UCLA Center for the Study of Women

Through the recent mass production of violent stories in Muslim women’s life writing western, news agencies and publishing houses mistakenly operate on the assumption, that, in the words of Gayatri Spivak: “the white man must save the brown woman from the brown man.” Of course, I am no longer referring to the imperial and colonial “white man” who is the supposed torchbearer of civilized society, but also to first-world feminist scholars who seek to liberate Muslim women from what they consider as oppressive practices. What are the dangers of liberal discourse that attempt to shape and liberate another culture and community according to European and American values?