The roles of women in Middle Eastern culture have varied throughout the decades,

ranging from being delicate creatures in need of protection to becoming blind

soldiers suddenly dedicated to a misleading cause. This is most noticeably depicted
in the graphic novel Persepolis, in which author Marjane Satrapi illustrates her
own memoir while recalling certain events during her childhood. As demonstrated in
Persepolis as well as in an article about radical Islam by Rola El-Husseini, called
Radical Islam’s War on Women, women in the Middle East are marginalized through
policies like being forced to wear the veil, not being allowed to obtain a decent
education, and being manipulated into performing acts of terror, all because
Islamic extremists and fundamentalists want to use women as vessels for whichever
cause or philosophy they deem convenient during that period of time.
Pssst... we can write an original essay just for you
Any subject. Any type of essay.
We’ll even meet a 3-hour deadline.
GET YOUR PRICE
121 writers online
First, women in the Middle East are forced to wear the veil to cover themselves
while in public. For instance, when Marjane Satrapi was once caught in her
adolescence by the Guardians of the Revolution, she explains that the job of this
fundamentalist women’s branch was “to arrest women who were improperly veiled” like
herself (Satrapi 132). To the Satrapi family as well as some other progressive
Iranians, the veil can be seen as a symbol of feminine limitations and restrictions
in their country. The veil that is forced upon them is used to constantly remind
women that they are not free or equal and that they need to be protected and
dependent on men as well as the government, ultimately giving the male-dominant
society even more power. In another instance, Marjane’s mother recounts a traumatic
event in which two fundamentalist men “said that women like [her] should be pushed
up against a wall and fucked and then thrown in the garbage.” (Satrapi 74). This
awful experience was prompted by Marjane’s mother not wearing the veil out in
public, further implementing the misguided mindsets and the repressive natures of
the policies concerning the mandatory veil. Consequently, the fact that Middle
Eastern women are forced to wear the veil highlights their representation of being
as empty of independence and individuality as much as their veils appear to be
empty black voids as well.
Additionally, the education women receive in the Middle East is either extremely
biased or exceedingly disparaged. For example, as Marjane states “I love the king.
He was chosen by God” to her parents, she explains that she meant that only because
it was written in the first page of her schoolbook (Satrapi 49). By indoctrinating
young girls in this fashion, Marjane and many others were already conditioned and
influenced by the government through their educations. In this case, the propaganda
consists of the government desiring support for the current king, and the earlier
these methods infiltrate school systems, the more inclined the children are later
in life to believe other, future authorities unconditionally as well. Later on in
her schooling, Marjane questioned her religion teacher about governmental policies
with political prisoners, declaring “how dare you lie to us like that” (Satrapi
144) after justifying it through a personal anecdote about her uncle being an
exception to the teacher’s obviously mistaken information. Even though she
experienced heavy fundamentalist influence during her childhood education, later
she also became more aware of that influence and learned how to resist it and
become her own individual self instead as she grew and matured into her teenaged
years. However, unlike Marjane, some of the other women around her may not have had
the same insight and upbringing as her, and instead fell victim to that same
manipulation, becoming pawns of the misguiding government. Accordingly, this lack
of access to decent education eventually leads to this unbalanced society in which
some women are therefore more susceptible to any lies and manipulation techniques
that are used by fundamentalists.
Finally, Islamic fundamentalists also use women as vessels for performing acts of
terror. For instance, in a “warped alternative to progressive feminism” (El-
Husseini), radical Islamist movements persuade women to view these acts of violence
as a twisted form of empowerment. By convincing some women of this, the rise of
Western ideals and influence is combatted by organizations such as the Black Widows
and other female suicide bomber groups, all of which are just used to utilize as
many bodies as possible for radical Islam. Furthermore, as times began to change in
the past couple of decades, extremists began to slightly switch their views on
gender roles due to “practical terms”, simultaneously letting more traditional
feminine values take a “backseat, unveiling a more cynical and utilitarian outlook”
in radical Islamic culture (El-Husseini). By manipulating these women into
misleadingly serving their religion and culture, fundamentalists have resorted to
using them as means of helping achieve destruction, treating them as convenient and
advantageous assets instead of actual human beings. Therefore, Islamic extremists
use any means necessary to reach their various and violent goals, which now
includes the once inconceivable notion of using women to help perform acts of
terror.
Need help with writing?
You can order professional work according to specific instructions and 100%
plagiarism free.
LEARN MORE
Both Persepolis and El-Husseini’s article clearly depict the sexism that exists in
Middle Eastern society and radical Islamic culture. Whereas Satrapi mainly focuses
on the non-violent side of the issue within the pages of Persepolis, El-Husseini
highlights these violent aspects of the issue within the contents of his article
instead. Essentially, women in the Middle East face various obstacles concerning
the veil, education, and terrorism, all while being represented as either fragile
objects or as deadly weapons: both of which are unjustly used as seemingly vacant
vessels that the radical Islamists utilize to fulfill whichever cause or ideology
they desire.