Of Virgins and Martyrs

Women and Sexuality in Global Conflict
Erscheinungsjahr 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4214-0754-8
Verlag: Johns Hopkins University Press

Buch, Englisch, 272 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm, Gewicht: 449 g

Reihe: Themes in Global Social Change

Explores the role of women’s status, bodies, and sexuality in global conflicts.

Women's bodies have become a battleground. Around the world, people argue about veiling, schooling for Afghan girls, and "SlutWalk" protests, all of which involve issues of women's sexuality and freedom. Globalization, with its emphasis on human rights and individuality, heats up these arguments. In Of Virgins and Martyrs, David Jacobson takes the reader on a fascinating tour of how self-identity developed throughout history and what individualism means for Muslim societies struggling to maintain a sense of honor in a globalized twenty-first century.

Some patriarchal societies have come to see women’s control of their own sexuality as a threat to a way of life that goes back thousands of years. Many trace their lineage to tribal cultures that were organized around the idea that women’s virginity represents the honor of male relatives and the good of the community at large. Anyone or anything that influences women to the contrary is considered a corrupting and potentially calamitous force.

Jacobson analyzes the connection between tribal patriarchy and Muslim radicalism through an innovative tool—the tribal patriarchy index. This index helps to illuminate why women's sexuality, dress, and image so compel militant Muslim outrage and sometimes violent action, revealing a deeper human story of how women's status defines competing moral visions of society and why this present clash is erupting with such ferocity.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Jacobson, David

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziologie Allgemein
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziale Gruppen/Soziale Themen Gender Studies, Geschlechtersoziologie
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politikwissenschaft Allgemein Politische Globalisierung

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction
Part I: Historical Trajectories of the Middle East and Europe
1. The Honor of Virgins: The Biblical Roots of Patriarchy
2. A Pirouette in Europe: With Dutch Women in the Lead, History Changes Course
3. Jerusalem, Rome, Mecca: A Crescent Rises in the Firmament and in Arabia
Part II: How Globalization Advantages Women
4. Global Markets: Putting Homo economicus on the Defensive
5. Fashioning Herself: Women Unbound by Tradition
Part III: Explaining the Islamist Backlash
6. Loathing the Feminine Mystique: The Islamist Resistance
7. Thoughts and Consequences: The Ink of Scholars and the Blood of Martyrs
Part IV: Abroad at Home: European Paradoxes
8. Europe's Winter of Discontent: A Clash of Traditions and Generations
9. An Education: Women and Men in Europe's Poorer Neighborhoods
10. Islamist Tipping Points: Why Think Radically in Europe?
Conclusion
Acknowledgments
Notes
Glossary
Index

Über Autor(innen)

Jacobson, David
David Jacobson is a professor of sociology at the University of South Florida and the founding director of the Citizenship Initiative. He is author of Rights across Borders: Immigration and the Decline of Citizenship and Place and Belonging in America, both published by Johns Hopkins.