Respond to the question at the end.

The readings this week offered an interesting and informative stance on the multiple layers of feminism and intersectionality. Bilgeàwriting offers the readers an educational experience into the veiled Muslim women, their beliefs, and the reasoning behind the veil. Bernstein offers a unique look into the nti trafficking campaigns!nd the street economies that have formed. Finally, Naples and Desai allow the reader to assess and review the transnational feminist movements and all that has been made, endured, and shaped by these unique areas. For this week, I have chosen to focus mainly on Bilgeàarticle as the reading covers many current pressing issues: migration, feminism, religious and sexuality freedoms. Bilge highlights the issue of feminism and politics through the analysis of agency, or the perception of the lack of agency among the veiled-women. sserting and denouncing womenàlack of agency has been politically foundational for feminism(Bilge 12). As we have seen, Muslim women have more agency than depicted in the feminist movement(e choice to wear the veil stems from the ideals that Bilge presents, (e veil as a symbol of submission of women to men, and the veil as a symbol of resistance against Western hegemony(Blige 14). Both ideas presented allow the Muslim women a choice to either; wear their veils as a sign of submission or a sign of resistance; but they must wear the veil with pride. When speaking to many Muslim women, they view the veil as a sign of strength, beauty, and modesty. But yet, some feminist and government movements have utilized this as a way to assert and denounce the womenàlack of agency. In todayàcurrent events, we are seeing many individuals join the protests in Iran surrounding womenàrights. As a veil that many women see as a choice and an honor to wear has become a symbol of government power. The Islamic state has taken the agency away from the Muslim women in their lands, and forced the women to fight back.

My question this week is as follows: With the information provided through the readings, personal experience, and testimony of Muslim women; why do movements and activists still portray veiled women as !cking agencyàHow can we help women in Iran stand up for their own choices, and recover their agency in wearing a veil? With these ideas, will we be able to provide assistance to those needed, or will we be overstepping boundaries again?

Elizabeth Bernstein. ilitarized Humanitarianism Meets Carceral Feminism: The Politics of Sex, Rights, and Freedom in Contemporary Antitrafficking Campaigns.Signs 36, no. 1 (2010): 45ñ.

Sirma Bilge, “Beyond Subordination vs. Resistance: An Intersectional Approach to the Agency of Veiled Muslim Women” in Journal of Intercultural Studie

Nancy A. Naples & Manisha Desai, 2002. WomenàActivism and Globalization [Chapters 2, 4, 7, 14]