{"id":4415,"date":"2009-08-12T00:00:22","date_gmt":"2009-08-12T08:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/muslimahmediawatch.org\/?p=4415"},"modified":"2009-08-12T00:00:22","modified_gmt":"2009-08-12T08:00:22","slug":"milke-ing-it-another-paternalistic-editorial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2009\/08\/milke-ing-it-another-paternalistic-editorial\/","title":{"rendered":"Milke-ing it: Another Paternalistic Editorial"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Looking at the title of Mark Milke\u2019s editorial, \u201cThe 21<\/a>st<\/a><\/sup> century-style subjection of women\u201d<\/a> I have to admit that the first group of people that didn\u2019t come to mind was Muslim women. Maybe it\u2019s because Muslims are usually portrayed as being stuck in the middle ages. However, my first impression was wrong and the editorial was indeed about Muslim women. I guess Muslim subjection of women is both medieval and modern.<\/p>\n

Milke\u2019s essay is a throwback to John Stuart Mill\u2019s 1869 essay \u201cThe Subjection of Women\u201d. He tries to connect Mill\u2019s essay to the plight of Muslim women but unfortunately spits out a bunch of tired clich\u00e9s about Muslim women and the \u201cfreedom\u201d that we\u2019re denied.<\/p>\n

I got the sense that Milke was just insistent on Muslim women being oppressed and downtrodden even when he provided examples to the contrary.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve taught a number of university classes and the young Muslim women do exceptionally well. I don\u2019t know if that\u2019s because they have parents who push them to succeed, or whether they appreciate Canada\u2019s opportunities. It might be both.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Muslim women can\u2019t do well because they\u2019re internally motivated to do so. We can only do well when afforded the wonderful opportunities that only exist in great countries like Canada and when we have parents looking over our shoulders making sure that we hit the books. Excuse my sarcasm, but I find it surprising that a professor like Milke didn\u2019t realize how condescending this statement was the moment he typed it. His statement is not a compliment to his students at all but once more reinforces two stereotypes: 1) Muslim women are always under the control of their families 2) Muslim women are infantile and cannot be successful unless they benefit from a benevolent Western society.<\/p>\n

In the rest of the essay, which really was not that coherent, Milke goes on about Muslim societies being so horrible to women. Even \u201cliberal\u201d Muslim societies don\u2019t escape blame:<\/p>\n

\u201cFor instance, one young Muslim woman I know came from a relatively more liberal Muslim country but still prefers to not settle back home. Male attitudes towards her gender are the reason.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This statement groups all Muslim societies in a monolith while trying not to. In Milke\u2019s mind, all Muslim societies treat women badly. Additionally, this statement, as well as the whole of Milke\u2019s essay, also assumes that Muslim women are immigrants or come from an immigrant perspective. In Milke\u2019s discussion there is no room for black, white, or Native American Canadian converts or their children.<\/p>\n

Milke\u2019s editorial isn\u2019t all negative. He does give a shout out to Arab newspapers that print editorial cartoons decrying unequal treatment of women. But he found the cartoons on MEMRI<\/a>, which makes me wonder if he actually did any real research on grassroots movements to bring about gender equality in Muslim societies. Even Milke\u2019s accolades of Arab editorial cartoonists felt more like a pat on the head than a sincere attempt at solidarity with people genuinely concerned about gender rights<\/p>\n

I would have preferred if Milke had highlighted, in addition to the cartoons, the everyday efforts that women in all Muslim societies are making to create more equitable societies for both women and men.\u00a0 And this is why Milke\u2019s essay ultimately failed. His attitude towards the Muslim women and Muslim activists that he writes about is paternalistic. I felt as if he were looking down upon us, saying, \u201cThere, there. I know it\u2019s hard for you Muslim women, but once you and your men accept our enlightened Western ways, you\u2019ll be fine.\u201d<\/p>\n

