Western anti-violence legislation buys states leeway to surveil Muslim men

Evidence

Post 9/11, to put both gender and culture back into context, to see Muslim women less as sisters awaiting our help into modernity and more as subjects whose lives are profoundly affected by the West’s bid for empire, Western feminists will need to be deeply aware of the historical record. And we will have to refuse to come into being as subjects against women constituted as culturally different. This exploration of the geopolitical terrain in which we find ourselves illustrates the dire need to reject such explanations that locate patriarchy in pre-modernity and that position Western feminists as poised to help their Muslim sisters into modernity. As we shall see in the next two chapters, Western nations, pressed by feminists, have enthusiastically responded to the call to save Muslim women from their violent families. The enacting of legislation against forced marriages and banning of faith-based arbitration have enabled Western parliaments to claim the high ground as progressive and feminist. At the same time, Western states win the unqualified right to engage in practices of surveillance of Muslim communities, practices that intensely regulate the movements of Muslim men. — Sherene Razack, Casting Out, 250

Categorization

• ADDENDUM: Directly extends the ‘Complaints About Immodesty Go Way Back’ thread on how feminist and moral-panic discourse about Muslim women legitimates state control, and the sacrifice framing.