HOW TO RECOGNIZE A MUSLIMtherefore Islam itself )... could Muslim societies begin to move forward on the path of
civilization.’’^21 Only then would Muslims develop the same high mental, moral, and social
standards as the West, enabling them to participate fully in modern life. Notably, the
colonialist critique of Islam was only one instance of the more universal colonial assump-
tion that the liberation of non-Western women oppressed by indigenous religions and
cultural traditions was a crucial and morally validating component of the modern colonial
enterprise throughout the world.
As a result, contemporary Western feminist critiques of Islamic gender relations—
having helped to sustain colonialism so effectively in the past—all too easily have a colo-
nialist ring to them today. The categorical assertion of Ciska Dresselhuys, head editor of
the Netherlands’ primary feminist magazine,Opzij, that she would never hire a (Muslim)
woman wearing a headscarf comes to mind. Western feminism needs a new vision of
Islam, one able, for example, to address the ways in which Muslim women in the Middle
East and Asia, as well as in Europe, have been using the veil to remap, reform, and extend
women’s territory from the private to the public—deploying it to create a new space for
the veiled female self in the public, male realm.^22 At the same time, Western feminism has
itself something to learn from veiled women’s critique—however variously articulated
and (in)consistent—and from their resistance to the omnipresent sexualization and com-
modification of women in the West today, what Peter van Rooden calls the ‘‘pornographi-
zation’’ of the public space.^23 Such a reform of mainstream Western feminism is not a
choice but a necessity: the continued widespread use of traditional feminist arguments to
sustain assumptions of Western superiority demands this. As does the all too common
habit among the West’s general populace of focusing on others’ oppression of women to
deflect critique of women’s position within the West. But is it possible?
INTERLUDE: VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMENVignette 1. The Dutch government recently conducted a study of domestic violence, seeking
to establish its extent and nature. The government, specifically Minister Donner, was
shocked to find that it is still highly prevalent. So prevalent, in fact, that the government
decided not to conduct a public educational campaign on the issue because the state was
unable (unwilling) to free up the resources required adequately to meet the needs of all
those who might come to the government for help. So the violence continues.
Vignette 2.A Dutch high-school principal recently attempted to initiate a public discus-
sion of the pressures and violence brought to bear on (Muslim) immigrant girls and women
by male family members—fathers, uncles, brothers, cousins—seeking to force these girls and
women to conform to codes of conduct prohibiting free interaction with boys and men,
divorce, and unregulated movements in public spaces. The discussion fizzled.PAGE 455455.................16224$ CH23 10-13-06 12:36:10 PS