M.I.A\u2019s Video \u201cBad Girls\u201d shows Muslim women who are supposedly Saudi Arabian, doing male activities and breaking the laws by driving. This Video has been the subject of much controversy as many people feel that the video is cultural appropriation as they think that she uses the Muslim women as backdrops. However I disagree about this, for the past three years I had been living in Qatar, which borders on Saudi Arabia. Qatar was considerably more liberal that Saudi Arabia, women are allowed to drive, and go out in public without wearing an abaya (depending on the family). Where there was still considerably inequality present it was miles ahead of Saudi, where despite your religious beliefs you were forced to wear an ayaba failure could result in jail or in the case of expats deportation. Also women were banned from driving, the punishment for disobeying could be death depending on who you were, in recent years much debate has been opened on this topic due to pressure from the west, however the monarchy is reluctant to make changes.\u00a0 When taking this into consideration M.I.A\u2019s video takes on a new meaning, the phrase \u201clive fast die young, bad girls do it well\u201d takes on a new meaning.\u00a0 These women who chose to disobey the oppressive laws of their society despite the risks, are truly bad girls, in the truest sense of the phrase. Therefore the video is political statement in favor of women\u2019s rights all over the world, also considering her work for other aspects of humanitarian rights. It is clear that she is an artist who wish\u2019s to use her art to make a statement about the injustices in the world. It is also important to note the oppression of women in Muslim countries is men manipulating the Quran. And that Islam itself has nothing against women. Another slightly unrelated point I would like to bring up is that wearing the abaya is not oppression being forced to wear it is however.\u00a0 Many westerners view the abaya as a symbol of oppression and feel as though by forcing this women to take it off we liberate them. That however is false many Muslim women chose to wear the abaya or hijab as respect for their religion and being forced to take it off would be extremely offensive to them. Just because someone chooses to wear an ayaba, niqab, hijab or burka does not mean that that are not liberated or any less of a feminist. In conclusion M.I.A\u2019s video is a powerful political statement, against the oppression of women in Saudi Arabia. Also if you want a analysis of the lyrics to the song rap genius has a fairly helpful one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
M.I.A\u2019s Video \u201cBad Girls\u201d shows Muslim women who are supposedly Saudi Arabian, doing male activities and breaking the laws by driving. This Video has been the subject of much controversy as many people feel that the video is cultural appropriation … Continue reading