Gender, Resistance, and Violence Essay

Most people in the capitalist west regard it for granted that what they refer to as the Muslim world is recognized much or slight for marginalization and mistreatment of women and girls (Arebi, 99). This belief runs so deep that some westerners atomic number 18 surprise at the sight of Muslim women travelling al iodine or freely dressed (El-Ghobashy, 110). While the grounds for this belief may project been less(prenominal) shaky centuries ago, women in the Arab world run through been taking more supple leadinghip at all levels, rising to become national leaders in such countries as Pakistan, Turkey and the former Yugoslavia (Caprioli & Boyer, 506).The West, and the relatively young Israel, have attacked the Arab world on numerous occasions and not surprisingly, their soldiers are currently occupying Iraq and Afghanistan. The occupying soldiers have been blamed for imposing curfews, sexual assault, beating and injure the locals, shooting and injuring parents and their child ren, and closing border crossings at will (Dubinsky, Krull, Lord, Mills & Rutherford, 16 Mbembe, 39). It is not surprising that a large percentage of Americans are distrustful of Muslims (Asad, 97).Predictably, men in the Middle East have dominated the counter-assault on occupying forces, using such tactics as guerilla attacks, landmines, bombs and suicide attacks. However, women have not taken the backseat they would have been expected to take a hundred ago (Massad, 469). In resistance to occupation forces and the consequent assault on their culture, thousands of Muslim women have welcomed extremist anti-West ideas and proceeded to attack the occupying soldiers (Crossette, 39). Granted that women attract less suspicion, they make choice suicide bombers.According to Asad (94), the life of an Arab is far cheaper than an Israelis, according to the Israelis. It is not odd that the latter kills Arabs in their hundreds for every one Israeli killed. Arab women have been direct and indire ct victims of these attacks. It is to defend their people against Israeli- and Western-inspired attacks that more and more women have joined the combat ranks of extremist organizations. Arab women have in like manner led aggressive resistance political campaigns to champion their causes with varying levels of succeeder (Hasso, 90).Thousands of Arab women have sought high-level education in the west and have initiated campaigns of resistance against the attacks aimed at the Arabs. Bibliography Arebi, S. gender Anthropology in the Middle East The political science of Muslim Womens Misrepresentation. The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences, Vol. 8, zero(prenominal) 1, 1991 pp 91-108. Asad, T. Talal Asad on Suicide Bombing. Caprioli, M. & Boyer, M. Gender Violence, and International Crisis. Journal of Conflict Resolution, Vol. 45, zero(prenominal) 4, August 2001 pp 503-518. Crossette, B.Militancy Living in a World Without Women. The juvenile York Times, November 4, 2001. Dubinsky, K. , Krull, C. , Lord, S. , Mills, S. & Rutherford, S. (Eds). New World Coming The Sixties and the Shaping of Global Consciousness. Toronto amongst the Lines, 2009. El-Ghobashy. Quandaries of Representation. Hasso, F. Resistance, Repression, and Gender Politics in Occupied Palestine and Jordan. Massad, J. Conceiving the Masculine Gender and Palestinian Nationalism. Middle East Journal, Vol. 49, No. 3 (1995) pp 467-483. Mbembe, A. Necropolitics. Public refinement 15(1), 2003. Pp 11-40.