Compare and contrast the depiction of Muslim men to that of Muslim women in orientalist discourses - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages im scholars try to disprove the oppressed and inferior position of Muslim women and state that such opinion was necessary for West to keep the opinion about the East as about the backward part of the world.
The orientalism in the broadest sense is the description of the East and Islam from a certain point of view, which carries a fair share of subjectivity and not always reflects the true state of affairs, but often distorts the reality. The orientalism considers Islam and everything connected with it – a culture, a civilization, a geographical area as something that contradicts with rational human principles of the West. “Whether they are televised or printed, it is not surprising that Western media reports maintain a constant distorted image of Arabs and Muslims. Fabricated stereotypes of Islam are omnipresent in Western media through all means of communication. What is lamentably odd is that Arabs and Muslims are seen as one and unique entity with the aim to be arbitrarily regarded collectively as anti-rational, barbaric, anti-democratic, etc. To achieve this aim the western media deliberately distort many Islamic concepts” (Ridouani, 2011).
If to look at a question with the eyes of orientalists, the following picture appears: Muslim women didnt make any contribution to history, they either were sold on the markets or were kept in harems as sexual objects. “Stories about Muslim women living in non-Western countries were often stories about political violence where they were represented as victims of violence and Islamic practices. Representations of Muslim women were also marked by a continual obsession with the veil. Muslim women were often portrayed as victims in need of Western liberation” (Mishra, 2007). Men on the contrary are depicted as tyrants and oppressors, who are humiliating women, and if to look at the issue from the point of view of the West, the East, especially Islamic world, was a huge harem. Сertainly, there are certain reasons ...Download file to see next pagesRead More