Reaction to The Bigger the Better?

I agree with DPD’s statement that here in the United States women are pushed to fit a certain image which includes being “rail thin”, where as in the Middle East I feel there is less pressure for women to be thin. In chapter six, Cairo Nights: Dancing Sheik to Sheik, the women who are dancing are described as very large women. The interaction between Horwitz and Sammy as DPD pointed out is very interesting. But, is it truly that the men in the Middle East like bigger women or is it that the men who attended the show liked the women simply for the fact that they are women who do not cover themselves with veils? While reading this chapter I thought it was not so much the size of the women that mattered to the men, only that they were women. In a society where the women are forced to cover their bodies, the belly dancers are essentially the only source of sexual enticement for the men. It is a drastic change from only seeing women’s eyes to seeing women half naked gyrating their bodies. Horwitz states that the men’s cheering grew louder as the show continued and the women grew larger. But, Horwitz also points out that as the show went on the men became more and more drunk. So, was it there state of mind that made them cheer louder or the increasing size of the women? Although men in Cairo “like women they can get their hands around,” I think in the case with the belly dancers it is the fact that the men are able to see a women unveiled and moving in sexual ways that allures them rather than the actual size of the women. It does not matter if the women are big or small only that they are women.

MLD