latin american princesa {LAP}

Racialicious just posted a video from Aljazeera on female soccer players in Egypt. I immediately thought about the Ameri-centric discussion that was also recently featured on Racialicious.

I’d like to extend the discussion to the Euro-centric views in a lot of Western media. We are bombarded with images of other countries as backward. I remember when Schwarzenegger was first elected, one U.S. news agency found some fat, toothless Austrian to interview. Here in Europe they always manage to find the fattest, dumbest American to show. But mostly it is the developing world, the East, the South, the Rest (non-Euro), which the Western European and U.S. dominated media stereotype as backward.

I am a little addicted to Aljazeera now because it shows other perspectives, which I find utterly fascinating. I just find it impossible to believe in the superiority of the West. Shows like this one on women’s soccer in Egypt, show the context of progress in other countries. Different countries are developing in their own way and comparing nations should not be done from a Euro-centric point of view.

Some boys shown in this video said women belong in the home. That’s one honest perspective in Egypt, but several other perspectives are also shown in the program, including a father who values his daughter’s opinion. There are certainly plenty of American and European men who still say women belong in the home and plenty of stereotypes are perpetuated.

I find it fascinating that here in The Netherlands, they see themselves as so progressive and advanced, yet only 6% of tenured professors are women, compared to Turkey where it’s 30%. Coincidentally, on the news last night they reported on the Dutch women’s soccer team, which is struggling to make it to the World Cup, because there is no professional women’s soccer here and they can’t compete as well as other countries on the international level. Perhaps the Dutch have more progressive views on gay marriage, drugs and euthanasia, but I find the views on women and immigrants less progressive than where I grew up. Progress is a matter of context!

My husband found a video online (in Dutch), which reports on a new plan by the Dutch government to combat the radicalization of youth. Apparently if young Moroccans don’t want their sisters to bring home a Dutch boyfriend or wear a mini-skirt, they are radical. But as my husband said, “How many Dutch families would be thrilled if their kid brought home a Moroccan boy/girlfriend?” And sorry, but I don’t see many Dutch women wearing mini-skirts anyway. I think that in general, Dutch women dress pretty conservatively (compared to my context of the sexy latina). I always get a comment on my decolleté (cleavage) here in The Netherlands. I wonder what they might say about Hillary’s?

So why are the Moroccans radical, but the Dutch are not? Why are Muslims terrorists, but Jews and Christians are not? Why is India backwards, but the U.S. is not? It is a matter of who has the power, who dominates in a particular context. Power is a matter of context!