Nesrine Malik argues in the Guardian that Western feminists’ concern for the plight of women in the Islamic world tends to derive from a narrow and simplistic conception of the latter.  Moreover, their activism, though ingenuous, is often counterproductive:

“Did you wear a burqa when you lived in Saudi Arabia?” a young woman I met at a party recently asked. I responded in the affirmative, upon which she inquired again: “But weren’t you outraged?” “Not particularly,” I said. Fixing me with an earnest stare she declared, “Well if you weren’t then I am outraged on your behalf!”

It’s tricky to respond to this with equanimity. The sentiment behind the utterance is undoubtedly a sincere and genuine one, free of any deliberate intent to patronise, but it was patronising nonetheless. This seems to be the initial turn-off when western feminism comes to the rescue, the blanket assumption that the victim has no volition nor can respond to adversity with the commensurate degree of outrage because she is so accustomed and desensitised to her own subjugation. It is a strange mix of protective sororal sympathy and smugness.

Read the rest of the piece here.