Shallowness of Feminist writing exposed - The Egyptian Blue Bra

Many issues in the world are intertwined such that you cannot separate one from another. As an example, you cannot separate Human Rights from oppression or even global hypocrisy.

Take the issue of Egypt. Is it about human rights and liberation? Or is it about Egyptians fighting against Western control, and hence, opening up the issue of hypocrisy of the West?

So when a Feminist slant is given to the Egypt issue, I am really beginning to feel that Feminists are just simple-minded one-track people. They see only from one angle - the misogyny angle. To them, something is either liberating for women, or oppressing women. Never mind that there are bigger issues that are tied to it.

Before I link you the Feminist-slanted article, here is the incident that sparked the one-track, one-minded, shallowness of the article.

Shocking Video: 'Blue bra' girl brutally beaten by Egypt military


So what do you make out of it? As a human being, isn't it wrong to kick and stomp on someone who is already down? Yes, the issue is Human Rights. But it can also be about hypocrisy. Because all over the world, this happens. Be it in America, Canada, Australia, UK, Europe, Israel etc.

In the West, the protests and police brutality is about Occupying Wall Street and anti-war demos. No one ties it to Feminist issues although women have been beaten like slave dogs. Likewise, the issue linked to this short video is about about liberty, oppression and hypocrisy. Not about Feminism and not about defiance against Islamic rule.

But Feminists being feminists, see issues only from one angle. The narrow, simplistic misogynistic angle. Here's that article.

Amid the misogyny and violence, one thing stood out: the blue bra

The blue bra. That’s what did it for me.

Yes, I know. There have been jillions of atrocities against women all over the world, many much worse than what happened to the young Egyptian woman who was beaten, stomped on and nearly stripped by the military during a demonstration. Aside from the sheer brutality, I think what got to me was that she was wearing this gorgeous, sexy bright blue bra. Under her abaya.

There was something so shocking about it, so unexpected. This person covered from head to toe demonstrated her beliefs through her choice of underwear. The blue bra said what I imagine her to be feeling: “I may be oppressed. I may not have rights. I may have to cover up my body and face. But you cannot destroy my womanhood. You can’t rob me of my femininity. You can’t take away my power.”

That blue bra, to me, was the ultimate symbol of women’s power, the one thing that threatens men above all. It makes them so crazy that over the centuries they have encoded it into their religions that women are kept down and denied the same freedoms that men have. There are very few religions where women have not been oppressed.

Men know that women’s sexuality is something they cannot live without; it is something that renders them powerless. Women can have babies, women can breastfeed, women are the lifegivers. The blue bra is a bold statement of that.

The blue bra resonated with demonstrators in Egypt. Some have replaced the eagle in the center of the Egyptian flag with a blue bra. When the incident incited a protest by women two weeks ago, the hashtag #BlueBra was used on Twitter to help organize it. More and more there are blue bra moments, not just in Egypt but around the world.

A young woman in Egypt who was given a “virginity test” when she was arrested last March has courageously filed a criminal case against the military. This week the Egyptian court banned virginity tests in jail. That woman should wear a blue bra.

A woman is running for president of Egypt. She should wear a blue bra.

In Israel there have been protests after a young woman was asked to sit in the back of the bus in an ultra-orthodox neighborhood. She refused and has become a heroine among moderate Israelis. She should wear a blue bra.

In the United States, a report out this week says that the number of sexual assaults in the military academies rose from 41 last year to 65 this year. All women in the service academies should wear blue bras.

In Iran, women can be arrested if they are not totally covered. Even President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, seeing the writing on the wall, is trying to promote attractive government-approved fashions for women. “Again we face a situation in which a small group will decide for all women what is allowed and what is not,” one Egyptian designer told The Washington Post. Iranian women should all wear blue bras.

The Egyptian woman in the blue bra has not come forward. She has been criticized for protesting in public and for not wearing more clothes under her abaya. (She was also wearing jeans.)

See how this Feminist writer missed the whole big picture and saw just a one off-the-point angle?


Some quick pointers about the article above -

The writer tries to allude a blue bra as liberation from "Islamic oppression". Frankly, I don't see the link. What a Muslim woman wears under her burka or whatever is none of society's business. This appears to be a lame attempt to link the Egypt issue as a Feminist one.

Then out of the blue, the writer brings up virginity tests, women in Israel, US military and Iran. Whatever happened to the horrific scenes of helpless citizens being stomped on by armed policemen? See the shallowness of a Feminist writer?

