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 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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote criticizes the niqab and burka for obscuring women's identities and promoting the dangerous idea that modesty is synonymous with virtue.
Mona Eltahawy expresses her strong opposition to the niqab and burka, arguing that these garments contribute to the erasure of women's identities in society. She highlights the troubling notion that diminishing visibility equates to greater piety, suggesting that such beliefs are harmful and reduce women to mere symbols of virtue rather than recognizing their individuality and complexity.
Themes
NiqabBurkaWomen'S RightsIdentityPiety
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about women's rights, this quote can emphasize the importance of visibility and self-expression.
More from Mona Eltahawy
All quotes →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.
Mona EltahawyRead
It 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
Similar quotes
Lat take a cat, and fostre him wel with milk, And tendre flesh, and make his couche of silk, And let him seen a mous go by the wal; Anon he weyveth milk, and flesh, and al, And every deyntee that is in that hous, Swich appetyt hath he to ete a mous.
Geoffrey ChaucerRead
Chess is a forcing house where the fruits of character can ripen more fully than in life
E. M. ForsterRead
I like these people swarming on the sidewalks, wedged into a little space of houses and canals, hemmed in by fogs, cold lands, and the sea streaming like a wet wash. I like them, for they are double. They are here and elsewhere.
Albert CamusRead
We need to recognize that the situation in Ferguson speaks to broader challenges that we still face as a nation. The fact is, in too many parts of this country, a deep distrust exists between law enforcement and communities of color. Some of this is the result of the legacy of racial discrimination in this country.
Barack ObamaRead
God is subtle but he is not malicious.
Albert EinsteinRead
My most resolute opponents believe that I am too visible, that I am a little too alive, that my name echoes too much in the texts which they nevertheless claim to be inaccessible.
Jacques DerridaRead