Secularism, women’s rights, and more….all in a day’s work.

1. Secularism, women’s rights, and more….all in a day’s work.

2. Journal Share • Share with your classmates what you wrote in response to the articles. Which article stood out to you the most? Why? Did you agree or disagree with the articles? • How would you feel in their shoes?

3. Analysis • What does secularism mean as it relates to government, law and policy toward members of minority and majority faiths? • Should secularism mean exclusion of religious expression from public life, or should it mean non-interference by the government in religious affairs of citizens?

4. Analysis • How does this make you feel about the ideas and issues of personal expression and matters of conscience such as religiously motivated clothing, and to the role of the state regulating matters of religion, conformity, and conscience? • What other religious groups in the US are affected by such concepts and policies? (Think about the “What Would You Do?” episode involving turbans, or about Jains on Facebook)

5. What about you? • What if you were told no one could show a sign of their religion- for example, Christians could no longer wear any cross or religious symbol. What would you do? What would the majority of people do? • Why is this any different?

6. What about the Hijab? Women’s Rights • The following comes from the article “Defining Women’s Oppression: The Burka vs. The Bikini” by Lisa Wade, PhD. • Prior to the reading, what are your assumptions or preconceived ideas about this article?

7. Defining Women’s Oppression: The Burka vs. The Bikini • Many believe that the U.S. is at the pinnacle of social and political evolution. One of the consequences of this belief is the tendency to define whatever holds in the U.S. as ideal and, insofar as other countries deviate from that, define them as problematic. For example, many believe that women in the U.S. are the most liberated in the world. Insofar as women in other societies live differently, they are assumed to be oppressed.

8. Defining Women’s Oppression: The Burka vs. The Bikini • Of course, women are oppressed elsewhere, but it is a mistake to assume that “they” are oppressed and “we” are liberated. This false binary makes invisible ways in which women elsewhere are not 100% subordinated and women here also suffer from gendered oppression.

9. Defining Women’s Oppression: The Burka vs. The Bikini • I offer these thoughts are a preface to a postcard from PostSecret.  The person who sent in the postcard suggests that she’s not sure which is worse: the rigid and extreme standard of beauty in the U.S. and the way that women’s bodies are exposed to scrutiny or the idea of living underneath a burka that disallows certain freedoms, but frees you from evaluative eyes and the consequences of their negative appraisals.

12. What do you think? The Bikini or the Burka?