soviet Union and East European bloc and their animosity towards feminism which was regarded as a form of decadent bourgeois excess was (is) definitely a major contributing factor.
Fortunately, many third world women have now reclaimed feminism and are very confident in declaring themselves feminists. There are even advocates of Islamic feminism, an indication that feminism is not the bad word it used to be! It is not useful to look for words like masculine or masculinity as equivalents to feminism because feminism is a concept that has historical and social roots in male patriarchal dominance and thus cannot be contrasted with masculine terms because there is no such thing as the dominance of women in society.
The term women's movement can never adequately replace the term feminism because feminism is more encompassing while women's movement is narrower in that it only relates to activities and issues related to women's efforts to bring about equality. Thus people can talk about feminist thinking, ethics, interpretations etc.. but they can't talk about women's movement's thinking , interpretations, etc.. The majority of women who are now active in women's issues consider themselves feminists and that it is their own free choice. Considering the scope and sophistication of feminist discourse today, it is unlikely that these women are trivializing themselves!
Nazik Hammad
|
|
 
|
|
|
|
|
| العنوان |
الكاتب |
Date |
| من المجموعه السودانيه لحقوق المرأه حول تصريحات فاطمه احمد ابراهيم | مراويد | 03-14-04, 04:52 PM |
| Re: من المجموعه السودانيه لحقوق المرأه حول تصريحات فاطمه احمد ابراهيم | omar ali | 03-15-04, 00:04 AM |
| Re: من المجموعه السودانيه لحقوق المرأه حول تصريحات فاطمه احمد ابراهيم | al-Hameem | 03-16-04, 01:01 AM |
| Re: من المجموعه السودانيه لحقوق المرأه حول تصريحات فاطمه احمد ابراهيم | شقرور | 03-15-04, 03:34 AM |
| Re: من المجموعه السودانيه لحقوق المرأه حول تصريحات فاطمه احمد ابراهيم | omar ali | 03-15-04, 03:46 AM |
| Re: من المجموعه السودانيه لحقوق المرأه حول تصريحات فاطمه احمد ابراهيم | Bashasha | 03-15-04, 03:57 AM |
| Re: من المجموعه السودانيه لحقوق المرأه حول تصريحات فاطمه احمد ابراهيم | omar ali | 03-15-04, 04:18 AM |
| Re: من المجموعه السودانيه لحقوق المرأه حول تصريحات فاطمه احمد ابراهيم | omar ali | 03-15-04, 04:44 AM |
| Re: من المجموعه السودانيه لحقوق المرأه حول تصريحات فاطمه احمد ابراهيم | Bashasha | 03-15-04, 05:32 AM |
| Re: من المجموعه السودانيه لحقوق المرأه حول تصريحات فاطمه احمد ابراهيم | omar ali | 03-15-04, 06:47 AM |
| Re: من المجموعه السودانيه لحقوق المرأه حول تصريحات فاطمه احمد ابراهيم | Bashasha | 03-15-04, 09:27 AM |
| Re: من المجموعه السودانيه لحقوق المرأه حول تصريحات فاطمه احمد ابراهيم | مراويد | 03-15-04, 10:56 AM |
| Re: من المجموعه السودانيه لحقوق المرأه حول تصريحات فاطمه احمد ابراهيم | nada ali | 03-15-04, 01:00 PM |
| Re: من المجموعه السودانيه لحقوق المرأه حول تصريحات فاطمه احمد ابراهيم | omar ali | 03-15-04, 07:42 PM |
