A MATTER OF CHOICE
Maryam Sakeenah
The debate around Vogue’s controversial ‘My Choice’ video
goes deeper than those on either side of it would think. While I do not make
much of critique from those who take anything feministic with a pinch of salt,
I understand that for many who sympathise with the feminist cause like myself,
the message of the video is disturbing for other reasons. The problem with some
of the most controversial statements in the video is not that they are
offensive to conventional patriarchal attitudes, but the problem is with regard
to a deeper question of personal faith and values.
The question really is of individual choices and individual
freedoms to make those choices. The idea of choice in the video is
overweeningly individualistic- a choice of one’s own that refuses to take into
consideration any factor outside of the self and its interest; a self-centred
choice; a selfish choice. This message is disconcerting for reasons beyond the
gender debate which the video is about.
In confining choice to the self and its narrow interests, it
refuses to consider that choices are made in a broader milieu, and that our
choices are inadvertently and inextricably interconnected to a host of other
factors and elements outside of the self. This perspective on human choice
clashes head-on with the faith-inspired sensibility.
In the Islamic understanding, a requisite to accepting faith
is a voluntary stepping back from the self’s desires, obsessions ad impulses
for a deeper personal liberation. Faith is an act of submission to another
higher, more perfect, sublime being beyond the self. It sets one free from the
crippling bondage to the base, carnal and selfish; the material and the merely
temporal. This liberation, for the believer, lifts the spirit onto a higher
plane of consciousness where one becomes capable of acting impersonally, and
altruistic choices become gratifying and heartening; one becomes capable of
living larger than life. This is why throughout human existence, some of the
most extraordinary acts of selflessness and heroism have been inspired by some
form of faith. At this level of consciousness, one becomes mindful of one’s
relationship with one’s context, those we share the planet and our lives with,
the realm of existence and the Giver of all life.
In Islam this individual consciousness attainable through
faith has a communal dimension. It is the most basic element of a social order
that aims at justice, equity and the sanctity of individual rights and freedoms
intrinsic to all creation. To achieve this is the collective goal of the
community and requires regulation of personal conduct and laying down of
rights, duties and responsibilities towards oneself, the community and the
Creator for a larger purpose that brings the greater good for all and in turn
impacts individual well being. In this scheme of things, the exclusive pursuit
of absolute and unrestrained individual liberty above all simply does not fit
in.
This is why the message that the choice of sexual
orientation and sexual behaviour within, outside, prior to or without marriage
is offensive to the sensibility that is rooted in the ethic of faith-based
submission. It refuses to consider that human choices operate in a context that
is not isolated from other lives and that we are part of ordered communities
based on and seeking to achieve universally accepted moral ideals- justice,
public welfare, equity, rights and liberties, peace, prosperity, harmony. The
message of complete and uncompromising personal autonomy in disregard to all
other factors and considerations is actually a call to irresponsible action,
moral chaos and anarchy.
On
the other hand is the issue of the video’s message attempting to pit women
against men- a crass and peevish brand of feminism which again flies in the
face of the beautiful balance and the Islamic concept of the genders being
complementary rather than competing. According to the Quran, Allah has created
everything in pairs. Muslim blogger on women’s issues- Sameen Sadaf explains, ‘Pairs symbolize sharing, unity, togetherness, complementarity and
completion. The nature of this universe thrives on the complementarity of
pairs. It celebrates the interdependent nature of both genders that beautify
each other and by working together can they complete the task assigned to them
by their Creator. Men and women together weave the intricate web of society in
which women are the binding force who strengthen the exquisite fabric of human
relationships.’
For all that women suffer, the panacea is not asserting a
mutinous, defiant individualism, but in living to the full our multifarious
roles as women within our respective contexts in pursuit of common goals for
the greater good and as active agents to promote values that subvert oppressive
patriarchal structures and attitudes that keep the suffering of women going.
The commercial media industry is one such oppressive structure that objectifies
the woman’s body for commercial ends. It is ironical that the video has been
sponsored by and features prominent members and components of the commercial
media.
If the message of the video was against the unfair judgement
on women, it has been recklessly presented with a dangerous ambiguity that
makes it easy for the core message to be eclipsed. Perhaps this too was for
creating a sensationalism stoking controversy that could sell- yet another mark
of the commercial media that produced it.
The debate around the video borders on deeper fundamental
questions on our choices and liberties and our deepest convictions. The makers
and promoters of this sensationalist piece of work should stop pretending that
it is a voice or choice of all or even most women, or that it ought to be. To
take that message or reject it is also a matter of choice that comes out of
deeply embedded personal convictions.
