The Sociology and Cross Cultural Perspective of Gender

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Abu-Lughod (2002), focusing on superficial issues such as female dress codes in the Muslim world not only detracts from important underlying social and political issues. The notion that Muslim women need to be "saved" is a relic of a colonial past. Muslim women may have no trouble reconciling traditional garb like head scarves or even burkas with life in the modern world. Even when life in the modern world for Muslim women takes on a different appearance than it does for Western women, higher principles such as social justice need to prevail. It is inherently arrogant to assume that head coverings and veils are symbols of oppression, signs that all Muslim women are subservient. Some of the more extreme types of head cover such as the burka are sometimes viewed as signs of social status in a community, meaning that women who wear these types of garments do so proudly and by choice.

Like other readings in the class, the Abu-Lughod (2002) essay addresses the difficulty with the concept of cultural relativism, in which culture is viewed as being almost sacrosanct at first, in order to gain the kind of perspective that allows for intelligent and critical thought.

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As Nancy Scheper-Hughes discusses in her analysis of the Brazilian infant mortality issue, the most powerful concepts in human existence such as life and death are all culturally determined. The common ground among all feminist literature on cultural relativism is that gender issues do need to be understood from a lens of respect. Yet at the same time, respect for differences should never overshadow meaningful matters such as actual social justice issues. The real issue is not the veil. Genital mutilation and political disenfranchisement are far more relevant topics, which draw attention to the real problems with overly liberal cultural relativism.

The question of whether or not universal values and norms can or should exist is one that plagues social science. On the one hand, culture provides color for the fabric of human existence. On the other hand, culture is too often used as a shield to permit injustices ranging from patriarchy to racism. When discussing the limitations of cultural relativism, understanding different values and worldviews is a crucial starting point......

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