| Re: من المجموعه السودانيه لحقوق المرأه حول تصريحات فاطمه احمد ابراهيم | bayan | 03-15-04, 07:55 PM |
| Re: من المجموعه السودانيه لحقوق المرأه حول تصريحات فاطمه احمد ابراهيم | Adil Ali | 03-15-04, 10:30 PM |
| Re: من المجموعه السودانيه لحقوق المرأه حول تصريحات فاطمه احمد ابراهيم | Bashasha | 03-16-04, 00:05 AM |
| Re: من المجموعه السودانيه لحقوق المرأه حول تصريحات فاطمه احمد ابراهيم | Outcast | 03-16-04, 00:33 AM |
| Re: من المجموعه السودانيه لحقوق المرأه حول تصريحات فاطمه احمد ابراهيم | Outcast | 03-16-04, 00:42 AM |
| Re: من المجموعه السودانيه لحقوق المرأه حول تصريحات فاطمه احمد ابراهيم | Outcast | 03-16-04, 00:36 AM |
| Re: من المجموعه السودانيه لحقوق المرأه حول تصريحات فاطمه احمد ابراهيم | al-Hameem | 03-16-04, 01:04 AM |
| Re: من المجموعه السودانيه لحقوق المرأه حول تصريحات فاطمه احمد ابراهيم | Bashasha | 03-16-04, 02:40 AM |
| Re: من المجموعه السودانيه لحقوق المرأه حول تصريحات فاطمه احمد ابراهيم | شقرور | 03-16-04, 02:43 AM |
| Re: من المجموعه السودانيه لحقوق المرأه حول تصريحات فاطمه احمد ابراهيم | Abdel Aati | 03-16-04, 04:19 AM |
| Re: من المجموعه السودانيه لحقوق المرأه حول تصريحات فاطمه احمد ابراهيم | omar ali | 03-16-04, 07:02 AM |
| Re: من المجموعه السودانيه لحقوق المرأه حول تصريحات فاطمه احمد ابراهيم | Outcast | 03-16-04, 07:43 AM |
| Re: من المجموعه السودانيه لحقوق المرأه حول تصريحات فاطمه احمد ابراهيم | Bashasha | 03-16-04, 07:23 AM |
| Re: من المجموعه السودانيه لحقوق المرأه حول تصريحات فاطمه احمد ابراهيم | Bashasha | 03-16-04, 09:22 AM |
 الى بشاشا | Yasir Elsharif | 03-16-04, 01:25 PM |
| Re: من المجموعه السودانيه لحقوق المرأه حول تصريحات فاطمه احمد ابراهيم | مراويد | 03-16-04, 02:59 PM |
| Re: من المجموعه السودانيه لحقوق المرأه حول تصريحات فاطمه احمد ابراهيم | Tumadir | 03-16-04, 03:43 PM |
| Re: من المجموعه السودانيه لحقوق المرأه حول تصريحات فاطمه احمد ابراهيم | nada ali | 03-16-04, 04:01 PM |
| Re: من المجموعه السودانيه لحقوق المرأه حول تصريحات فاطمه احمد ابراهيم | nada ali | 04-14-04, 10:51 PM |
| Re: من المجموعه السودانيه لحقوق المرأه حول تصريحات فاطمه احمد ابراهيم | مراويد | 03-16-04, 07:29 PM |
| Re: من المجموعه السودانيه لحقوق المرأه حول تصريحات فاطمه احمد ابراهيم | omar ali | 03-16-04, 11:01 PM |
| Re: من المجموعه السودانيه لحقوق المرأه حول تصريحات فاطمه احمد ابراهيم | Nada Amin | 03-16-04, 11:17 PM |
| Re: من المجموعه السودانيه لحقوق المرأه حول تصريحات فاطمه احمد ابراهيم | مراويد | 03-16-04, 11:46 PM |
| Re: من المجموعه السودانيه لحقوق المرأه حول تصريحات فاطمه احمد ابراهيم | مراويد | 03-17-04, 01:16 AM |
| Re: من المجموعه السودانيه لحقوق المرأه حول تصريحات فاطمه احمد ابراهيم | Bashasha | 03-17-04, 02:28 AM |
| Re: من المجموعه السودانيه لحقوق المرأه حول تصريحات فاطمه احمد ابراهيم | مراويد | 03-17-04, 02:26 PM |
| Re: من المجموعه السودانيه لحقوق المرأه حول تصريحات فاطمه احمد ابراهيم | مراويد | 03-18-04, 00:21 AM |
