Female Modesty is Controversial in Debates on Gender Rights?

Why do you think the concept of female modesty is controversial in debates on gender rights?

There has recently been a large concern regarding the position of women in Muslim society, a concern that may have been triggered by the current wave of Islamic revivalism. Female modesty has been the main focus for this concern. While Muslims generally argue that there is an ideal gender prototype in Islam, non-Muslims tend to disagree, and emphasise that Islam generally oppresses women . I am going to attempt to study the tradition of veiling in regards to modesty of the female body, putting special emphasis on the new development of feminist notions within the Islamic framework, and will attempt to understand why there is such a clash between the West’s feminist ideology, and the Muslim role of women. It must be noted however, that the amount of external influences on modern thought as well as the personal concept of faith means that it is virtually impossible to give a conclusive answer as to why the concept of female modesty in controversial in debates on gender rights. I am going to look at why the West may see the hijab as a sign of oppression of women using anthropologist Mary Douglas’ theory of cultural boundaries. I will then show that self-identifying Muslim women have only just begun to provide new readings of the Quran to re-justify the veil within the Muslim faith.

Muslim behavior flows from the basic concept of hay’a, or modesty . The concept of modesty in Islam covers many different inter- social acts, and is addressed in Islamic teachings from a variety of different angles: Physical modesty, marriage, humility, and dress, all of which make reference to the use of clothing discussed in the Quran and the Hadith . Modesty i...

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