English 100
Restrictions of Western Women
In the article, “Size 6: The Western Women's Harem,” by Fatema Mernissi, is a comparison and contrast between the treatment of Arab women and American women. She depicts Arab women as wearing their veil to be excluded from the “public arena.” Mernissi describes Western women as freezing the quality of beauty in an image of youth. She concludes that women in Western cultures are the more abused in the comparison. I also believe that Mernissi's assumption is correct, that women in Western cultures live a more restricted, fake, and unnatural life compared to the Arab women. Three reasons why the Western culture is worse because Western women have so much pressure to look youthful, to look thin, and to stay with the current trends than Arab women..
Fist off women in Western cultures, such as America, will go through any means to have that young, youthful face that it undermines the true beauty that they already have. Women in Arab cultures wear a veil over their face which conceals them from the world. It hides their beauty from everyone aside from their husband. In my opinion it isn't right to force women to conceal their faces, but I respect their culture. When you think about it, isn't our culture the same way except women use products to hide their true faces with makeup? They use makeup for their eyes, eyebrows, nose, cheeks, cheekbones, and their skin. Makeup helps cover up any impurities that are found on the skin, and help give the women a more youthful appearance. What it actually does is hide the true beauty that they already contain. Women in Western cultures will use other products to help their appearance. They will use products for their hair to help themselves achieve a more youthful appearance. Most women in America go as far as dying their hair a different color so the can completely change their appearance whenever they want. Women in Arab countries wear a vei,l which not only conceals most of...