L'any 1961,
Phyllis Chesler va decidir casar-se amb un musulmà aparentment occidentalitzat que havia anat a estudiar als Estats Units. Després van anar a viure a l'Afganistan, on va ser sotmesa al tracte que dónen els musulmans a totes les dones. Després de moltes angúnies i dificultats, a finals de 1961 va poder tornar als Estats Units. Actualment és professora emèrita de psicologia i d'estudis de la dona a la Universitat de Nova York. Acaba de publicar "
The Death of Feminism".
"I am still a feminist," she insists. "The reason that I have announced the death of feminism, which I agree is stark, is that from my point of view, looking at mainstream feminism in the west - in the universities, in the media, among academics and the socalled intelligentsia - there is a moral failure, a moral bankruptcy, a refusal to take on, in particular, Muslim gender apartheid. So you have many contemporary feminists who say, 'We have to be multiculturally relativist. We cannot uphold a single, or absolute, standard of human rights. And, therefore, we can't condemn Islamic culture, because their countries have been previously colonised. By us.' I disagree."
(...)
"American feminism hasn't taken on these international issues because of its fear of being branded racist," she says. "But many Muslim feminists and dissidents are totally supportive of what I'm trying to do, because they say that here is finally a western feminist who will not abandon us on the basis of cultural relativity. The attention of the American feminist movement has been forced to focus for far too long on issues like abortion or gay and lesbian rights. I totally support this. But in so doing they have neglected other real issues, such as the needs of working people.
"This is simply not enough, given the moment in history in which we find ourselves. What feminism must do is spell out something that might be called a feminist foreign policy. So that, for example, if we make a trade or a peace treaty with a country, we ought to build into that treaty a commitment not - for example - to genitally mutilate girls who live in that country. This is not easy. But I would like feminists to think very globally and very strategically and very long-term. It's one thing to write an article now and again, but what are we, as feminists, actually going to do?"
(Via
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L'any 1961, Phyllis Chesler va decidir casar-se amb un musulmà aparentment occidentalitzat que havia anat a estudiar als Estats Units. Després van anar a viure a l'Afganistan, on va ser sotmesa al tracte que dónen els musulmans a totes les dones. Després de moltes angúnies i dificultats, a finals de 1961 va poder tornar als Estats Units. Actualment és professora emèrita de psicologia i d'estudis de la dona a la Universitat de Nova York. Acaba de publicar "The Death of Feminism". 