| Re: من المجموعه السودانيه لحقوق المرأه حول تصريحات فاطمه احمد ابراهيم | omar ali | 03-18-04, 04:22 AM |
| Re: من المجموعه السودانيه لحقوق المرأه حول تصريحات فاطمه احمد ابراهيم | Adil Ali | 03-18-04, 03:36 PM |
| Re: من المجموعه السودانيه لحقوق المرأه حول تصريحات فاطمه احمد ابراهيم | شقرور | 03-18-04, 12:15 PM |
| Re: من المجموعه السودانيه لحقوق المرأه حول تصريحات فاطمه احمد ابراهيم | مراويد | 03-19-04, 00:58 AM |
| Re: من المجموعه السودانيه لحقوق المرأه حول تصريحات فاطمه احمد ابراهيم | Adil Ali | 03-19-04, 03:35 AM |
| Re: من المجموعه السودانيه لحقوق المرأه حول تصريحات فاطمه احمد ابراهيم | omar ali | 03-19-04, 05:54 AM |
 Re: من المجموعه السودانيه لحقوق المرأه حول تصريحات فاطمه احمد ابراهيم | Yasir Elsharif | 03-19-04, 08:09 AM |
| Re: من المجموعه السودانيه لحقوق المرأه حول تصريحات فاطمه احمد ابراهيم | مراويد | 03-20-04, 04:48 AM |
| Re: من المجموعه السودانيه لحقوق المرأه حول تصريحات فاطمه احمد ابراهيم | omar ali | 03-20-04, 06:27 AM |
| حول تصريحات فاطمه احمد ابراهيم | mohamed Hasabo | 03-20-04, 10:37 AM |
| Re: من المجموعه السودانيه لحقوق المرأه حول تصريحات فاطمه احمد ابراهيم | Adil Ali | 03-21-04, 03:04 AM |
| Re: من المجموعه السودانيه لحقوق المرأه حول تصريحات فاطمه احمد ابراهيم | مراويد | 03-23-04, 09:58 PM |
| Re: من المجموعه السودانيه لحقوق المرأه حول تصريحات فاطمه احمد ابراهيم | مراويد | 03-25-04, 07:44 PM |
| Re: من المجموعه السودانيه لحقوق المرأه حول تصريحات فاطمه احمد ابراهيم | esam gabralla | 03-25-04, 10:43 PM |
| Re: من المجموعه السودانيه لحقوق المرأه حول تصريحات فاطمه احمد ابراهيم | omar ali | 03-26-04, 10:01 PM |
| Re: من المجموعه السودانيه لحقوق المرأه حول تصريحات فاطمه احمد ابراهيم | مراويد | 03-27-04, 02:53 PM |
| Re: من المجموعه السودانيه لحقوق المرأه حول تصريحات فاطمه احمد ابراهيم | esam gabralla | 03-28-04, 11:06 PM |
| Re: من المجموعه السودانيه لحقوق المرأه حول تصريحات فاطمه احمد ابراهيم | شقرور | 03-30-04, 00:47 AM |
| Re: من المجموعه السودانيه لحقوق المرأه حول تصريحات فاطمه احمد ابراهيم | Adil Ali | 04-01-04, 02:24 AM |
| Re: من المجموعه السودانيه لحقوق المرأه حول تصريحات فاطمه احمد ابراهيم | Adil Ali | 04-01-04, 02:55 AM |
| Re: من المجموعه السودانيه لحقوق المرأه حول تصريحات فاطمه احمد ابراهيم | esam gabralla | 04-03-04, 00:16 AM |
| Re: من المجموعه السودانيه لحقوق المرأه حول تصريحات فاطمه احمد ابراهيم | مراويد | 04-06-04, 02:33 PM |
| Re: من المجموعه السودانيه لحقوق المرأه حول تصريحات فاطمه احمد ابراهيم | مراويد | 04-06-04, 02:45 PM |
| Re: من المجموعه السودانيه لحقوق المرأه حول تصريحات فاطمه احمد ابراهيم | مراويد | 04-09-04, 12:08 PM |
| Re: من المجموعه السودانيه لحقوق المرأه حول تصريحات فاطمه احمد ابراهيم | samia gasim | 04-14-04, 02:03 PM |
| Re: من المجموعه السودانيه لحقوق المرأه حول تصريحات فاطمه احمد ابراهيم | mohamed Hasabo | 04-14-04, 02:58 PM |
| Re: من المجموعه السودانيه لحقوق المرأه حول تصريحات فاطمه احمد ابراهيم | samia gasim | 04-15-04, 11:05 AM |
|
| |
فيس بوك
تويتر
انستقرام
يوتيوب
بنتيريست