Beyond the Veil: Male-female Dynamics in Modern Muslim SocietyFrom the writing of her first book, Beyond the Veil: Male-Female Dynamics in Modern Muslim Society in 1975, Mernissi has sought to reclaim the ideological discourse on women and sexuality from the stranglehold of patriarchy. She critically examines the classical corpus of religious-juristic texts, including the Hadith, and reinterprets them from a feminist perspective. In her view, the Muslim ideal of the silent, passive, obedient woman has nothing to do with the authentic message of Islam. Rather, it is a construction of the 'ulama', the male jurists-theologians who manipulated and distorted the religious texts in order to preserve the patriarchal system. Mernissi's work explores the relationship between sexual ideology, gender identity, sociopolitical organization, and the status of women in Islam; her special focus, however, is Moroccan society and culture. As a feminist, her work represents an attempt to undermine the ideological and political systems that silence and oppress Muslim women. |
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User Review - tole_lege - LibraryThingThis is a remarkably accessible book, for the western reader who is interested in understanding (or beginning to understand) the dynamics of modern Muslim society - it is written from within, but with the western reader in mind. Read full review
Contents
Introduction to | vii |
A Note to the Western Reader | 7 |
Part One The Traditional Muslim View of Women and | 25 |
Regulation of Female Sexuality in the Muslim | 46 |
Sex and Marriage Before Islam | 65 |
Moroccan Data | 89 |
Sexual Anomie As Revealed by the Data | 97 |
Husband and Wife | 108 |
The MotherinLaw | 121 |
The Meaning of Spatial Boundaries | 137 |
The Economic Basis of Sexual Anomie in Morocco | 148 |
Womens Liberation in Muslim Countries | 165 |
Notes | 179 |
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Common terms and phrases
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Bibliographic information
| Title | Beyond the Veil: Male-female Dynamics in Modern Muslim Society Volume 423 of A Midland book |
| Author | Fatima Mernissi |
| Edition | revised |
| Publisher | Indiana University Press, 1987 |
| ISBN | 0253204232, 9780253204233 |
| Length | 200 pages |
| Subjects | › Social Science / Women's Studies |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |