Week 4 Response

Mohanty's Under Western Eyes was a great piece to start out with for this week's reading, especially for me as a student new to both Islam and Gender Studies. I was intrigued by Mohanty's comparison of the cultural ideology that is 'Woman,' versus the real and material 'women,' and how the two are represented and discussed differently. This way of thinking is very new to me; surprisingly (and unfortunately), as a journalism I've never delved so in-depth about how the act of writing and simple discourse could hold such power. This knowledge production concept is further emphasized by Mohanty's piece and it's obvious how important and completely significant it is in feminist discourse. She remarks that third-world women, and essentially all women are unfortunately grouped together by way of objectification status, where they are judged on the way in which they are affected or not affected by certain institutions and systems in society, rather than their person. This is quite a complex concept that Mohanty manages to explain quite clearly (though I'm sure I haven't completely wrapped my mind around it yet). However, I am left with some questions at the end of Mohanty's piece. Is it entirely the fault of 'western feminist discourse'? How did things get so bad? What can and should be done now to amend this unfortunate issue in feminist discourse?