This section discusses several examples of Islamophobic discourse in which the oppression of Muslim women by Islam takes center stage. This oppression takes many forms, but it is emphasized, written, and spoken about, and publicized by a range of actors from Newt Gingrich to Pamela Geller and Phyllis Chesler. And it serves a neoconservative and right-wing agenda to mark Islam as a religion not only foreign to the United States but also threatening the very foundations of its society. The assumed gender inequality and oppression of women by Islam is juxtaposed with a quintessentially American gender-egalitarianism and respect for women's rights that can only be described as ironic in the face of recent political developments regarding women's reproductive rights in the months leading up to the 2012 presidential elections.

XREF: Connects to Edward Said's Orientalism and post-9/11 analyses of how discourses about Muslim women serve broader political agendas. Builds on: "Depictions of Muslim women reflect European societal shifts, not Muslim realities."

Carl W. Ernst, Islamophobia in America_ Th…, loc. 532