The European’s impulse to unveil Algerian women is an act of possession

Evidence

But there is also in the European the crystallization of an aggressiveness, the strain of a kind of violence before the Algerian woman. Unveiling this woman is revealing her beauty; it is baring her secret, breaking her resistance, making her available for adventure. Hiding the face is also disguising a secret; it is also creating a world of mystery, of the hidden. In a confused way, the European experiences his relation with the Algerian woman at a highly complex level. There is in it the will to bring this woman within his reach, to make her a possible object of possession. — Frantz Fanon, A Dying Colonialism, 152

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Colonial conquest history planted rape fantasies in European dreams about Algerian women; Colonial confinement degraded Algerian women’s bodily mobility and assurance; Algerian women’s seclusion made them core vehicles of anti-colonial resistance — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 1230 (+7 more)

Related

• In European dreams rape of an Algerian woman is preceded by tearing the veil. (similarity 0.93)
• Unveiled Algerian women unsettled European women by excelling at Western femininity (similarity 0.91)
• Colonial conquest history planted rape fantasies in European dreams about Algerian women (similarity 0.89)
• In European dreams, raping the Algerian woman requires first rending her veil (similarity 0.89)
• Colonial confinement degraded Algerian women’s bodily mobility and assurance (similarity 0.88)
• French unveiling campaigns aimed to demoralize Algerian men, not liberate women (similarity 0.85)
• Algerian women’s seclusion made them core vehicles of anti-colonial resistance (similarity 0.85)
• European women felt economically and socially threatened by assimilated Algerian women (similarity 0.85)
• European observers read the veil as concealing beauty that should be forcibly exhibited (similarity 0.85)
• Forced public unveiling drove Algerian women back to the veil in solidarity (similarity 0.83)
• Colonial doctrine treated conquering women as the key to destroying Algerian resistance (similarity 0.82)
• Algerian women’s traditional seclusion made them the hardest nucleus of anti-colonial resistance (similarity 0.81)
• The unveiled Algerian woman functioned as an essential operative in the revolutionary network. (similarity 0.81)
• Colonial prejudices sexualized and dehumanized the Algerian Muslim (similarity 0.81)
• Colonial unveiling campaigns functioned as psychological warfare against colonized men (similarity 0.80)

Broader Connections

• In European dreams, raping the Algerian woman requires first rending her veil #corroborates (0.85) — Frantz Fanon, A Dying Colonialism, 159
• Colonial doctrine treated conquering women as the key to destroying Algerian resistance #expands (0.80) — Frantz Fanon, A Dying Colonialism, 133
• Forced public unveiling drove Algerian women back to the veil in solidarity #responds-to (0.75) — Frantz Fanon, A Dying Colonialism, 212
• Colonial prejudices sexualized and dehumanized the Algerian Muslim #corroborates (0.70)