But is Young Malaysia really just a bunch of air-headed, unapologetic yuppies, or is there more ? What is Malaysian youth really all about ? It was worth finding out. For one thing, the youth brigade that the mainstream media is literally objectifying today is only a small, cash-rich segment of the youth population which resides in metros and elite localities of other big cities. But you will find the young Malaysians elsewhere too—in lesser cities, in much lesser conditions. They may not conform to the media stereotype of being “cool, young and happening”, but they too represent youth, and by the law of averages, may contribute significantly to the collective image of YOUTH. Which brings us to the “reality” that is youth—a reality which says that it takes all kinds to make the (young) world and generalizations should be avoided. If we were to regard the seductive khairy as some kind of youth icon (which, thankfully, she isn’t), we’d be tempted to believe that Malaysian youth was all about looks alone. I am referring to Khairy’s quotable quote, “If you’re not sexy, you’re boring.” Whew, what do you make of that, eh ? Fortunately, though there IS an obsession with physical appearance among youngsters today, there is still a sizeable youth population which puts more stock by character and integrity. Thank God! Then there is the issue of politics and what the “youthful” tangent on it is like. What is beamed to our living-rooms via satellite is mediamen/women thrusting a microphone into the faces of yuppies and asking them questions on the political scenario of the country. These so-called representatives of the youth brigade usually voice derogatory opinions about our political leaders (not that I blame them for THAT!) but do NOT appear to be very enlightened about political matters. But this is not the complete picture. I have nosed around and found that there ARE some youngsters—albeit few and not the “cool and happening” type—who are extremely well-informed about the country’s political history as well as the present political goings-on. But alas, this segment is neglected by media-planners for Heaven knows what reason. Is it because such youngsters do not seem glamorous enough to fit into the image of the metropolitan youth ? Apparently, glamour is the bottomline. Even youth magazines seem to presume that “fun” and intellectual stimulation are mutually exclusive ! Why else would good magazines which appealed to the intellect of young people have to close publication while lukewarm magazins sell a whopping number of copies every fortnight ? Actually, the Net provides very prolific data on the Indian youth. Apparently, it (the Net, that is) has allowed a platform for youngsters to create their own space. Log on and you will find online messengers, chatrooms, blogs, websites, the whole works. Hang out there and you will be surprised to find that our youth is capable of some serious stuff too, and frothy issues like sex, movies and boy/girlfriends are not the only things it finds worth talking about. The bottomline is that it is not the youngsters who are “disconnected” from India’s ground realities, but the media who are disconnected (oh, they are way off the mark, believe me !) from the realities of youth. It’s time to go in for the larger picture, a picture which does not exclude the substance in favour of the trimmings.
This mixing of sexes is not always “benign” as most Muslims would like to believe. Many Muslim men claim to have had more than one affair before their marriage. Most of these affairs, they claim, are platonic but many also acknowledge having sex before marriage and not many have recourse to prostitution. So who are their partners?
If you suggest that they have been intimate with girls from their neighbourhoods, schools and work-places, they get offended. “Our girls? Never. They never do such things,” is the usual answer. This has created a strange attitude toward women. Most men want women before they are married but are reluctant to acknowledge it.
It is considered wrong to express your desires to a woman. But not many hesitate to touch, pinch or even grope a woman when walking in a busy street or bazaar. Rubbing hands against a woman’s body is so common in most Muslim cities that there probably is no woman who has never been rubbed or touched. Some men even try to put their hands inside her veil.
If a man is caught doing this he is beaten, often badly. But if he is not caught, he boasts about his exploits in the bazaar with a sense of pride, like a hunter discussing his successes. There are few who condemn such behaviour, but the same people would very enthusiastically join in beating one of their ‘kind’ if he is caught in the act.
Sometimes Muslims also can be very expressive, very open. Sex is not something you discuss in public but nobody stops the quack doctors and the itinerant sex experts from doing so on the roadside. The expert describes every action and every gesture in vivid detail, often with the help of Western sex magazines. And nobody seems to mind.
It is bad for a woman to show her body in public, so she has to be properly covered when she goes out. A young woman is not even supposed to buy her own under-garments until she is old. Before that, the shopping is done by her husband if she is married or by her mother or grandmother if she is single.
But it is not bad for a shopkeeper to display the same goods. Some stores love to display bras. I have never seen so many bras, in all colours and sizes, displayed from every angle, outside the Muslim world. They stare at you from store windows. Sometimes they festoon the store doorway.
Such displays are more than a mere device to sell the merchandise. Often it is an expression of the store owner’s sexuality or perhaps an attempt to lure a male customer into the shop. Youngsters can be seen staring wide-eyed at the forbidden goods. They often go inside for a closer look and end up buying something else to justify the visit.
Television and newspaper advertisements are full of sexual innuendos. Sometimes women can be seen promoting even exclusively male objects, such as a razor blade or an after-shave. When it comes to appreciating female beauty, Muslims are partial to blondes.
Fashion models in the Islamic world have mastered the art of exposing everything – while at the same time keeping a token cover-up. The qameez or the sari never slips but they can show all the curves and contours.
All this hide-and-seek has made women extremely vulnerable. They are no more the objects behind the veil that they used to be. They are no more protected from the male eyes by the four-walls and the thick curtains that separated their world from that of the men. Yet at the same time they are not allowed to come out and live with confidence.
This half-hidden and half-exposed woman gets neither the respect the Muslim culture claims to give her, nor the economic strength the opportunity to come out and work for a living provides her. She is no longer a traditional Muslim, and therefore, does not enjoy the protection her position behind the veil automatically provided her. And neither is she a fully liberated worker, like those in the West, and therefore lacks the confidence that economic freedom brings.
How does a woman feel living in such an environment?
When I saw M. K., she was playing with clay. With a pair of restless hands she would separate a piece from a lump lying on her table, shape it up, make a figure and flatten it, only to reshape it, make another and flatten it again. I watched her quietly for a few minutes and then asked her why she was doing that.READMOREhttp://muslimjournalmalaysia.blogspot.com/2012/07/zahra-lari-example-for-women-of-faith.html
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