Unholy Matrimony and Unveiling Feminism in the Name of Modernity

In "Unholy Matrimony? Feminism, Orientalism, and the Possibility of Double Critique", Juliet A. Williams discusses how the West is quick to judge Muslim-majority countries and their societies and the hypocrisies that often occur. It is safe to say that Westerners, along with the media in the West, are quick to partake in orientalism and how "difficult it can be for those located in the West to disengage not just from orientalist constructions of the other but also from assumptions about the West as the seat of moral and social progress."(Williams 616-17) In reality, as Williams points out, Western marriages are not very different from temporary Iranian marriages. There is a level of hypocrisy when the West views itself as superior in the liberal and progressive arenas, but you cannot critique Iranian culture through a Western lense. The way Western media portrays women in the countries of Afghanistan and Iran as needing to be saved because they are being oppressed or used as sexual objects in temporary marriages is another hypocrisy. Here in America, plenty of women have temporary marriages, except here its called "living with your boyfriend". How is that any different than a temporary marriage? Western thought is imperialist; it is often considered the standard. The United States, however, is a poor example of equality. The wage-gap still exists, our sexual health is often looked over in politics, and we've yet to have a female President.

I personally feel that secularism is a neo-colonial manipulation of the West. It is a sign of progress if a country loses its religious identity, yet in the Pledge of Allegiance, Americans state: one nation under God. In "Unveiling Feminism" Afsaneh Najmabadi discusses feminism, nationalism, and secularism in the "modernizing" of Iran. It is interesting to see how unveiling is seen as a sign of feminism and secularization. That Iran, under Western eyes, was progressing. It is also interesting how women became the symbol of secularism in Iran an modernity and how the discussion shifted to the needs of women under Islamic interpretation. Why is unveiling seen as progressive when it can also be seen as imperialistic and neo-colonialistic? Is secularism really progress or is it conversion to Western standards? It can definitely lead to a wave of feminism and the reinterpretation of religion through the female perspective, which helps women have a stronger voice in their daily lives and in their own religion.