Quote:
Originally Posted by Cynic
I think the difference between a woman living in America and a woman living in Tehran is going to be too significant to be...bridgable. What can we as middle class white Americans really know about the the ideology, the culturaly based instincts for survival...any of that? When Azar Nafisi wrote the book, I don't think she intended to convey Sanaz's world as she walked home (pg 26-27) to a solely male audience, but rather to non-Iranian people in general.
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Indeed - the origins of my thoughts are as you describe them - what can I, as an American (or any other non-Islamic nationality) male know of this culture. So in that sense I would defer to women, as I believe women of whatever culture would have a closer connection to the people in the book. Why? Because what's described in the book is an extreme, yes, but it's also an extreme along a line of control as to what women should wear, and how women should act that extends into supposedly enlightened nations. (Waif-thin anorexic models anyone?)
And I also agree, Nafisi's (to her credit) not writing this for men or women, but as my previous text should indicate, women, could/should have a more intuitive understanding/empathy for the book.
Does this help?