Beyond the Veil

MaleFemale Dynamics in a Muslim Society. Sexual Inequality is a prominent feature of both Western and Islamic societies but the underlying concepts of female sexuality in Christian and Muslim traditions are very different. Internationally renowned sociologist Fatima Mernissi argues that many Muslim scholars historically portrayed women as active and in posession of an aggressive sexuality. Such traditions as veiling and domestic isolation arose from a desire to control the potential threat posed to the social order by womens sexuality.