I haven’t run into Bad Jens before, which is a shame for me. It’s an English-language, Iranian feminist online journal. “Jens” means, roughly, “gender.” Bad means “bad,” and said as one word “badjens” means sly or disreputable.
The two pieces I just read – one an interview with performance artist Rbshapour, one an essay – both focus on the experience of Iranian-American woman living in Iran after spending nearly their whole lives in the United States. From the essay “The Practice of Control” by Nina Farnia (by the way, I suspect these links will go bad as soon as the seventh issue comes out; if the links don’t work for you, just go to the Bad Jens homepage and look in the archive in the sixth edition for these articles):
It is true that to be a woman out alone at night is dangerous. What else is new? I wonder if the world weren’t so dangerous for women, would these limits be placed upon our lives? Or is the world dangerous for women so these limits can be placed upon our lives? Regardless of the answer, in both cases my body is being controlled in ways that my male counterpart’s is not. And so I have to ask: Should I change my life so as not to accommodate the rapists and misogynists out there? Should I change my habits, my ways of life, because people “think things” Is culture and heritage so important to our lives that it should govern our decisions, even when we disagree? Is violence so prevalent?
In the United States, it’s all different. Just as in Iran, a girl is either easy, a slut, a whore, a prostitute, a nice girl, a tease, a virgin, a prude, etc. But different from Iran, these images and words are produced by television, the internet, movies, pornography. In Iran, the prominent image of the girl/woman is that of a nice, demure lady, protected either by her father or her husband. In the United States, the prominent image of the girl/woman is highly sexual: bouncing breasts in MTV videos, long-lasting makeup in Revlon commercials, plastic surgery ads in our newspapers, and let’s not forget, porn. These images often give the impression that this is how women want to be. I often had discussions with my male peers at college who seemed to think that women in porn videos enjoy what they do. But it is hard to believe that a woman would want to be partnered with an animal, or have a dick in every orifice in her body.
I came across this article while readnig a Ms. Magazine discussion board thread, provocatively entitled “we might mutilate our breasts and faces, but at least we don’t wear headscarves.” I particularly like Echidne’s comment on that thread:
The basis for all this stuff and the headscarves is ultimately the same, I believe, and it is women’s sexuality, as seen from the outside. The headscarf says that this sexuality is one man’s private property, whereas the body fixing says that this sexuality is all men’s property. I think that this sexuality should be the woman’s own property, to display or not as she chooses. Some women might still have surgery and others wear veils, but it would be their own choice.
The interview with Rbshapour was also interesting. Here’s a passage, from near the beginning, in which Rbshapour explains why she decided to move to Iran after spending her entire life since early childhood in the United States.
I wanted to know what it was like to go to a store, and not have the clerk follow me because I didn’t have blond hair and blue eyes.
TZ: And did you find that here?
RS: Of course not. Because the female experience here is very much like the experience of being a person of color in the America. And while store clerks no longer follow me around, there are other things at play here. They have to do with your mobility.
Re Echidne’s comment, (and I really love her blog site and have never seen anything she’s written that I have disagreed with before):
I am a Muslim woman, and I wear the headscarf. It does not signal that I am the property of anyone any more than my socks, or my bra, or my sweater do (although I do understand that in the US people weirdly analyze such things as sweaters, particularly when purchased by shopping Generals who are running for president, but whatever). It does signify that I pray the 5 daily prayers and the rather esoteric rules include that I should cover my head. And that I am too damned lazy to keep putting it on and taking it off so I just leave it on. I am tired of other people reading their own assumptions into non-Christian people’s modes of dress. Maybe it is just because I have lived out of the US so long I got this weird idea that what I wear is my own damned business and my motivations are none of anyone else’s (whether it’s body piercings or a headscarf).
Never heard of Badjens? Harumph, that’ll teach me from giving you links to good articles. Within a year, you’ll forget ever having read the magazine.
I love the magazine, Bean. It rocks. I’m passing the link on to people I know.
Bean, I am like a sheep, surprised and delighted anew at every sunrise…. :-D