On Jun 29, 2009, at 4:22 PM, ravi wrote:
> BTW, let me take this opportunity to reiterate that Doug's use of
> the word "exoticize" is best applied reflectively. It assumes such a
> universality of his viewpoint that suggesting others might have a
> different one is an act of exoticising them. So, if my brown "third
> world" woman mother has certain preferences, say when it comes to
> bathing attire, that do not gel with what the West prefers, then she
> is exoticising herself. There is even a term for this I think:
> "master narrative". Perhaps she exoticises herself by buying into
> the master narrative that she is inferior.
This is twisted beyond all recognition. If people don't want to wear bikinis, it's their own damn business. If they want to wear burkas, ditto. I prefer bikinis to burkas, but that's me. What annoys me no end is the assumption that many Iranians don't want to wear bikinis, or short of that, wouldn't like to be free of scarves etc. when walking in public, and that those desires to be free of enforced modesty are somehow elitist or frivolous. To assume that many Iranians don't want "Western" pleasures is what's exoticizing.