More Closeness in Our Cultures
We are told, over and over, that the culture of Western society is “correct,” in particular as regards sexism and women’s rights, and that our families and cultures are “backward.” We are told that we are lucky to live in Western societies because they allow us to escape sexism—that it is only in our home countries that sexism exists. However, our cultures are not “worse” or more sexist than Western cultures. Women pay a big price for living in Western societies.
Azi talked about the close relationships she’d had with women when she lived in Iran. Women would hug and kiss each other while naked in the bathhouses. In Western cultures, such closeness is immediately sexualized. Women are called Lesbians if they step outside the expected and enforced limits to closeness. Western societies require women to live with a massive amount of isolation.
New York, New York, USA
(Present Time 171, April 2013)