"Feminists' racism in the guise of equal rights to men and women" written by Sadequzzaman Sadik

"Feminists' racism in the guise of equal rights to men and women"

                               Sadequzzaman Sadik

          Dr. Craig Considine---  an American scholar, global speaker, media contributor, sociologist, teaching at the Department of Sociology at Rice University---remarked, " Whether people like it to hear it or not, Prophet Muhammad( peace be upon him) significantly improved things for woman. He outlined rights for them to own property, seek an education, pursue a divorce, and inherit family titles. He stood for "women's rights" long before they become fashionable. "' To work for 'women's rights' and to become a 'feminist' aren't identical. A man or woman maybe a 'feminist' but s/he mayn't have basic human qualities, while a man/woman--- who doesn't interwine him/herself with the feminist movement--- can work for equality or equal rights of men and women, and might protest the violence and torture upon women by particular men in society.

        It's undeniable that women are being oppressed from ancient ages to present days. Women are oppressed by both--- male and female.  Animals have instincts. Mankind is called 'the greatest of all creations'. Why? The only difference between mankind and other animals is 'conscience' or the power to suppress inborn instincts. Some human can supress inborn instincts --- as for example, to violate human rights, , to kill, to inflict pain, to torture, to repress, to  opress, to envy other animals etc.---- but others can't. All these wrongdoings are done by particular individuals, not by religions of the world. If an individual is responsible alone,  why some men/women attack a religion for its followers' own wicked deeds and how much is it rational or reasonable to stand against the religion? Possibly this is a form of 'hypocrisy'.  Our hypocrisy is covered with a mask,  "a manner or an expression that hides your true character of feelings". ( Oxford Advanced Learners  Dictionary, 9th edition)

For human equality men and women must work together. Kazi Najrul Islam---the greatest poet, novelist, dramatist of Bengali literature---once said that all noble and great deeds are done equally by men and women. And there should be no discrimination regarding colour, religion, caste, nation and status of living or class. But discrimination, inflexibility and controversy go with  Bangladeshi or Bangla speaking feminists. Is there anybody who can deny  "white supremacy" or " white feminism" existing in the Western countries? No. Just like that racism, class distinction, secularism or atheism  in the name of feminsm exist in Bangladesh, broadly speaking in the Indian subcontinent. Bangla speaking feminists believe that 'to be a feminist one must leave one's religion behind'. Possibly Bengali feminists forget the history of 'Muslim Feminism' in the Middle East and Western world. Does 'Muslim Feminism' exist? Yes, undoubtedly! Below is a statement of  Marianne Hafnor Bøe, associate professor of religious studies at Department of Cultural Studies and Languages at University of Stavanger and author of  'Feminism in Islam’:

                         "Many people do not know that there is such a thing as Muslim feminists. My general impression is that there is very little awareness of it."

“I think that the history of feminism is often presented through an American or European lens. This book(Feminism in Islam) may help to demonstrate that feminism is not just a Western, secular phenomenon. Organised feminist movements were established in the Middle East in the early 1900s, at about the same time as in Norway,” Boe says. American Amina Wadud( a feminist woman)  published a book in 1992 ' Qur’an and Woman', and Marianne Hafnor Boe commented on the book, "This book inspired many people, and it has become a Muslim feminist manifesto".

           If, now, one thinks that you can't be a true feminist until you diapose of religion, it might undoubtedly be wrong. But Bengali feminists are nowadays seen to dispose of religion. It seems they want to sink in the sea of oblivion that Begum Royeka Shakhawat Hossain was the greatest Bengali Muslim feminst who had deep faith in religion/Islam and instead of critisizing her religion/Islam she talked about patriarchal system, oppression to women by Bengali Muslim society. She worked for equality, equality in the society, and for human rights with her full consciousness and conscience. She dreamed a state in her "Sulatana's Dream"--- an influential short story on feminism--- in which state women will govern men, men will be confined to the four-wall of rooms and will taste the bitterness of life to be confined somewhere, then men must understand how wrong they were to confine women within the four walls of a room. She critisized her society in this way, not blaming and giving hate speeches against the men and women of faith in God, not coming out of her traditional/Bengali dresses preferring them to very short dresses culturally fit for the West.

But  the feminists,here, not only leave their religious doctrines behind but also attack the people of faith in God. Islamic minded or religious men are targeted more. Islamic preachers, students, teachers and scholars are blindly more blamed than others for inequality between men and women in society. The feminists have some demands that can't wo with the Bengali culture. Though a culture is an important part of a country, the feminists are reluctant to follow. As for example, Bangladesh is an about 90% Muslim majority country where culturally a woman must be hated who wants to put a very small portion of clothes on body--- only an undergarment  or short underpants , or very transparent dresses that make those undergarments visible.

Secondly, they want to have sex freely; freely, wherever they wish with whoever they like as if they had no shame ever.

