Amy
Gudino
De
Piero
Writing
2
9
October 2015
Muslim Women and their Choice of
Headdress
One of the most controversial topics
of today—that is constantly being debated and discussed—is the issue of Muslim
women wearing headdresses, and whether this is a matter of oppression or choice
based on personal beliefs. Although there are some Muslim countries that do
force women to wear headdresses, most Muslim women chose to wear a headdress,
because this is how they feel they are being a devoted Muslim woman and simply
because it is a part of their culture. A plethora of knowledge of this topic
comes from the media, which many times can be easily manipulated or corrupted,
however opinion articles can help greatly to see different opinions and point
of views of the topic. Although opinion articles are not based on fact it
allows readers to get a real sense of the differing opinions around a topic.
The easiest and most obvious
convention to make about opinion articles is that they are very opinionated, as
they should be, but there is something more to saying something is opinionated.
It is more than just sharing opinions it is the way in which they are shared.
All three of the opinion pieces I have read—although stating different
opinions—had a very critical tone toward their opposite views and a confident
tone toward their own views. They do this because they want people to really
believe what they are saying. In one of the articles called “As a Muslim woman, I see the veil as a rejection of
Progressive views” by Yasmin Alibhani Brown she discusses the way in which she
feels the veil “oppresses women” (Brown). In contrast, The Telegraph writer
Radhika Sanghani in her article “Feminism, Fashion, and Religion: Why Muslim
Women chose to wear the veil,” she explains how the ban of veils to her and
many students who went to the same school as a girl who was told she could not
wear her veil, the restriction was “Islamaphobia” (Sanghani). In the case of Shelina
Zahra Janmohamed, in her article “Calling all Feminist: Get over the veil debate,
focus on real problems,” being that her audience are feminist she says to them,
“Feminists: stop fighting over
what I wear, and start addressing who I am. I am neither burqa nor bikini. I am
woman,” to try to prove her point (Janmohamed).
Because opinion pieces are suppose
to explain why that person feels the way they do, they use persuasive tools to
explain these feelings, such as ethos, pathos, and logos. When writing for opinion
pieces, the writers of the piece use ethos to demonstrate why they have the
right to the opinion they obtain, and why their qualifications make their
points valid. In these cases, all three were Muslim women who are expected to
wear some kind of veil. Because they know the culture and have the experiences
they feel that this adds entitlement to their opinion. When using logos in
opinion pieces all three of the women attempted to explain how logical their
opinion was. Alibhai-Brown wants people to see that convincing women to wear
veils through religion is unfair, and therefore is a form of oppression because
they feel forced to do so. However Sanghani, sees it differently and even had other
women to explain their reasons to show people that women even have different
reasons that were not religion to wear their veils, which opposes the argument
of Alibhai-Brown and many that they are brainwashed to wearing veils via their religion.
To continue with the same idea, Janmohamed also brought up this issue, raising
the question “If Muslim women are brainwashed into veiling, then is the
mini-skirt generation equally brainwashed into believing that showing skin is
liberation?” (Janmohamed). This question calls attention because she addresses
the issue whether if it is society that actually controls people’s decision in every culture. If that’s what people
think the case is for her culture then maybe that is the case for all of them.
The three articles use statements that show the logic of each of their points.
All of these women are directing
their opinion pieces to a feminist audience, so they know what angle to take
when it comes to the pathos of persuasion. In the first one she discusses the
oppression of women and the way veiling is a mechanism to do so, for feminist
anything used to oppress women is the enemy, knowing her audience Alibhai-Brown
stresses this point so that women can feel compassion for Muslim women. Sanghani
uses pathos to grab the attention of the reader at the very beginning of her
article telling the aggravating story of a young girl in the UK who was prohibited
to wear her veil to school and how her colleagues stood behind her in her fight
against her beliefs and the school, a touching story that leaves the audience
thinking not about Muslim women and the way their religion “requires” them to
wear a veil but about religious freedom which of course for many feminist is a
very prominent issue. Lastly, Janmohamed takes a different approach and takes
other women who are feminist and explains their reasons of why they wear their
veils some even admitting that it is because they are told to do so by their
religion, but by using real women it is likely to grab a feminists attention,
because she is trying to prove it is a choice. If Muslim feminists are saying
it is their choice then it may get through to other feminists because all
feminist want to be able to make all their own choices. Furthermore, her
article’s theme is about feminists uniting and addressing issues more important than Muslim women wearing
veils. The article is a plea to stop feminist from worrying about the veil, because
it is a personal choice, and to worry about topics that are worthy of feminists’
attention. Ethos, pathos, and logos are very critical component of opinion
articles because it attempts to make the opinions of the writers valid and
logical, this is a very essential element to the genre because they use these according
to the audience they are attempting to convince. Considering audience is so
crucial to genres because they are the one that really deem what a piece of
writing is.
Opinion articles are meant to entail
a new point of view or perspective, therefore they need to have exigence
because they want to be heard by the right audience. Opinion pieces want to be
thought about and considered, to hopefully install a change of mindset of
someone or at least have that person consider their point. These women want
people to believe that veils are—in one case the reason for oppression and for
the other two a choice Muslim women make on their own. For these women, they
feel the need to tell feminists because they know that they will be the ones
that will care the most and may take initiative to make the change, they are
speaking with a group they are already a part of and can relate to. They also
reassured that although clearly on one side they never disrespected the other
side and kept a professional but direct tone. All three women are attempting to
make this the next most important topic on the feminist agenda therefore their
exigence is aimed in the right direction.
Opinion articles are quite common to
see, especially in college where students have to write countless research
papers, so it is crucial to know that first, they are reading an opinion
article. Secondly, it is important to know what affect the opinion article is
suppose to have on its audience, what it is trying to prove and how effectively
the article showing their perspective. Furthermore, opinion articles are meant
to persuade its audience’s initial opinions if it differs of the author’s. If
this is the case, the reader must pay close attention to the tactics and if there
are reasons that the reader actually agrees with it or not, and if it is or is
not something they agree with and why or why not. This is especially crucial
for writing a college paper because the opinion article should be used
appropriately to help prove the thesis.
Furthermore, opinion articles are
just beneficial to be able to form thoughts and opinions to know what to say or
defend it or to obtain knowledge of a topic. Even if the reader and writer have
differing opinions it is critical to understand both sides just to have grounds
to speak upon a topic without being unjust but knowledge and respectful.
Opinion articles are also helpful to show an opinion for larger group, so it
gives the reader the opportunity to enter the mind of that particular mindset,
again giving them a better sense of the world around them. To know that an
article is that of an opinion they will know that they have no obligation to
feel the same way but to simply know how the other side thinks and feels of the
same topic. Opinion articles helps readers form their own opinions and a basis
to defend that position and explain why they feel that way about their opinion.
Works Cited
Alibhai-Brown, Yasmin.
"As a Muslim Woman, I See the Veil as a Rejection of Progressive
Values." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, n.d. Web.
Sanghani, Radhika.
"Feminism, Fashion and Religion: Why Muslim Women Choose to Wear the
Veil." The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, n.d. Web. 12 Oct.
2015.
Janmohamed, Shelina Zahra.
"Calling All Feminists: Get over the Veil Debate, Focus on Real
Problems." Al Jazeera English. Aljazeera, n.d. Web. 12 Oct.
2015.
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