Post date: Sep 29, 2016 4:22:12 PM
https://www.opendemocracy.net/arab-awakening/janine-rich/problem-with-'women-of-isil
Commentary: Rich's article covers the way Muslim women are treated by the West, especially women who are part of ISIL (either willingly or unwillingly) and calls out the West for constantly mistreating representations of women. She says that in Western media, women involved in any with ISIL are in one of two categories She writes, "So why does any of this matter? Because these stories, of violence and rape, and of the ridiculous portrayal in Western media of Muslim women as either dangerously unhinged extremists or desperate, helpless victims are not merely stories. They feed public opinion and warp perceptions that are directly involved in justifying western military intervention in the Middle East." Essentially, that Muslim women are used to justify intervention to the Western population (especially Western feminists.) Her argument calls to mind both Abu-Lughod's argument in "Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving", in that Muslim women's lives are unfairly generalized to further the West's needs. Abu-Lughod and Rich both point out the use of the representation of the veiled Muslim woman justifies intervention under the guise of "we're saving the poor oppressed Muslim women." Abu-Lughod says,"we must take care not to reduce the diverse situations and attitudes of millions of Muslim women to a single item of clothing, Perhaps it is time to give up the Western obsession with the veil and focus on some serious issues with which feminists and others should indeed be concerned." Rich also talks about the shallow, generalized representations of Muslim women, and that taking part/perpetuating these representations have very real consequences in the lives of these women. However, Rich's focus is more on the women in ISIL than for Abu-Lughod, because ISIL didn't exist when Abu-Lughod wrote her paper. Abu-Lughod was writing in the midst of the discussion over the Iraq invasion, and Rich is writing during the rise of ISIL and potential Western intervention.