As a feminist of Egyptian and Muslim descent, my life's work has been informed by the belief that religion and culture must never be used to justify the subjugation of women.
Mona EltahawyRead
I'm no fan of Sarkozy, but I support a ban on face veils because they erase women from society and are promoted by an ultra-conservative ideology that equates piety with the disappearance of women.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote critiques the face veil as a symbol of women's oppression under ultra-conservative ideologies.
Mona Eltahawy argues that face veils serve to marginalize women from society, viewing them not as individuals but as symbols of piety dictated by a conservative agenda. In her perspective, the acceptance or promotion of such veils runs contrary to the ideals of gender equality and societal visibility, condemning practices that erase women's presence and contributions in public life.
Themes
Face VeilWomenSocietyOppressionIdeologyPiety
In practice
Example use cases
During a discussion on women's rights and freedoms in modern societies.
More from Mona Eltahawy
All quotes βIt is the harassers and assaulters who make us 'look bad,' not the women who have every right to expose crimes against them.
Mona EltahawyRead
I can write about my culture and religion because I am a product of both. Even when I'm accused of giving ammunition to the Islamophobic right, in the struggle between 'community' and 'women,' I always choose the women.
Mona EltahawyRead
I believe at the heart of any revolution for social justice and human dignity are consent and agency, the unequivocal belief that I own my body - not the state, not the church/mosque/temple, not the street and not the family.
Mona EltahawyRead
I will never ally with Islamophobes and racists. But in the choice between 'community' and Muslim women, I will always choose my sisters.
Mona EltahawyRead
I detest the niqab and the burka for their erasure of women and for dangerously equating piety with that disappearance - the less of you I can see, the closer you must be to God.
Mona EltahawyRead
Similar quotes
The struggle of life is one of our greatest blessings. It makes us patient, sensitive, and Godlike. It teaches us that although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.
Helen KellerRead
To write without pay until somebody offers pay. If nobody offers pay within three years, the candidate may look upon this circumstance with the most implicit confidence as the sign that sawing wood is what he was intended for.
Mark TwainRead
Gratitude develops faith. The surest path out of a slump is marked by the road sign "thank you, God."
Max LucadoRead
Nothing is improved by anger, unless it be the arch of a cat's back. A man with his back up is spoiling his figure. People look none the handsomer for being red in the face. It takes a great deal out of a man to get into a towering rage; it is almost as unhealthy as having a fit. . . . Whatever wrong I suffer, it can not do me half so much hurt as being angry about it.
Charles SpurgeonRead
I am a part of everything that I have read.
Theodore RooseveltRead
Awareness, not deprivation, informs what you eat. Presence, not shame, changes how you see yourself and what you rely on.
Geneen RothRead