The Western Harem Essay Examples

Mernissi, a Muslim woman who grew up in the Middle East in a traditional Muslim harem, with women and other children, compares the “Western harem” to be much worse than the restrictions of the Eastern harem. What she calls the Western harem, is the standard of beauty in the West that is so restrictive to women’s sense of self. The author compares the Western standard of beauty as a very oppressive problem for women, much more damaging than anything she has experienced in her native country. The argument from her perspective is that the Western version of men suppressing women is created through fashion ideals requiring women to remain under a size 6 if she is worthy of respect. Although she brings up valid points on the inequality that exists in this Western paradigm of beauty, I would argue that it is not the same as the Muslim harems or traditions of Islam that restrict women from many freedoms that are present in the West.
There are many ways that women are forced into a framework by men without their conscious knowledge. Mernissi presents a good example of that in her examination of the Western culture and its standards of beauty for women, which restrict what is desirable and what is not. After all, many of those designers who create the fashion trends tend to be men who do not have to wear the clothes they design. It is an accurate assessment to say that women are still living under the guise of male domination, even in the West. However, it is not necessarily the same type of dominion that Muslim women in the East face.
The problem, from Mernissi’s observation is that Western women are restricted in their diets and forced to keep a youthful look and a small size in order to please society and men. One could concur that she finds this standard of beauty to be more restrictive and difficult than what Muslim women experience in the Middle East. It is possible to see this obsession with female size as a problem for women; however, the rules and regulations placed on Muslim women are much more serious than the Western “harem.” In the West there are no laws that force women to dress and behave a particular way, whereas the Middle East has strict laws that result in severe punishment against the woman.
Women in the West are not expected by law to remain under a size 6 or to look like a “14 year old girl.” The pressures of fitting into these standards of beauty are optional for most women. Not all women feel the need to fit into this mold set by magazines and media to look young and remain slim. As a matter of fact, the large majorities of American women tend to be much bigger than a size 6 and are still happy with themselves and do not necessarily feel wronged by the unrealistic standards set by Western media and fashion designers. Of course there are many who find the standards of beauty to be unjust and unrealistic, but there are no legal punishments faced by women who do not fit into the expectations that are set by outside pressures.
For example, women of every size, race, nationality, religious beliefs, and other diversities are able to co-exist in the West without being forced to accept any particular way they must dress or act. In the West, a Muslim woman has the freedom to continue wearing the burka, without being arrested for breaking any laws. However, for a woman from the West to go into the Middle East and continue to dress is clothing that she would wear in America, may result in an unjust punishment by Islamic authorities. Women in the West are allowed to wear dresses, shorts, tank tops, swim wear, or anything else that exposes a lot or very little skin. If they go to the Middle East, they have no say so in how they are dressed and must observe the laws of the land that restrict the amount of skin a woman shows off. Even something as innocent as the ankle is to remain covered up by Muslim women in the East.
A question that must be posed is how women from the East feel about the burka that they must wear regardless of the temperature. It seems quite archaic and cruel to force anyone to be dressed in a manner that makes the experience difficult to tolerate. The heat in many of these Eastern nations is so severe that it almost seems inhumane to be forced to be covered from head-to-toe, literally. To suggest that working hard to fit into a size 0, 4, or 6 is worse than being forced to wear a burka is not anywhere near the same in its restrictiveness. The Western women who want to fit into these smaller sizes and keep themselves youthful in appearance feel empowered by their choice to do so. If anything, these women tend to be more mindful of their health, which means they eat healthy and exercise as a method of keeping their body looking the way they prefer.
How many Muslim women feel empowered by the rules imposed on them by the government and authority figures? Do these women have any option outside the one’s set by the Islamic laws? To compare their restrictions to be anything like the limitations of clothing size and appearance of women in the West is entirely overdramatic. Not to say that the women do not feel good about themselves in that culture, because surely many are happy to live within those guidelines. However, to say that Western women are suffering or unhappy with themselves because they need to be a certain clothing size is nowhere near the same as being forced by law to live a certain way, which is what the Middle Eastern women face.
If the West makes it a law that women must fit into a size 6 or smaller clothing size and that appearance is managed by legal authorities, then perhaps there is a fair argument presented by Mernissi. However, the West is not imposing such policies on women. The freedom to be dressed as one wants, say what one wants, and practice the religion they prefer are all honored in the West. Forcing another human being to live under strict guidelines like the one’s common to the Islamic nations is much more unfair and inhumane than what Western women face. After all, it is ultimately up to the woman where she shops for her clothes, what she wants to eat, and how big or small she wants to be. These are not choices make by any authority figures that will punish her for breaking any rules, considering there are no restrictive rules of clothing and body size against women in the West.
In conclusion, the argument presented by the author is not valid because the two situations presented of women in the East versus women in the West are entirely different. The East holds women accountable for breaking rules, whereas the West does not impose these types of rules on the female citizens.