Thirdly, they demand many women brothels in Dhaka, Bangladesh's capital. In addition to they have many more demands:

men-brothels for women, no law of marriage and pregnancy without any consent from women, to talk openly about period between children and mother, and the like.  Not only men but most of the Bangladeshi women hate their demands. As their demands might cause 'culture-clash'. The culture, here, plays different roles than the West.

          When someone speaks against their sick-demands,  he/she is labelled 'fanatic' by the feminists and then they attack Islam and its followers with harsh words. Taslima Nasreen, a Bengali controversial woman writer,  is one of them who proudly spreads atheism and gives hate speeches against Muslims. She blames not the individuals who torture and violate women's rights but their religions. She means it's not a person but his/her religion is responsible for inequality in society. Probably she and her fellows love to wear the mask of hypocrisy and so they agreeably  spread racist ideologies ignoring the fact that according to several of the Muslim feminists, Islam is originally a religion that supports women’s rights. Some even claim that Muhammad was a first feminist, as one example is given by Dr. Craig Considine. According to Kjerstin Gjengeda , "In the 1990s, Islamic feminism experienced new fervour" though Mariana Boe traces Islamic feminism back to 1900s in Lebanon, Egypt and Iran. American Amina Wadud( an American Muslim philosopher, and Muslim feminist) contributes a lot to Feminism publishing her feminist book Qur'an and Woman in 1992."

       To deal with the feminists' demand of brothels for women, it's undeniable in Bangladeshi context, even worldly, that "Behind every whore there's a sad story". The sound of sufferings and sadness of those humans( the prostitutes) is unheard as the sound doesn't reach our ears. Women are heavily oppressed by savage-men-women in brothels. " Bangladeshi brothels like those in Faridpur are prisons with invisible doors in which women are forced into a vicious cycle of slavery and social exclusion. Whose chains are hard to break", Marco Simoncelli express these words in his article entitled ' From Bangladeshi brothels, the voices of the prostitutes trapped in the prison of sexual slavery.' The words of Marco exemplify the country's tragic picture of brothels. Marco reports in his article that one sex worker named Tompa who explained that she had to give most of her earnings to her madame, and who didn't want to give were  beaten or locked in their rooms with no foods for days. Hasina Akter Lovely, a lawyer, said that the women in the brothels live a truly miserable life.

 Ali Ahsan and Pragna Chakma conducted a research in which they talked about 'modern slavery across the world', and they said that 'half of the victims' of 40.3million people are living under 'forced labour', and the second half on sex-slavery. They call 'sex trafficking' as 'modern slavery.' In lieu of  abolishing this 'modern slavery',   Bangla speaking feminists demand many more brothels. Brothels for men. Brothels for women. 'What a hypocrisy here is in the guise of women rights!''   

       To speak about the feminists' cultural claims,  Mariana Hafnor Boe asserted that Pakistani Asma Barlas--- a Pakistani-American writer, academic and a feminist. "Her specialties include comparative and international politics, Islam and Qur'anic hermeneutics, and women's studies", Wikipedia.com---who maintains that the term ‘feminism’ has been so closely connected to imperialism and Western colonisation of the Middle East that it becomes difficult to use in a Muslim context.”

 But Indian subcontinent or Bengali feminists prefer undergarments and underpants or  very transparent dresses to their own cultural tastes in a Muslim context like Bangladesh. Many countries of the world---as for example, Burma, Bhutan, Nepal, Nigeria, Kenya and so on--- still follow their traditional dresses. Kaiser Haq, professor of English at Dhaka University, composed an ode entitled 'Ode on the Lungi.' Lungi is a traditional dress of Bengali people. He inspired the Bengalees to wear Lungi and inspired to avoid 'Cultural hegemony':

"Hundreds of millions

from East Africa to Indonesia

wear the lungi, also known variously

as the sarong, munda, htamain, saaram,

ma'awaiis, kitenge, kanga, kaiki

They wear it day in day out,

indoors and out".

 Feminists can wear the Bengali traditional dress, Lungi, in place of following the West blindly, in place of the West's undergarments.  Lungi has multiple facilities and utilities  as Kaiser Haq says in the poem. The Bengali feminist women now sing with Kaiser Haq we are " LUNGI ACTIVIST!".

 Many African writers protested the use of colonizers' languages, traditional clothes and ideologies. Even in Literature. They created 'protest literature' not to be mixed with settlers or colonizers' ideologies. Colonizers ideologies, today's white supremacy, white feminism and oppression of white and upper class women on the black and lower class women are identical; differences are hardly seen.

Do white feminists opress black women? Yes, they do. What's a "White Feminism"?

                     "It is a racist ideology that claims to speak for all women while ignoring the needs of women of color and suppressing our voices", says Monnica T. Williams, Ph.D.

                      "White Feminism exists to promote the comfort and safety of middle-class and affluent White women", Ortega, M.

Monnica Williams also mentions that 'Black women' die giving birth to children and their mortality rate is 'four times the rate of white women.'

"Research shows that doctors have biases against Black patients and are less likely to engage in cooperative, patient-centered care." These are the words of FitzGerald, C., & Hurst, S.

