Belly Dancers and Burqas

All humans are guilty of stereotyping, as it is very easy to do. When i first entered the seminar, i thought it was going to be very boring. I was wrong. The lady that did the talking had a lot to say that opened up my eyes to new information.

Early Muslims were known for being scandalous and were often stereotyped as being belly dancers. They wore little skimpy clothing and danced around promiscuously - this is what American's think, anyways. The speaker talked a lot about Jasmine and her role in the movie Aladdin. She didn't wear much clothing and always looked "sexy".

Muslims today are depicted as being very conservative. We think they are forced to wear burqas, cover themselves up completely, and not say much. This is not necessarily the case. They chose to do this. The speaker showed a picture of an american lady wearing a skimpy little bathing suit, huge sunglasses and high heels. In the background of the picture, a Muslim lady was thinking it was sad that this is how American women have to dress. They leave everything exposed basically except for their eyes. In the same picture, the Muslim lady is completely covered up except for her eyes. The American lady was thinking how sad it is that they need to be completely covered. In reality, both of these ethnic groups have it all wrong.  Both of these females choose to dress this way, it has nothing to do with their power.  

Here is the picture.It is very interesting how cultures misinterpret each other.

This seminar reminded me a lot of the reading "Indian Father's Plea". The reading was about a man's son and how he was very misunderstood in the classroom. Many of the students were white and only understood their own cultures. Same goes for Muslims. Unless you know much about them, people have a hard time understanding why they act and dress the way that they do. We are so quick to judge and assume - and everyone knows that the definition of ASSUME is: make an ASS out of U and ME. I was made an ass out of when I listened to the Muslim lady at the seminar. She is obviously very educated on her own culture. When I found out Muslim women wear burqas simply because it is a part of their culture, not because they are forced to, I was suprised. I thought they lived in a male dominated world (like the picture above) and were told this is what they had to wear.

People all over the world make assumptions and stereotype. The seminar also related to the article "Unlearning the Myths that Bind Us". That article had to do with the different stereotypes children are taught at such a young age. http://www.nytimes.com/1993/07/14/opinion/it-s-racist-but-hey-it-s-disney.html this is an article about Disney. He was, obviously, racist against many different cultures. Disney created so many movies for young children. The movies depict stereotypes and judgement of all races. "Its Racist, but Hey, Its Disney" is a good read about the stereotypes taking place in society.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8q11sAg2zg <-- a video from the movie Aladdin which depicts the racism and sexism in the movie.

In order to stop stereotyping from spreading, people must be aware of different cultures- especially teachers! We will all have a better understanding of the people around us, if we have a little background knowledge of who they are, how they were raised, and what their beliefs are. Everyone is different, as everyone was raised a different way. It is important to try our best to not make assumptions on different cultures, and be open-minded. 

The seminar began with everyone writing on a piece of paper what comes to mind when they think of Muslim women. Most people that attended wrote things like "conservative" and "dedicated". By the end of the seminar, i think everyone left with the understanding that we all misunderstood Muslim women and were all so quick to make assumptions of them, as not many of us had any background knowledge of them.