Hollaback Girl appeared to be quite appropriate for Gwen as she submitted to the Islamists in Malaysia who protested that her clothing could corrupt Malaysia’s youth.
Gwen Stefani was a good girl, just like she promised.
The American pop singer wowed fans in Muslim-majority Malaysia on Tuesday, dressed demurely to show virtually no skin after Islamic critics claimed that her revealing clothes could corrupt the country’s youth.
“I am very inspired tonight. … It is great to be here again,” Stefani, 37, told some 7,000 cheering, screaming fans at an indoor stadium on the latest leg of her Sweet Escape world tour.
“The Sweet Escape” was her first song after she burst onto the stage, wearing a black leotard under a white short-sleeved shirt and black-and-white striped hot pants suit, with black gloves up to her elbows.
She changed costumes for every song — putting on a cape once and tying a cloth around her waist like a skirt — but made sure she was fully covered while she belted out “Rich Girl,” “Wind it Up,” and “Hollaback Girl” among others.
The question that’s being asked is would she have submitted to a Christian group here in the US if it had demanded that she cover up. No way. Most likely she would have told them to pound sand and then continued on with her show as she saw fit. In Malaysia, however, she submitted and performed her concert in the manner the Islamists saw fit. The Sophistry chimes in and analyzes the question: is it dhimmitude if it’s their country:
So the issue really is… is it dhimmitude for Stefani to choose to go to Malaysia in the first place once confronted with demands that are against her customs and values?
My answer is a qualified yes. To compromise one’s own principles is in fact submission. If Stefani’s artistic expression is intricately tied to exposing her bellybutton for some philosophical or principled reason, then for her to cover up is in fact submission. This is different, I think, than obeying the laws and customs of another country — this is acknowledging the superiority or dominance of another’s philosophy or principle over one’s own. For a feminist deeply committed to the cause of gender equality, for example, to submit to shari’a restrictions would be dhimmitude. His or her choice then is simply not to go to nations where gender inequality is enshrined in the laws and customs.
