Charli Carpenter (h/t) & Robert Farley discuss FP’s insta-notorious “swimsuit issue”:
Related: Mona Eltahawy hits #nerdland to discuss her recent FP cover story on misogyny in the Muslim world, and address criticisms from Harvard prof Leila Ahmed:
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Update: Liberated from comments: Yakin Ertuk:
Culturalising the problem of women’s rights diverts attention from the unequal gendered structures, as well as from the wider economic and political environment in which these developments are taking place.
According to Merry, ”œBlaming culture for the disadvantages faced by women, minorities, and other vulnerable groups is an appealing ideology for proponents of contemporary neoliberal globalisation. It blames the havoc wreaked by expansive capitalism and global conflicts on the culture of the other”.
Hence, the cultural authenticity discourse provides a perfect alibi for the traditional patriarchs to evade any responsibility to accommodate women’s rights claims; cultural interpretation of women’s subordination relieves rich countries of the responsibility for dispossessions caused by capitalism, neoliberalism, militarism, occupation and armed conflicts.
The Farley-Carpenter video adds a little to what Carpenter wrote last week.
There’s a lot to discuss on the subject, but, as Carpenter said, it’s been framed badly because of the totally male viewpoint that developed the cover. It’s possible that women helped decide on that cover design, but they were living in a male mindset.
As to the substance, I’m bothered that so much of the discussion has been around procedural issues – whether people from outside the Arab world are allowed to criticize. It’s generally accepted that human rights violations are up for criticism anywhere. It also seems to me that genital mutilation and beatings are human rights violations. But the cultural cover comes up early when it’s women’s human rights being violated. Far too much of the discussion has avoided that, including the argument made by Ahmed that not all Arab countries practice all egregious violations. Duh.
And I’ve got an older issue of Foreign Policy sitting in my to-read pile that I am becoming ever more demotivated to read. I’ve always thought it’s superficial, and it’s never been my favorite magazine.
This passage from openDemocracy’s adaption of Yakin Ertuk’s AWID 2012 presentation seems highly relevant (will update main post momentarily):