Friends, I can only describe that as fucking awesome.

Wow! Just wow!

Amazing.

dang! what a strong, brave, all-around kickass woman. thanks so much for posting this!

I'm a huge dork...I just gave the video clip on my computer a standing ovation. But Damn. That's Brave. Thank you for introducing me to this awesome woman!

My God. What an amazing woman. I wish we had more like her in all nations.

Wow, that's pretty much amazing! Inspiring :)

What a badass.

Wow!

Brave and brilliant! I hope to see more of her.

And damn if Arabic isn't a beautiful language (at least coming out of HER mouth).

I'm glad to see a woman standing up to an supposed authority on Islam. She's really a wonderful woman.

For every idiot out there that's fusing patriarchal bullshit with Islam and presenting it as absolute truth, there's another that is teaching the exact opposite. Here's a link to a Sudanese scholar, Hassan al-Turabi, who happens to disagree with this man quite a bit.

http://switch5.castup.net/frames/20041020_MemriTV_Popup/video_480x360.asp?ai=214&ar=1112wmv&ak=null

Thanks for spreading the word on this courageous woman! She and the women of Saudi Arabia like her need the support of women everywhere in this struggle.

That was awesome. I am inspired.

How brave of her. And if anybody says Islam abuses women... It's not true.. It just fell into hands of some morons like the man in this video..

What do you think he will arrange to have done to her for claiming to be a person who upholds her own honor. I am inspired by her at the same time I fear for her life.

I hate to rain on the parade, but I trust MEMRI's translations of anything having to do with the Middle East about as far as I could spit a piano, since they're an extremely right-wing, anti-Arab organization. They tend to be heavily in favour of anything Israeli from Likud rightward. Their translations are notably biased and inaccurate (see Juan Cole on the subject).

In other words, bully for her if that's what she's really saying, but I wouldn't bet on it 100%. Does anyone speak enough Arabic to do another translation? I don't; I was only getting a few words here and there, which isn't enough.

This is amazing.

I have to say that when I heard the guy commenting on how showing women's faces may tempt men, I just wanted to shout: "Why is it WOMEN'S responsibility not to tempt YOU? Can't you control yourself?!" But perhaps that is obvious. I have thought that many times in the past when hearing the reasoning behind keeping women totally covered up.

I really like how she claimed her own agency in her ability to protect her own honor.

I really am in awe of this woman and her commentary is powerful and awe inspiring.

I agree with spondee that listening to this woman speak Arabic is indeed beautiful, I was struck by how it sounded as well.

Thank you very much for this post.

Interrobang,

Thanks for mentioning that. I definitely agree with you about MEMRI. They also have in the past edited videos and presented them out of context.

i hope this translation is correct, as i very much want to throw this amazing woman a ticker tape parade as tho she is a returning soldier, hip hip hooray and all.

I applaud her over and over.

I have twenty-something Saudi Arabian students. Classes are over today but I'd be happy to ask one of them tomorrow about the translation if you all wanted.

Wow!

I would be interested to see an accurate translation, but I think her tone of voice and facial expressions say a lot regardless of the exact text. Very brave and inspiring!

It seems like the right-wing media and the Saudis would be in agreement on women's sexuality--so what would they gain from mis-interpreting this particular broadcast? Other than, obviously, make Arabs look bad. But why bother to translate it at all?

I really hope they haven't screwed with it, and that Nasser was as articulate as it seemed. Even if this particular woman isn't, I know there are women in every country in the Middle East standing up for their rights as women, both within Islam and also from a secular political standpoint.

It was ironic, given the "Men more emo for sex?" thread elsewhere on this blog today, that one of the critics featured observed:

"revealing a woman's face might lead to temptation and other things."

Hey! Maybe's he's read the Behavioral Neuroscience study :).

Sbanson and AnnaJCock: What makes you think that this may not be an accurate translation?

"I have to say that when I heard the guy commenting on how showing women's faces may tempt men, I just wanted to shout: 'Why is it WOMEN'S responsibility not to tempt YOU? Can't you control yourself?!'"

After having spent a half hour this morning with tweezers, a razor, and opaque foundation makeup I suspect part of the reasoning behind the "cover your face so your beauty doesn't tempt me" rhetoric may be *flattery*.

For a long, long time the Middle East has included a whole bunch of guys who sure seem to hate the sight of body hair on women and girls but have hairy mothers, settle for marrying hairy women, and pass those genes on to make hairy daughters. Middle Eastern women have been pressured to remove or at least cover all our leg hair, arm hair, facial hair, etc. since centuries before Mohammed, after all (Islam seems to have absorbed those customs the way Christianity absorbed Yule trees from European pagans).

So maybe some of these guys say "cover up, your face is so pretty I don't dare look at it" because they feel "cover up, your beard and moustache stubble is so ugly I don't want to look at it" but think we're less more likely to reject *that* rhetoric?

Absolutely amazing!

If this translation is accurate I would fear retaliation against her. Her father/husband/brothers might be "encouraged" to put her out of public sight, not so much for her honor but theirs.

And a woman who grew up in this patriarchal society, she surely knows this; she is a truly brave and inspiring woman.

"If this translation is accurate I would fear retaliation against her. Her father/husband/brothers might be 'encouraged' to put her out of public sight, not so much for her honor but theirs."

That might depend on which neighborhood, social circles, etc. they're in. For example, in Iran some subcultures wholeheartedly believe the government's take on religion and some other subcultures grudgingly observe the minimum.