That doesn\u2019t feel like someone sincerely reaching out at all.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Looking at the title of Mark Milke\u2019s editorial, \u201cThe 21st century-style subjection of women\u201d I have to admit that the first group of people that didn\u2019t come to mind was Muslim women. Maybe it\u2019s because Muslims are usually portrayed as being stuck in the middle ages. However, my first impression was wrong and the editorial […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":159,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[253,928,1301],"class_list":["post-4415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culturesociety","tag-canadian-muslims","tag-muslim-women","tag-stereotypes"],"yoast_head":"\nMilke-ing it: Another Paternalistic Editorial<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Looking at the title of Mark Milke\u2019s editorial, \u201cThe 21st century-style subjection of women\u201d I have to admit that the first group of people that didn\u2019t\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2009\/08\/milke-ing-it-another-paternalistic-editorial\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Milke-ing it: Another Paternalistic Editorial\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Looking at the title of Mark Milke\u2019s editorial, \u201cThe 21st century-style subjection of women\u201d I have to admit that the first group of people that didn\u2019t\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2009\/08\/milke-ing-it-another-paternalistic-editorial\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Muslimah Media Watch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-08-12T08:00:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"faith\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"faith\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2009\/08\/milke-ing-it-another-paternalistic-editorial\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2009\/08\/milke-ing-it-another-paternalistic-editorial\/\",\"name\":\"Milke-ing it: Another Paternalistic Editorial\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2009-08-12T08:00:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2009-08-12T08:00:22+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/#\/schema\/person\/0f29c3f91829abc0334396b957dd5c83\"},\"description\":\"Looking at the title of Mark Milke\u2019s editorial, \u201cThe 21st century-style subjection of women\u201d I have to admit that the first group of people that didn\u2019t\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2009\/08\/milke-ing-it-another-paternalistic-editorial\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2009\/08\/milke-ing-it-another-paternalistic-editorial\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2009\/08\/milke-ing-it-another-paternalistic-editorial\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Milke-ing it: Another Paternalistic Editorial\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/\",\"name\":\"Muslimah Media Watch\",\"description\":\"Looking at Muslim women in the media and pop culture\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/#\/schema\/person\/0f29c3f91829abc0334396b957dd5c83\",\"name\":\"faith\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d5cf03ae47bdead6646dc1e069ee0083?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d5cf03ae47bdead6646dc1e069ee0083?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"faith\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/author\/faith\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Milke-ing it: Another Paternalistic Editorial","description":"Looking at the title of Mark Milke\u2019s editorial, \u201cThe 21st century-style subjection of women\u201d I have to admit that the first group of people that didn\u2019t","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2009\/08\/milke-ing-it-another-paternalistic-editorial\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Milke-ing it: Another Paternalistic Editorial","og_description":"Looking at the title of Mark Milke\u2019s editorial, \u201cThe 21st century-style subjection of women\u201d I have to admit that the first group of people that didn\u2019t","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2009\/08\/milke-ing-it-another-paternalistic-editorial\/","og_site_name":"Muslimah Media Watch","article_published_time":"2009-08-12T08:00:22+00:00","author":"faith","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"faith","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2009\/08\/milke-ing-it-another-paternalistic-editorial\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2009\/08\/milke-ing-it-another-paternalistic-editorial\/","name":"Milke-ing it: Another Paternalistic Editorial","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/#website"},"datePublished":"2009-08-12T08:00:22+00:00","dateModified":"2009-08-12T08:00:22+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/#\/schema\/person\/0f29c3f91829abc0334396b957dd5c83"},"description":"Looking at the title of Mark Milke\u2019s editorial, \u201cThe 21st century-style subjection of women\u201d I have to admit that the first group of people that didn\u2019t","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2009\/08\/milke-ing-it-another-paternalistic-editorial\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2009\/08\/milke-ing-it-another-paternalistic-editorial\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2009\/08\/milke-ing-it-another-paternalistic-editorial\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Milke-ing it: Another Paternalistic Editorial"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/","name":"Muslimah Media Watch","description":"Looking at Muslim women in the media and pop culture","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/#\/schema\/person\/0f29c3f91829abc0334396b957dd5c83","name":"faith","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d5cf03ae47bdead6646dc1e069ee0083?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d5cf03ae47bdead6646dc1e069ee0083?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"faith"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/author\/faith\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/159"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4415"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4415\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}