I just read this story from BBC News which seems to me to represent in microcosm several things:
1) It seems like this echoes discussions that the United States had many years ago. And the answers that our culture came up with surely, surely shape, no perhaps even created, this very conversation in the Middle East.
2) Rightly or wrongly, this influence of the West is one of issues that is at the root of the Islamic terrorism.
So, is this objectification or empowerment or both? Do Muslims have any justification in being angry at the West for such cultural influences? Are concepts such as propriety and modest hopelessly culturally relative or at least always culturally situated?
Lots of questions. I don’t have many firm answers. I do know that in cultures where there is not much overt suggestive material, such as in Pakistan where I grew up, even a little bit of suggestion can have a powerful effect. Should this be the norm/ideal? Alternately, is a more European view of nudity and the body, etc. appropriate and even healthy? What does Christianity inform us to do? Is its message different for different cultures?
Oh, and for reference, here are some Youtube videos of several of the performers mentioned in the BBC article. Pretty tame by today’s Western standards; way out there by Islamic standards, though perhaps not by pre-Islamic Middle Eastern standards, because there is the traditional belly dance after all. In the selections below, Nancy is a little more traditional, in her first video at least. Haifa? Well, she could give Shakira a run for her money.
Haifa Wehbe
Nancy Ajram
Nancy Ajram