For all I know, the men in her family faced more peer pressure to help her get a doctorate (a la the 'study study study study!' attitude some people assume all East Asian parents do) than peer pressure to keep her hidden.

Um, look, I don't want to get into this MEMRI thing too much, but I don't see what vile Zionist motive they would have to make us think that some Arabs are patriarchal and some are feminists.

In any case, I don't speak Arabic, but I know enough to tell they aren't making up the translation out of wholecloth.

Jessica - This lady is amazing, and a great woman, but I have found in the past that MEMRI is a highly selective organization which is largely intent on portraying Muslims as backward. One of the things, for example, missing in this clip is the responses by the other individuals to her remarks.

The goal of this video is to say, basically, that people in the Middle East are brainwashed, and hate women, and that's a gross oversimplification of the complicated problems in the Middle East, and even the status of women.

I applaud what this woman had to say, and I can assume that she's opposed by many men in the region, but I don't for a minute trust MEMRI or its intentions. No question, many parts of America and the Middle East are sexist, but there's a difference, as Edward Said famously said, between study for the purposes of critical evaluation, and criticism based on a campaign of overall self affirmation.

And based upon the history of colonization in the region, and other factors, there's a very real reason that feminist missionaries to the Middle East are regarded with the same hostility as the British, as importers of western culture.

It's important to let women in the Middle East speak with their own voice, and not understand their culture as being backward. This clip definitely shows the former, but I wonder if we miss the latter in a rush to applaud her.

She gives the impression of being awesome, and I really want to send this clip to everyone I know, but I think I'll hang fire untill I know a little more about the translation. Wracking my brains to think if I know anyone who speaks Arabic...

"I know what I am doing, and I know how to protect my honor."

Preach it!

Bowleserised - My girlfriend is an Arab Muslim, and can attest to the authenticity of the transaltion (more or less). But translations are really not the issue, it's how the tape was edited, it's how common the view of this Imam was, and its a lot of other things.

But this woman is very courageous and inspirational, no doubt about it. You just have to be careful with MEMRI. I recall one time they edited a debate with Wafa Sultan, and completely edited out the responses by other commentators, making it seem like they were dumfounded with the allegatiosn of Sultan, which was that Arabia is backward and the Western World modern.

Here too, it should be worth noting that the moderator of this debate as in fact a woman, so how exactly does one interpret this medium culturally and socially as a reflection on the depth of Arab society?

Hard to say. No doubt about it, sexism is alive and well in the Islamic World, but that's the beginning, and not the end, of the discussion.

"It's important to let women in the Middle East speak with their own voice, and not understand their culture as being backward."

...and to not understand their many cultures as being one culture!

"Here too, it should be worth noting that the moderator of this debate as in fact a woman, so how exactly does one interpret this medium culturally and socially as a reflection on the depth of Arab society?"

Good point.

Thanks Steven!

Oops, typo. The end of my first post in this thread should have gone "...think we're more likely to reject *that* rhetoric and less likely to cover up to follow it?"

FYI: I asked a Saudi female student about this and she said the translation was right on.

Interestingly, she's also a very liberal Saudi woman who rejects all the conventions, but she was upset about the blog. She asked why Americans were talking about (criticizing) her culture. I had no answer and suddenly felt like if she, a Saudi feminist, were going to say this, maybe it is cultural imperialisma nd maybe it's not my business.

Tara that's a really interesting point. I think the problem with the cultural imperialism argument is that it really means that culturally speaking, women's rights are relative. And that what's wrong in our culture (abusing women, lets say) could be permissible in another.

And by that same logic, one could argue that within our society, if one person's values say one thing, they are equally as valid as another, even if the consequence is a double standard or violation of someone else's civil liberties and rights.

I therefore think the cruxt of the issue is not whether we speak about Islamic and Arab rights among women, but in what context, for what purpose, and based on what information, we make such a discussion. So long as the discussion is about solidarity and understanding, for its own sake, and not a form of cultural snobishness and condescention, then I don't see a problem with it.

No matter what the context, I love hearing people speak articulately while obviously fired up. That can be hard to pull off-- I get the shaky voice sometimes, when the adrenaline kicks in.

"I think the problem with the cultural imperialism argument is that it really means that culturally speaking, women's rights are relative."

Steven, that is a can of worms. I could rephrase that as "the problem with the cultural imperialism argument is that it really means that culturally speaking, women's rights are relative to the ideals defined by western (white, middle-class, as the case may be) women." I think the cultural imperialism argument is about being aware of *who* gets to define women's rights and priorities.

She asked why Americans were talking about (criticizing) her culture.

But...we're not. We're talking about a Saudi woman who's talking about her country (which is not the same thing as culture). I don't understand--are we supposed to ignore feminism in other countries? Isn't that the kind of thing that breeds ethnocentric privilege?

We're talking about it because awareness of women's rights activism in other contexts and cultures is important to understanding global feminism.

I speak Arabic and the translation is spot on. It may be true that MEMRI TV is heavily slanted. I have had occasion to watch MEMRI clips from time to time, and I am apt to agree with such allegations. It is, however, equally true that Buthayna Nasser is inspiring, fiercely intelligent, and utterly fearless (and correct). I applaud her and her efforts. It is time to tear down every wall impeding equality for women, be they cultural, religious, political or otherwise. If a certain aspect of a culture is backward (and we all of us have these aspects the world over, every nation) then we must have the guts to come forth, as Miss Nasser has, and call for change. Particularly if that cultural tradition is harmful. We can no longer afford to wallow in ignorance and embrace outdated customs. Nor can we turn our heads from glaring injustice simply because it is "part of the culture."