Westerm women between myths and stereotypes

It’s hard, from Algeria, to neither confirm nor deny the existence of a phenomenon called “Islamo-leftism” in Europe and especially France. However, one can but notice the contradictions and paradoxes in some discourses held by thinkers in leftist intellectual and academic circles, or by some feminists whose ideas can be questionable, regarding their opinions about the Western world and rest of the world.

Indeed, these feminists keep saying that the western world has remained profoundly “patriarchal”.  A statement widely disputed by several thinkers, such as French Emanuel Todd, who has recently dedicated a book to women’s history, or also Alain Finkielkraut for whom patriarchate has definitively vanished from the West, a long time ago.

These opinions are shared by some female thinkers in the United-States, like Camille Paglia and Christina Hoff Sommers, who are opposed to confrontation feminism, in order to favor a kind of conciliation between men and women.

On the other hand, the critics of “western patriarchate”  are often blamed for not pointing the finger, in any way, on other societies where sexist behaviors arise, like in countries of Asia or Africa.

This reproach isn’t baseless, and one would like to ask a question to those who consider that the West is still frozen in  traditions hostile to women  : Do they know that in many Muslim countries, such as Algeria where I live, the West is seen, generally, as a place of no more values nor traditions, and where women enjoy all kinds of rights and liberties?

Indeed, these categorical opinions are questionable, but equally unfounded is denouncing the west for being conservative, traditional and patriarchal. Do these western women know that they represent a role model for a lot of women in the world?

To embody a model of female emancipation means that one is liberated to such an extent, and hence not under the permanent yoke of patriarchy…

Lyes Ferhani