           What I want to say is that "there" exists white supremacy of women, "here" is class-distinction. The feminists work for equality between men and women, as they claim. But some newspaper headlines and discussions give opposite pictures to their claims. The news must arise heartbreaking sad-feelings of elite class women's barbarity, savagery. Following are some examples:

       👉Housemaid OPPRESSED in human rights activist's house.

...hundreds injury marks on the teenage-girl's body. The housewife used to beat the girl over trivial matters. ( Bangla News 24.com)

    👉 Inhuman torture on House help at Uttara in Dhaka: a case filed against bourgeois couple. Bourgeois housewife Sajeda most often poured hot oil on the female child's face and body. ( Somoy TV)

  👉Housekeeper arrested for repression on housemaid in Fatullah, Narayanganj.

Hundreds of injury marks on the victim's body. The housekeeper, Selina, used to beat the girl and burn with hot Khunti( a utensil made of iron used to cook) without any causes.( The Nayadiganta, Bangla Newspaper )

   👉Inhuman torture on housemaid in Chattogram. The house help had many torture marks. She was burnt with hot Khunti, and cut her body with knives. ( Notun Somoy)

   👉Domestic help brutally tortured by a woman lawyer in Chattogram city. 

( CT News Bd)

  👉Women oppression by feminist leader! ( News 24.com) This news was published in many newspapers and TV news.

 Complains of brutal torture against a  feminist leader, Syeeda Sultana Anny, have become public. She used to beat her housemaid,Sabrina, and threat her not to disclose the feminist and human rights activist's savagery. Sabrina's eyes are under risks to be blind, and the torture on her body affects her health as she looks, now, like an old woman. Sabrina has been hospitalised. Sultana Anny used to give talks on Television-Talk-Shows on humanity and human rights.

 The victim, Sabrina, posted a Facebook status on her own ID. The post looks like:

How can mankind be so fierce in this critical COVID-19 time? Having born in poverty line and become poor, I am forced to be silent about inhuman torture on me. Police will not also  listen to me as they work for the rich and Bourgeois, not for poor. ( Bangla News 24.com: 17 April, 2020)

  👉Another woman, a colonel's wife, Ayesha Latif, used to oppress her domestic help. The news came in the Prothom Alo, Bangla leading newspaper. Her Barbarity gets disclosed when the victim is under heavy risk of living more for inhuman torture on her body. Her appearances become changed due to heavy torture.

 To defend Ayesha Latif,  Supriti Dhar---a feminist leader and a member of Women Chapter, a platform to write feelings of feminst women---- wrote an article on the page entitled, " When Housemaid Wants to Become Housekeeper". Her article-title exemplifies that it's not inhuman, barbarous, illegal to beat a woman of lower class. As Ayesha Latif is of upper class, she can't be responsible for the torture and pain inflicted upon the house help as she is a lower class woman.

          Humans support the victim and want justice for her, but feminist women and human rights activist women defend the criminals and they never hesitate to post  " When Housemaid Wants to Become Housekeeper". Supriti Dhar meant that Sabrina, the domestic help, was beaten is in no way wrong, housemaids are only housemaids, they can never become owners and dine with us at the same table. Langston Huges once hoped that the black people of America ( broadly all over the world) will one day dine with white people at the same tables and Hughes looks to a future of equality in his poem, I, Too:

"I am the darker brother.

They send me to eat in the kitchen

When company comes,

But I laugh,

And eat well,

And grow strong."

"Tomorrow,

I’ll be at the table

When company comes.

Nobody’ll dare

Say to me,

“Eat in the kitchen".

Bangali speaking feminists don't hope a future of equality. For them, words speak not actions: Shakespeare wrote that words do not speak but actions do speak. Women are oppressed in brothels, oppressed in Upper class women/ feminists' houses, raped by savages, killed by monsters. Bengali feminists are hardly seen in the streets with placards of " Equality" " Human rights" when the victims face the problems of class--- poverty line, lower status in society, faith in God and so on.

        Had Karl Marx been alive he would have struggled with his level best to drive these opportunists away, far away from civilized nations. Neither Marx nor Hughes is in Bangladesh to sing the songs of the marzinalized women, to look for a society based on equality. Some are there, covered their faces with masks. Masks of equality, people hardly know which equality it is! Presumably the equality of coming out of the rooms, of doing work with men; the equality of not to have servants of own husbands! But the equality, equality of not to arise fingers when women are made sex-slaves, commercial products, when they serve  foods with various people on restaurants, and when they are molested by monsters on transports and offices, when they are allured to take part  in 'Beauty Contest' as if the white skin people/women were only humans who have power in society to change it . What about the black people? Why aren't they proposed to take part in the 'Beauty Contest' and thought as powerful as the white?

      What have the feminists' sights on is to blame Muslims for an unequal society, to blame Islam, to have freedom of wild sexuality, to come out of houses for serving others but not to serve their own husbands, to be commercial products, to oppress the lower class women who have no rights to become 'housekeeper' and who will only serve their mistresses and their children.