The Process of Sexualization

During the process of colonization the sexualitization of the Orient served the purpose of justifying European colonial interference. The construct of western-defined eastern femininity was seductive yet submissive. “[The Harem was] the ideal figure…hidden, yet available, core, always throbbing with restrained sensuality” (Alloula 74). This ideal harem desired and needed control, and in the minds of the Europeans, the harem needed to be controlled by them. “The British…had attempted in India and Africa to collaborate with the women under the pretext of liberating them from oppression by their own men” (Alloula xviii). While, the British and other colonizers may have been misogynistic in their goals and actions their ignorance of Eastern traditions allowed them to solely demonized Arab men.