Veiled essay half rough draft

In the first text, Veiled Intentions: Don’t Judge a Girl by Her Covering, by Maysan Haydar, Hayar was very successful for getting her point across in a clear and appropriate way. She wanted her audience to understand the truth about being a Veiled Muslim woman. Haydar has many strengths in her reading that really catches the reader’s attention. When she states, “I've been covering my hair, as is prescribed for Muslim women, since I was twelve years old. And while there are many good reasons for doing so, I wasn't motivated by a desire to be different, to honor tradition, or to make a political statement.” Haydar is trying to express how she enjoys being covered and that she isn’t being forced because it is a part of her religious tradition. Most people assume that all Muslim women dread being veiled, when really that’s not the case according to Haydar. When she says, “I embrace the veil's modesty, which allows me to be seen as a whole person instead of a twenty-piece chicken dinner.” She wants the audience to realize that it is better to be covered than wearing skimpy clothes, which most of society dresses like today. She believes it is unfortunate for the people who don’t respect themselves rather than the people who do. “In Sunclay School, girls are taught that our bodies are beautiful”. Most people say the Muslim traditions want to keep to women from appreciating their bodies, when they really were taught to love what they look like. Allthough Haydar has many strong points, she also has week assertions. In her reading, she is speaking only among herself. Even though she may honor and respect being veiled, not all women feel that way. She doesn’t really have any facts to back up her statements and thoughts. Haydar uses a lot of “I” rather than “we” which makes me question if other Muslim women feel the same way as her. Haydar also uses quotes that don’t indicate who is saying them. She uses mostly pathos instead of logos and ethos.

In the second text, Veiled Threats, by Martha Nussbaum, Nussbaum questions what is it to treat people with equal respect in areas touching on religious belief and observance, specifically in Muslim woman. Just like Democracy over Republic, Nussbaum believes that the minority of Muslims is not being treated equally to the majority of society. She refers to the 17^th-centery English philosopher, John Lock who states the law that there should be no penalization against religious beliefs. Although she supports that law, today European countries are trying to ban burqas, which Nussbaum wants to fight. Nussbaum supports her claims by covering the five arguments that are commonly made in favor of proposed bans. She points out that people believe Muslim women should be banned from covering their faces in public, yet society today can wear scarves covering their faces during the cold. She also states that women may cover their bodies as a way of being objective to males, but the rest of the women get plastic surgery, wear tight attire, and pose in nude photos for men. Nussbaum feels that society is being hypocritical because they judge Muslim women for respecting their religious beliefs yet society preaches about equality. In order for Nussbaum to persuade her audience to agree with her arguments, she uses logos and ethos as her strategies. Since Nussbaum is an author of several books and teaches law, philosophy, and divinity at the University of Chicago, people are more susceptible to believing what she argues is legitimate. Also, she uses a lot of facts and resources to back up her statements.

To go further into Nussbaum reading, I would like to point out the strengths and weaknesses of her text. Nussbaum was vey successful with making her arguments very clear and structured. When she pointed out the five arguments that are commonly made in favor of proposed bans, one of the arguments caught my attention. In the third argument when Nussbaum talks about how Muslim women are seen by society as mere objects, she claims that they are quite opposite of that. Nussbaum states, “Sex magazines, nude photos, tight jeans- all of these products, treat women as objects”. She is pointing out to society that women who are covered receive respect from men not women who present themselves seductively. Although she does make a strong claim, the down side to that is not all people may agree with her statement. Just because some women may wear less clothing doesn’t mean men don’t take them as serious. Nussbaum is making more of a personal opinion rather than a fact. Even though the third argument may be offensive to Nussbaum culture, she doesn’t realize that her argument can be insulting towards other women as well. Another one of the five arguments that are commonly made in favor of proposed bans caught my attention as well. The fourth holds that women wear the burqa only because they are coerced. Nussbaum questions if the arguers really believe domestic violence is particularly a Muslim problem. She uses logos to back up her statement by referring to The National Violence Against Women Survey, which is strong so the reader can get a clear understanding of her claim. The result of the survey reports that, “52 percent of surveyed women said they were physically assaulted as a child by an adult caretaker and/or as an adult by any type of perpetrator.” Nussbaum argues that there is no evidence that those come from Muslim families. Yes, that is true, but she also doesn’t have any evidence that they don’t come from Muslim families. I do like where she was going with her argument, but when she didn’t use logos to back up her other claim, that’s when I questioned her statements all together.