Moustapha and his Politics - Essay Example

Answers Moustapha’s behavior is in line with the male ethos lecture because he is a man of stature since he knows how to take advantage of things. First, he took advantage of his money by having extra-marital affair with a Lebanese pop star. Then he used the services of Mr. Sukari to get Ms. Tamim murdered. Moustapha is also a man of stature because he is a heavy and mature married man. He has wealth and self-control using which he has escaped most of the liabilities that applied to him by law.

His behavior fits the lecture. Egyptian women blame Ms. Tamim instead of Moustapha primarily because Ms. Tamim was a woman who was thought to have transgressed the limits placed on women by the Egyptian society’s norms and values. According to the norms and values of the Egyptian society, women are naïve and are not able to make intelligent and informed decisions. Therefore, Egyptian women think that Ms. Tamim must have raged Moustapha with her acts to the point where he had no option but to have her killed.

They think that had Ms. Tamim respected the societal expectations with her role as a woman, she would have had a better fate. The incident described in the article connects with the stereotypes of women in the region since it reveals the philosophy of the Egyptian society, that includes the philosophy of men about the role of women in the society in general and the philosophy of women about women’s role in the society in particular. Ms. Tamim was considered to deserve her fate because she belonged to a profession and had a kind of lifestyle that the vast majority of the society disapproved of.

Everything from her relationships to her dressing was controversial given the Egyptian society expects women to be dressed modestly, and be submissive toward their husbands. Yes, honor does enter into why Moustapha had Ms. Tamim killed. Moustapha is considered honorable because he has lived up to the society’s ideal expectations. The Egyptian society’s ideal expectations from men include but are not limited to being rich, having a family and children, and having power and influence in the society.

Sources of honor in the Egyptian society include having good family reputation and being wealthy. Since Moustapha has both, he is deemed honorable in the Egyptian society and is thus trusted for having a sound reason to have Ms. Tamim killed. The reduced sentence of Moustapha indicates the being a man is to a large extent reason enough to cause any harm to a woman in the Egyptian society. Factors like being powerful, rich, and influential play the role of catalysts in helping a man make his way out of any kind of legal web that he is caught in.

Moustapha’s reduced sentence implies that the system of law and order in the Egyptian society is inadequate and is not powerful enough to hold people accountable for their acts as per the law irrespective of their gender or socioeconomic status.