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Culture Clash In the Western world, our impression of Muslim women is skewed. When women and Islam are spoken of, written of, or thought of in our culture, misleading and unnatural descriptions of veiling, physical and sexual brutality, and male oppression are created in our minds. It is our Western culture that shapes these false associations we believe and causes us to make hasty and unreliable generalizations about Islamic culture. The American Heritage English Dictionary defines culture as, “The totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought.” One’s culture shapes the morals, values, and behaviors that affect separate societies. However, in this complex world we live in, many different aspects of our life contain culture both past and present. With past cultures come traditions and with present cultures come change; two concepts that are difficult to compromise. Cities, states, and countries have cultures, governments and social organizations have culture, families, schools, sports, and religion all contain culture as well. The idea in this crazy, messed up world is to take all of the many cultures we embody, belong to, or desire to be a part of and mush them together to stabilize and better all areas of our lives. The problem is that cultures have rules, strict guidelines, and clashing standards. Cultures do not fit a perfect mold together in harmony. Problems often arise when religion is combined with other cultures. In past times, religion once took reign over all other culture containing aspects of our lives. But thru centuries of growth and change in all areas of life especially social aspects, humans have fought for ways to alter religious traditions and culture in order to include other existing cultures in their lives. This is not a negative trend, but rather a positive fight to keep the practice of religion going strong despite the many other responsibilities and commitments that fill our lives. Too often, Western thought puts down Islamic culture for values, ideals, and traditions that belong to other cultures. Cultures of specific geographic regions, traditions that belong to certain family cultures or economical values that tie into an area’s education or government are often to blame for the problems that exist. But because the one similarity these many cultures share is their religion, it is easy and logical according to Westerners to place the blame solely on Islam. In Nawal El Saadawi’s autobiography Daughter of Isis, we learn that Egyptian culture does not equal Islamic culture. Nawal El Saadawi has been suppressed and ridiculed for speaking out against the harsh restrictions placed on women in her culture.
Approximate Word count = 1679
Approximate Pages = 6.7
(250 words per page double spaced)
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