Gender Stereotypes In The Other By Edward Saïd

Edward Saïd stated, “The West—as I see it—has no idea what the East is actually like. They just came up with a bunch of ideas ("representations") and then ran with them." In Western culture, most children are raised to believe that the Western way of life is the best way of life, which can be described as an ethnocentric perspective. The less developed or progressive countries are classified under “The East,” and the more developed are classified as “The West.” This creates a binary way of looking at the planet; an ‘us vs. them’ perspective. Throughout history, the two sides have created conceptions about the other, and about their sexuality. Whether these conceptions are true or not, this has resulted in stereotyping of “The Other.” Edward
Saïd’s book on the subject of Orientalism explains the divide the West has established from the East and the misconceptions and representations the West demonstrates of the East, along with the idea the West holds they they are superior to those in the East. Common assumptions of Middle Eastern culture are displayed in the West by means of sexuality, and gender stereotyping.
In the West, these assumptions are displayed using art in mediums such as movies, news reports, and television shows. New York Times article on Afghani Women in shelters portrays women as figures that are victimized, while other sources of Western media portray Eastern women as hyper-sexualized, creating a stereotypical dualism. Hall’s reinforcement of the idea of stereotypical dualism is also evident in the Eastern male; While Edward Saïd explains the Eastern man as an aggressive, violent, sexual being, Western perspectives also portray these men to be weak through articles regarding American victories. Lastly, Disney’s movie Aladdin stereotypes the process of marriage and the general life in Middle Eastern culture. The stereotyping of males, females, and marriage in Eastern culture, result in tainted opinions the West hold regarding the reality of this
place. Through media, the West have created opinions on women’s sexuality in the East by creating stereotypes associated with them. In New York times article titled Afghan Official Says Women’s Shelters Are Corrupt, Rod Nordland writes about bettering women’s support in the Middle East. The heading photos of the article taken by Lynsey Addario display women to be fully victimized. These ‘safe havens’ for women are institutions created by the West to provide safety to women from sexual assault, and then written about by a Western writer, in a Western article. As described in Adam Schwartz’s article titled Orientalism and the Representation of Middle Eastern Women, the heading photo for the article shows Middle Eastern women, wrapped head to toe in their burqas showing just their eyes. They are in an enclosed space and, there is a women on the floor praying. This picture is a common conception of how Western civilians view all Middle Eastern women; fully covered, entrapped, and religion oriented. This display explains that this is all these women entitle themselves to, and that this is what they represent, diminishing any identity or individualism they could’ve held. Stuart Hall’s article titled Representing the Other explains the idea that stereotypes of “The Other” contain both a bad and a good side known as stereotypical dualism (308). Middle Eastern women posses this stereotypical dualism in the fact that they are either portrayed as passive non-sexual beings as described prior or hyper sexualized begins as shown in societies portrayal of Harem girls. Harem girls are often of Arab decent and wear minimal clothing, while posing and dancing in sexual ways. These Harem girls are portrayed in Western culture through paintings, media, Halloween costumes, and Disney’s movie Aladdin. These stereotypical dualisms create a binary way of thinking about the group; there is no in between; no working class women living in the Middle East are ever portrayed in Western media. From a Western perspective the Middle Eastern man holds a sense of fascination, and intrigue while at the same time a sense of fear and uneasiness. These men hold one of the most popular stereotypes in the Western world. They are often photographed wearing white robes, with turbans on their heads, sometimes holding a weapon as shown in a Google Images search of “eastern man.” When analyzing the stereotypical dualism of this group, the bad aspect of this stereotype is the violence associated with Middle Eastern men. Prior and post the terrorist attack on the World Trade Centers, most commonly known as 9/11, these men have been feared by Western societies to allegedly be violent beings, “In the films, and television the Arab is associated either with lechery or bloodthirsty dishonesty. He appears as an oversexed generate, capable, it is true, of celeverly devious intrigues, but essentially sadistic, treacherous, low” (Saïd, 287). These portrayals teach Western society to fear this group of people to avoid the fulfillment of ‘their sexual fantasies’ and to avoid attack. Eastern men are portrayed as animal like, dehumanizing their worth. They are often classified under one single category: ‘terrorist.’ On the other hand, the Western belittlement of Eastern threats and the demeaning way the West encourages its citizens to view those in the East, shows the weak side of the stereotype associated with the Arabian man. Edward Saïd explains that Grunebaum’s perspective of the West is, “incapable of development, of self-knowledge, or objectivity” (296). While the men are seen as a threat on one hand, Western’s portrayal of their lack of civilization deems them almost as a joke and ultimately unthreatening. The East is hardly viewed with respect by the West. Negative connotations are often associated with the men that inhabit this land. In 1992, Disney released a movie called Aladdin.
The plot follows a street peddler living in a fictional Arabian city, whose love interest is the Princess of the city with requirements to find a rich husband in just a few days time. To begin, the movie follows an Arabian singer riding on a camel which displays the first Western stereotyping of the Eastern man. Then the movie pans to a scene of action within the city where street peddler Aladdin steals bread from the market causing a chase between Aladdin and the big, muscular guards of the city who hold large knives are dressed in turbans. The representation of the occupations presented in these scenes display violence, poor income, and mindless work. Saïd states, “Slave trader, camel driver, money changer, colourful scoundrel: these are some traditional Arab roles in the cinema” (287). All of these occupations hold little respect or down right do not exist in Western culture. This symbolizes not only the difference between the two worlds (East and West) however the lack of respect the West holds towards the East and their supposed occupations. Past the palace walls in Princess Jasmine’s side of the story she is being pressured into finding a husband made of riches. It stereotypes what marriage is like in the Eastern world in that women are strictly seen as apart of an economic transaction. This scene also portrays the binary of the classes within the city; There are the beggars and the royals and nothing in between,
showing economic instability. The idea of marriage being less personal and more of an economic and political status in the Middle East is a common conception the Western world holds. In Edwin Long’s painting titled Marriage Market, the women are put on display for the men to ‘pick and chose’ based strictly on looks; potentially based on wide hips, a slim waste, and a larger chest. In this painting the women waiting to go on stage, or who have already been dismissed show looks on their faces and through body language ranging from discouragement to anticipation. These women are portrayed as having to define themselves through men, causing a lack of identity, and a sense of obedience to their male spouse, and the institution of the marriage market itself. In conclusion, the East and the West have created a world divide, leading to inequality and sometimes war. Through Western misrepresentations of Middle Eastern civilians, stereotypes are assigned to these types of people despite the fact that in reality they cannot all be placed under these restricted classifications. Stereotypical dualism is evident in both male and female Middle Easterners as portrayed through Western social institutions, media, news reports, advertisements and films. Along with the stereotyping of the two genders, Arabian life and marriage are portrayed stereotypically as shown in Disney’s movie Aladdin. According to Saïd, “the relation between the Middle East and the West is really defined as sexual.” (309) Given the fact that this article was written over 30 years ago and this relationship has changed very minimally, the East and the West will continue to have a sexual relationship for as long as the two sides coexist.