Sex and the City and Muslim women

We haven’t watched “Sex and the City 2”, as we cannot get ourselves to devote that much time to what, according to many commentaries, will insult our female Muslim sensibilities. According to these commentaries, the movie perpetuates stereotypes of Muslim women as oppressed, silent, and subdued by their apparently necessary counterpart: the violent, angry Muslim man. The four women in SATC2 flaunt their sexual openness, befuddled by the covered, seemingly asexual Muslim woman.

It appears to us, from reading these commentaries, that the movie’s portrayal of Muslim gender issues is problematic, not just because it’s stereotypical and condescending, but also because it is downright false. As one writer explains, SATC2 – which was filmed in Morocco but is supposed to take place in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) – gets several things wrong about Emirati women. Included among these is that women in the UAE tend to be more educated than the men there, with women constituting 60 percent of enrollments at post-secondary educational institutions. Emirati women are also increasingly assuming positions of power, with women taking 60 percent of government positions, including 23 percent of UAE’s parliamentary seats. Admittedly, the UAE has much to do before women are fully integrated in the country’s labor market, but SATC2’s portrayal of the subordinated Emirati woman is nevertheless grossly out of touch with reality.

Another, perhaps more compelling, inaccuracy is SATC2’s assumption that the covered Muslim woman is less “free” or independent than her Western counterpart by virtue of her modest clothes. Though the movie does, in a much discussed scene, show Muslim women throwing off their burqas to reveal designer clothes underneath, the assumption remains that the public display of modesty is somehow contrary to liberation.

As one of us discussed in a recent program on National Public Radio, “Modesty and Faith Connected in Many Religions”, this couldn’t be further from the truth. Covering up often means embracing a paradigm that celebrates female sexuality. Modesty voluntarily undertaken (as it in the UAE and, incidentally, in Morocco as well) is often employed by Muslim women to wield greater sexual prowess in the private realm. The burqa can achieve for some women precisely the sort of goal SATC is all about: female sexual independence. Without giving men easy access to the female body–whether physically or even visually–women keep their sexuality mysterious and compelling, helping them take control in private interactions with the opposite sex.

Creating a safe space for women to explore sexuality creates opportunities for identity formation unfettered by societal pressures. Without this chance to develop privately, female sexuality becomes cause of emotional weakness rather than taking its place as a source of power. The male-centric approach to sexuality in the West today pushes for an environment where women tread softly around commitment conversations and give way to casual sex as the most appropriate way to keep a man.

Because female sexuality isn’t as accessible in the Muslim world, men in these parts are more likely to pursue Muslim women on the women’s terms. Understanding, and highlighting, that critical aspect of the Muslim gender dynamic would have added to SATC’s celebration of women and their sexual self-expression. Instead of being befuddled by the seemingly asexual Muslim woman, the women of SATC2 would have been better off extending their bonds of sisterhood and learning some surprising secrets.

This article originally appeared in the On Faith section of the Washington Post.
Asma T. Uddin is Editor-in-Chief of Altmuslimah. Sarah Jawaid is Associate Editor of Altmuslimah.

5 Comments

  • ghina says:

    Well it looks like there are advantages in each of the domains.  In the private domain traditional/muslim cultures have the advantage for women…as long as women stay primarily in that domain, muslim culture is fine.

    However in the public sphere this is no longer an advantage, being covered only provides an advantage in dry desert settings, in the modern world or in humid areas it is not practical. You can’t really swim/hike/rollerblad unhindered. Here the western woman has the advantage.

    So rather than saying who has it better, they both do depending on whether you are looking at public or private spheres.  A concept that is no longer very relevant in the West.

  • Anjum says:

    asma, as a general rule i don’t read movie reviews when the reviewer has not actually seen the movie! but i will give you a pass, as i can understand how you couldn’t bring yourself to spend time and money on it (i assume). in fact, i didn’t go see it either! lol. while i was a fan of the SATC *series* (which was basically the OPPOSITE of what the SATC 2 movie was all about), i couldn’t bring myself to see the mess of man-obsessed and Orientalist cliches that SATC 2 was reviewed to be. Your article was great and especially good for the venue on which it was originally published. 

    ghina, i think you’re right to pinpoint the increasingly blurred line between public and private spheres as pivotal in this discussion. a large remaining part is, as asma has written, that “female sexual independance” has come to mean 2 vastly different rights: is it the right for a woman to behave sexually as men have been able to do (ie “i can proudly enjoy casual sex just as much as a man can!” or is it the right for a woman to keep her sexuality to herself as her own business?

  • ghina says:

    @anjum I think the plan was for female sexual independance was to take female sexuality out of the madonna/whore duality, create grays and take out the judging.  Instead it actually took the power away from women by creating “equal access” even though there are not equal consequences. 

    Women cannot behave sexually the same as men because frankly there are too many consequences that women must deal with that men do not.  By definition sexuality cannot be kept to oneself because, you know, there’s another person involved :-).

    Another consideration is that sexuality has an emotional dimension that women are far more likely to be subject to.  Men can compartmentalize it to just the physical, but that’s much more difficult for women, and it may be harmful when they do.

    I wish I could tie these statements together with a good wrap up sentence, but my brain is no longer working!

  • Anjum says:

    ghina, i totally agree that is why women’s lib started and NEEDED to start! it was much needed and deserved. i definitely don’t mean to say that women would be better off if we reverted to 1950s era behavior! unfortunately, as you said, biologically there are definitely uneven consequences to equal access. ok, that we’ can’t change, right? but we could change the social consequences, and in some areas of American society it is completely okay for women to be as promiscuous as men if they wish, but iw ould venture that mainstream american society is not exactly okay with women embracing their inner “playa.” speaking of which – just the labels that we have for sexually & socially active men and women say everything: “player/playa,” “casanova” (lol does anyone say that, actually?), or “stud” versus “slut,” “skank,” “wh*re.” etc.

    By definition sexuality cannot be kept to oneself because, you know, there???s another person involved :-).
    lol, yes, i meant *in private*… 🙂

    just to be clear, i think we’re agreeing with each other, don’t you?

  • ghina says:

    Yes of course!  We are not even in “violent” agreement 🙂

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *