- MEELI

M.I.A. - "Bad Girls" (Official Video)

With its catchy pop beat heavily influenced by traditional Khaliji (a modern approach towards more conventional arabic styles of music)undertones and mischievous wordplay (such as the term “suki” in the chorus which means “car” in Arabic) Bad girls by MIA is popular in western media for shedding light on the ban on women driving in Saudi Arabia (which has now been lifted) and shaping the Western perspective towards misogyny present in the said “Arab” mindset. It has been both heralded and criticised for its portrayal of the Middle East and for the propagation of its stereotypes. Inclusively, the reception to the music video was certainly that of a mixed response; however, MIA did achieve to instigate a conversation.

There are several aspects to this music video that could be regarded as problematic. For instance, something that struck me was how MIA appropriated hijabs. She herself isn’t a follower of Islam and that’s vexed me for a number of reasons; beyond the scope of this composition but it got me thinking. Why did she choose to portray hijabs in that fashion specifically? Bedazzled, embellished and with those loud prints? Was she aiming to imply something? Or was it just simply misappropriation? I think not. Bearing in mind that MIA targets western audiences, it makes me think of the popular assumption of perceived oppression in Western culture involving Middle Eastern women.

The general notion surrounding hijabs in the west is that they are a form of oppression. Especially in the States, a consequence and a very harmful one at that is of the 9/11 terror attacks where Islam has been misrepresented in media and has normalized the frame of reference that all Muslims are radicalists, violent, terrorists, and fundamentalists who express regressive world-views. Concerning women, the Hijab which serves as an outward expression of Muslim identity, has often been symbolized as means of oppression, tyranny and exploitation in western nations. Islam, however, views the Hijab as a sign of women’s empowerment, modesty and liberation. 

The roots of this negative association began with Lady Mary Wortley Montague was an English aristocrat and a part of the Ottoman Excursion (which is modern day Turkey) in the early 1700s. She wrote of her experiences as a secular woman in an Islamic society. She heavily criticized hijabs and used it to justify her catholic beliefs and philosophy of religion in her book, “Turkish Embassy Letters”. So much for secularism I suppose. I would like to comment on the comparison of Catholic and islamic beliefs, in the same manner Mary Montague has compared them. A Christian Nun's habit signifies her piety, modesty, humility, renunciation of earthly pleasures and that she is married to God. A Muslim woman's head covering (which is just part of her "hijab" which actually refers to not only a head covering but modest dress and modest behavior), signifies her piety, modesty, humility, her rejection of immodest fashions, and her commitment to and submission to God. In theory, they are very similar but they are viewed and received with great significance by the general public and by practitioners of both of these religions. After scrutinizing Mary's commentary, the point she aims to make is simply inexplicable.

As I’ve briefly mentioned before, MIA’s music video confronts the ban on women driving in Saudi Arabia. A study was conducted to examine the differing perspectives regarding the oppression of women in the Middle East (which is obviously, highly generalized), comparing an informed Western female’s perspective and a Saudi Arabian’s perspective. The irony is that although many in the US may think of Saudi women as oppressed, the Saudi Arabians themselves revealed that they did not see Saudi women as oppressed at all, except that they were aware of the stereotype. This brought up a question in my mind: If women governed by Islamic law are actually oppressed, how do we know? What would it take for us to recognize true oppression? Are we getting too caught up in cultural indicators? Or is it that this is the standard for them? 

These questions urge me to revisit my assumptions and acknowledge how heavily influenced they are by the occidental, which I have inherently been conditioned to think in.

Why is the lack of women driving such a salient indicator of oppression in Saudi Arabia among individuals in the US? A Saudi woman explained that most families have drivers that reside on the premises. It is customary in their culture that the driver will take you where you need to go. Many women would love the idea of having someone to drive them places, freeing them to busy themselves in the car with other tasks. In a country like the US, driving is a means of physical freedom and hired drivers are cost prohibitive; it is almost like a rite of passage, when teenagers acquire their learners permit at the age of sixteen and are gifted cars on their eighteenth birthday.  Only among the extremely wealthy or in business interactions will one find a hired driver, and then it is a status symbol. For Americans, the issue of women driving in Saudi Arabia relates to the fact that, because women are not allowed to have driving licenses, driving is therefore illegal. Perhaps it’s the illegality that strikes foreigners as oppressive.

The general notion of most westerners when it comes to misogyny in the middle east is to think of it as an Arab problem; an issue of what Arab societies and its people are doing wrong. But is it really that simple? If that misogyny is so innately Arab, why is there such wide variance between Arab societies? Mona Eltahawy, an Egyptian-American journalist writes,"We have no freedoms because they hate us.  Yes: They hate us. It must be said.” The usage of the word “they” is especially abhorrent as she refers to the Arabian peninsula. Why did Egypt's hateful "they" elect only 2 percent women to its post-revolutionary legislature, while Tunisia's hateful "they" elected 27 percent, far short of half but still significantly more than America's 17 percent? Why are so many misogynist Arab practices as or more common in the non-Arab societies of sub-Saharan Africa or South Asia? After all, nearly every society in history has struggled with sexism, and still are. Just in the U.S., for example, women could not vote until 1920; even today, their access to basic reproductive health care is backsliding. We don't think about this as an issue of American men, white men, or Christian men innately and irreducibly hating women. Why, then, should we be so ready to believe it about Arab Muslims? A number of Arab Muslim feminists have criticized the article as reinforcing reductive, Western perceptions of Arabs as particularly and innately barbaric.

The question remains, was this music video- with its Grammy nominations (yes, plural)- that discusses an issue such as this really relevant or merely a poor generalisation and misappropriated aesthetics to appeal to the western mass mindset and to a white saviour complex?