The Fetishization of Islam: The Anti-Feminist, Anti-Liberal, and Anti-Human Rights Movement Corroding the West

There’s a lot of talk about what islam does or doesn’t represent these days. If it’s pro-women, if it’s capable of assimilating into western culture- if it even should have to assimilate with the west, or is it better for the two cultures to exist simultaneously. Today I want to discuss my opinions on islam- both how it exists in its own right, in the middle east, and how it is beginning to exist in the west.

 Before we get into this topic I want to make it very clear- I do NOT see this as a racialized issue. Islam refers to a set of specific religious philosophies that center around a singular deity, and the subsequent culture that has formed around it. This piece is not meant to target or criticize any person of Arab or Middle Eastern descent. I am not talking about racialized groups- I am talking about ideas that can be held by anyone. I also understand that not every person who identifies as Muslim will hold the ideas I am about to criticize. I will use the term Islam throughout because globally, the majority of self-identified muslims do hold extremist views. I understand that there are exceptions. 

So let’s get into it.

Islam is a misogynistic, homophobic, brutal relic of an archaic society. There’s no other way to say it. There are many- MANY other countries with similar laws, but to begin, let’s look at Saudi Arabia. Indisputably, Saudi Arabia is an Islamic theocracy. This means that their legal, political, and judicial system is based off of and directly influenced by a religious text. In Saudi Arabia, a woman can not legally travel without a male guardian, she cannot marry or open certain types of businesses without the permission of a male guardian. Although the law is murky, women face rape, beatings, social shunning and death if they so much as show their face and hair in public. 

But we’re used to this. We in the west are used to seeing women treated like this in other cultures and thinking, “Oh, but it’s their culture- it’s not my place to judge someone else’s culture,” 

Yes, it is. It absolutely is your place. You know why? Because the women trapped inside that culture can’t. Literally. Not in the way western women and minorities here are often silenced. They won’t be canceled, teased, or threatened online. 

They can be killed. 

Often in what is known as an honour killing, which is perpetuated by their own family. And more often than not, the family is not brought to legal justice.

Imagine if it were any other group but women experiencing this. Imagine if, say, Black people couldn’t leave the house in a predominantly white culture with their faces showing. And then imagine that some ignorant, backwards apologetics claimed that it was a sign of respect. That really, not being able to show your face is because you’re too special and pure, and the other race doesn’t deserve to see you. 

Sounds like bullshit, doesn’t it?

I had a teacher- yes, an actual, certified University professor- in a class titled  Gender and Society no less, try to claim that Islamic societies are more progressive than western countries because women are so revered, they don’t even have to leave the house. 

Yeah, you read that right. 

My professor said that. My UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR. In what was essentially a Gender Studies class. That I pay thousands of dollars a semester in order to attend. This is sickening. Absolutely sickening. This teacher was preaching misogyny. 

So what can be done? How can we in the west prevent the influx of fundamentalist Islam?

We need to talk about it. Frequently and honestly. We need to elevate the voices of people, especially women and girls, who have escaped We need to recognize misogyny for what it is: vile.