Woman Between Islam and Western Society
3. Western Woman
~ 113 ~
the uterus of a woman is taken out by surgery and
placed into a man’s stomach so that the man, too,
can perform the child-bearing task, thus putting an
end to the inequality created by nature itself
between the sexes. Short of that, extremist feminists
demand a complete withdrawal from dependence
on men, including sexual ties, and advocate
embrace of lesbianism.
14
The views and aims of the women’s liberation
movement are wide-ranging, and sometimes
contradictory. Likewise, the broad response to the
“new feminism” has been as varied as the
circumstances in which ordinary American women
have found themselves. A series of Vignettes of
women interviewed by
Time
magazine in 1972, and
excerpted below, makes this variety clear.
15
•
Betty Jackson
dreamed of being a singer or a nurse
and, someday, a wife. Instead, at 15 she had an
illegitimate child. “I live in dope city and on one of
the worst streets,” said Betty. “We have no heat. We
get hot water once in a while. The wall is coming
apart from the leaks. Roaches are everywhere. The
rats minuet and waltz around the floor.” The
