"Masculine Pakistan, Feminine India"

Erik Hoogcarspel jehms at KABELFOON.NL
Tue Aug 31 17:12:01 UTC 1999


Hallo Shrinivas

Op dinsdag, 31-aug-99 schreef Shrinivas Tilak:

ST|   In a recent post he sent to Edwin Bryant (and forwarded by EB to Indology
ST| list) Jan Brzezinski asked,"Did the conquering Muslims ever overtly accuse
ST| Hindus of being effeminate?" The following excerpt entitled "Masculine
ST| Pakistan, Feminine India" is cited by Shahnaz Rouse in her chapter "The
ST| Oursider(s) Within" in Appropriating Gender: Women's Activism and
ST| Politicized Religion in South Asia," edited by Patricia jeffrey and Amrota
ST| Basu (pp65-66). I thought it might be relevant to Jan's query. The excerpt
ST| comes from a 1994 article by Rubina Saigol in the context of her discussion
ST| of government sponsored school texts in Pakistan.

ST|   "The period before the advent of Islam [in India] is always a "feminine"
ST| period. It represents unbridled desire, darkness, mystery, strangeness and
ST| uncontrolled moral laxity. After Islam conquers and subjugates the sensuous
ST| pre-oedipal/pre-Islamic society, it brings the Law of the Father and the
ST| society enters its moral and cleansed oedipal phase...The masculine finally
ST| defeats the feminine and establishes its law. Conquest here is equivalent to
ST| purification through insemination."

This is a nasty piece of Freudian gossip. If there would be any truth in it the ideal of
virility would be an ayatolla with prostate problems. Please do quote only texts
with scientific value.

regards
--
erik


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