Richa's Post #3

Two of the articles that stood out to me the most were "To Veil or not to Veil" and Lorde's "Age, Race, Class and Sex."

I found "To Veil or not to Veil" to be the most interesting because I have always wondered why some Muslim women wear the hajjab and some do not. I am an Indian girl and similar to Muslim culture, Indian girls have a lot more restrictions than boys do and have to behave carefully in accordance to how a boy may respond to them. For example, Indian girls are not allowed to date boys because parents feel boys cannot always control themselves sexually around women. In this same way, people in the Muslim culture believe women should wear hajjabs because the men will not be able to control their sexual desires around the woman. I also enjoyed this article because it compares the views of many different categories of Muslim women and their perspectives on wearing hajjabs. It really showed true feminism to read into those women who chose not to wear hajjabs for a variety of reasons even though their culture says they should wear them. This goes to show that not only the man can stand up for what he wants but a woman can as well. Many women shared their reasoning as to why they should or should not wear a hajjab and what it means to wear one. It interested me to read that the women wearing the hajjabs appreciated the respect men gave them rather than being upset that the men were not always giving them attention. I feel like this truly showed the pride these women have in their culture and the strength they have to look different from everyone around them.

The other article, which was by Lorde, had an equally interesting ad where she discusses the idea of the "mythical norm," an idea that Professor Messner also discussed in class. I would have to agree with Lorde's norm because this type of person was at the top of the hierarchy for many years. People believed that if a man should be any way, he should be like this man. In this, it is seen that people disregard other races, body types, etc. and rather behave in a way that indicates that there is only one perfect person in this world and that every man should try to be that person. Lorde discusses her characteristics and emphasizes that since she is so different from the norm of how a person should be, she is considered separate from society. She discusses how even though it is not formally said that she is different, it is apparent that she is. She also criticizes our society for not accepting the inequalities we have in our communities and rather hiding them by acting like they are not there. The best method to get rid of these inequalities would be to confront them and move past from them rather than become accustomed to ignoring them every day. This article interested me because I enjoyed Lorde's enthusiastic nature and her pride in her gender identity. It was refreshing to hear her honesty in accepting the way things are rather than denying the truth.

Situated knowledge, in my opinion, is not impediment to seeing the world clearly because it rather gives further insight to the knowledge a person may already have. A person's knowledge is accumulated as they go through life and experience different things. Each experience contributes and connects to help a person further understand more and more of the life around them. When a person gains a situated knowledge about something, it is useful in that the person can now use this knowledge as a piece to understand the world as a whole. The world and the environment around us can be extremely complex and difficult to understand but when someone has gained a situated knowledge of various aspects of the world, this knowledge can add up and give the person a new, innovative perspective to looking at the world. The person will be more insightful and can perhaps now understand certain things that they did not understand before. A drawback to this idea is that a person with a situated knowledge about something may become too close minded. They may begin to perceive the world through the eyes of this new idea and may inadvertently base their understanding of the world on the situated knowledge they have gained. In this, the person does not see the world clearly but rather sees the world at a smaller scale rather than the larger scale it has reached.