This is so typical of Feminist writing not just in blogs, but in journalism too. A tiny issue within a bigger issue made into a central point, then suddenly the discussion is all about oppression of women, societal patriarchy, and what not, linked to all over the place, that has nothing to do with the original issue at hand.

The "Blue Bra", which is the central emphasis of the writer, happens only for a few seconds. It was not like she had her clothes torn deliberately to be humiliated. It just happened. It could have been an old man who had his clothes torn, showing a green underwear. Furthermore, one policeman even had the sense to try to cover her modesty by pulling her clothes back on. Yet this Feminist see it as a Feminist issue?

So how did this end up as a Feminist issue in the first place? An opportunistic attempt by a feminist who can't break out from the box?


Biggest Issue is Islamization and protest against Western Hypocrisy -

Those of you who have followed the news on Egypt will know that this is not the first demo. The first was to remove Mubarak. However, following that, the army took control.

The Egyptian Army is not well liked by Egyptians either. They see the army as an extension of Mubarak, who himself is seen as an extension of US. There lies the real issue which the Feminist writer missed totally.

The issue is not about Feminism or oppression of women. It is about liberty. Liberty from the hypocrisy of the West which has been controlling Mubarak and Egypt's Army.

I have written a few articles about the first demo in Egypt. Here are two of them.

- Fellow Sporeans, I told you that you won't wanna walk like an Egyptian
- Singapore political scene is nowhere near Egypt's

The first demos last year was to campaign for the removal of Mubarak. After he was removed, the army took over. But the citizens don't like the army either. So they elect an Islamic govt. However, the army refuses to allow the Islamic Parties to form the govt. Hence, that's what the demos today are about.

The Egyptian demos are about liberty. It's about Islamization. It's about the protest against the Army, which is a Western stooge. It's about hypocrisy that the West does not condemn the refusal of the Egyptian Army to recognize that the people of Egypt want an Islamic Govt!

Here's the post I made about how even after the people of Egypt elected an Islamic Govt, the Army simply refuses to accept the results - and the hypocritical West World, who has been calling for democrazy, er I mean democracy, stands idly.

Hypocrisy of Democrazy Elections

How many times have we seen that whenever the people of the land were to vote in the "wrong govt", these hypocrites from the West either brand the new govt as terror groups, or stand idly if the newly elected govt is blocked by the incumbent powers that are aligned to the West? The latest example is Egypt.

Egypt's rulers: Parliament won't be representative

Egypt's military rulers said Wednesday the next parliament will not be representative enough to independently oversee the drafting of a constitution, and they will appoint a council to check the influence of religious extremists on the process.

The announcement followed a surprisingly strong showing by Islamist groups who took the overwhelming majority in the first round of parliamentary elections. The outcome caused concern among the liberals who drove Egypt's uprising and the military, which took power from ousted leader Hosni Mubarak.

"We are in the early stages of democracy," said Gen. Mukhtar Mulla, a member of the ruling military council. "The parliament is not representing all sectors of society."

Ha ha. The people voted and they overwhelmingly ditched the liberal western lackey govt into the drain. And the current interim govt (another Western lackey) says this is not representative?

Not first time Western Hypocrisy blatantly exhibited -

This is not the first time Western Hypocrisy is displayed in such unashamed manner. Currently, Hamas is the democratically elected govt in Gaza. But the US and its warmongering allies consider it a "terror group". Wazzat again?

In the 1990s, when Algeria went to the polls, an Islamic Party (FIS), was heading for a landslide victory. The incumbent govt however hijacked the elections and deployed military tanks to literally mow down FIS supporters. The West World stood idly.

After the Arab Spring and overthrow of Arab leaders, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt and now even Libya are heading towards Islamic governance. The West, self-proclaimed saviours of the world and propagators of democracy, are slow to welcome the change.

Why? Because the change is towards an Islamic governance. Not towards Western style secularism.


My Views -

The Egypt demos is about the Arab Spring. The Arab Spring is about a people in the Mid East and N African states, finally putting their feet down and taking control of their own future.

It is about liberty. It is about the fight against Western oppression, using stooges to control their country. It is about hypocrisy of the West, blaring their horns they support democracy. But when that democracy means a govt that they do not like, their support stops. That is the big issue.

What blue bra?

Unfortunately, one Feminist sees it from a tiny, simplistic viewpoint. Why do Feminists always do things that reinforce the idea Feminists can't think outside the Feminist box?