I chose this cartoon because it is relevant to the discussion we have been having in class. It seems that the cartoonist chose to display the Muslim man as the puppet master forcing the Muslim woman to say that she prefers to wear her burka. However, this is an example that was discussed in this week’s reading in Women, Law, and Culture. Countries like the US constantly depict Muslim women as incapable of making their own decisions. While there have been many instances of oppression throughout the Middle East, the framing of the West as the “savior” does Muslim women who have been fighting for equal rights in the Middle East a grave injustice. It is critical for Western countries to recognize and respect the decisions of women, without painting Muslim men in a negative light. Muslim women in the US, as well as outside the US, choose to wear a burka or hijab for personal reasons. The process of allowing primarily white, western men to determine “why” is another form of patriarchal oppression.
References
Scutt, Jocelynne A., eds. Women, Law and Culture: Conformity, Contradiction and Conflict (e-book through library). London: Palgrave-MacMillan.