Global Journal of Human Social Science, H: Interdisciplinary, Volume 23 Issue 5

© 2023 Global Journals Volume XXIII Issue V Version I Global Journal of Human Social Science - Year 2023 ( ) H 23 To What Extent Can Body Politics be used to Define Afghan Women's Sexuality as Locations of Power and Control under Taliban’s Rule? A Contemporary Foucauldian Interpretation of Femininity in Body Politics biopolitical subordination lead to unrestricted State control over their micro-level dimension of life. The latter impedes women’s personal growth, which may be developed by education, resulting, in Foucauldian terms, symbols and sources of Taliban power. III. C lothing Other Taliban policies include requiring women to wear a burqa. Indeed, control over women’s clothing code is an essential aspect of Taliban politics, and women’s bodies are the site of their authority. Hijabisation (the adoption of the hijab, which is the Arabic name for burqa) is a product of Taliban state coercion, since their government restricts women’s ability to express themselves via clothes by mandating them to wear Muslim clothing (Pylypa, 1998). Mandatory clothing code is a climax of a condition of women deprivation, as local reports declared. The latter states that women are not allowed to wear white veils, socks, or shoes, and that if they do, they will be punished (Hafez, 2008). Arguably, clothing constraints become a symbol of the micro-level of physical discipline explained by Foucauldian theories. Taliban rule is exercised through Afghan women’s bodies, which serve as sites of Taliban power-device and power-object through regulations of micro-level engagement in women’s daily lives, such as the choice of dress code (or lack thereof). Consequently, dress rules are the result of social policies that establish gendered citizenship based on laws defining the body; eventually, the woman body itself becomes the definition of citizenship for women in Afghanistan (Mottier, 2012). Furthermore, Taliban restrictions over women’s clothing mandate public and police oversight, which allow any male to demand compliance (Ramirez 2015). This means that any men may function as a power controller over a woman’s body, reinforcing women’s subordination and fragility in society. Women who are caught without wearing a burqa are reported to the Taliban’s Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and the Suppression of Vice and beaten on the street (Zakhilwal, and Thomas, 2008). However, a more problematic scenario arises when women cannot afford a burqa. Women without one are obliged to stay at home or fear being severely beaten by the Taliban. Similarly, handicapped women who require prostheses are confined to their houses since the burqa will not fit over this equipment to entirely conceal their bodies. Arguably, the Taliban regime’s power dynamics is sovereign in determining what constitutes normative reality of feminine bodies. Wearing a burqa has given Afghan society the ability to define the “normal” and identify the “deviant” woman. Beyond biopolitics, Taliban body control affects physical intersectionality by controlling gender interactions with female disability, class, and other axes of difference, demonstrating that female bodies are at the crossroads of various identity markers and powers utilised by the Taliban (Foucault, 1975). IV. H ealthcare Women are unable to receive open access to essential needs such as medical treatment under Taliban control. Internationally, the Physicians for Human Rights initially raised the issue in 1997, claiming the Taliban had stopped providing medical care to women (Amowitz, et al., 2002). Local reports also suggested that the only medical facility given to women was one in the capital, which was a 35-bed-makeshift construction, with no running water, nor power, nor surgical equipment (Browser, 2006). Therefore, many women are unable to receive medical care because of Taliban’s prohibitions. If a woman is lucky enough to persuade a male doctor to cure her, he is not permitted to assess her or talk to her personally since all communication is conducted through her male companion (Pylypa, 1998). Again, micro-level control through bodily healthcare dominance exemplifies Taliban’s surveillance and supervision of women, demonstrating power as unavoidable, fragmented, and impacting all parts of women’s life, from their flesh to their brains. After Taliban’s control over the “anatomo- politics of the human body” (Mottier, 2012, p.143), most Afghan women health have deteriorated alarmingly due to limited access to clinical treatment, and in some cases, no access at all (Ahmed, 1992). There have been allegations of young women dying because of being denied admission to male-only facilities or being unable to seek professional help because they lacked a burqa or a male guardian (Doumato, 2000). Under Taliban control, women’s bodies are rendered invisible to their natural needs, and they are just built bodies meant to fulfil their eugenics tasks for the welfare of the sovereign. While women’s uniqueness is overshadowed by their eugenic biopolitics of life, eventually Afghan women’s treatment is characterised by their social docility. This turns them into flexible body products and feasible sources of power. Although Foucauldian concepts illuminate Afghan women bodily exploitation as sites of Taliban power in the context of a patriarchal society where cultural and religious norms set gender roles, Foucault’s concepts also present limitations to this case study analysis which will be here discussed. The idea that “where there is power, there is opposition” is arguably the most significant limiting factor for Afghan women (Foucault, 1980b). Power, according to Foucault, is mostly generative, not oppressive. This might suggest that Afghan womens willingness to follow Taliban stringent norms drives them to willingly preserve their subjugation through self-discipline. However, I contend