perempuan sebagai sosok yang pasif dan rendah, Mernissi ber- argumen bahwa banyak sarjana Muslim menggambarkan perempu- an sebagai sosok yang aktif dan memiliki seksualitas agresif. Ia menegaskan bahwa tradisi seperti kerudung dan isolasi di ranah domestik muncul dari keinginan untuk mengontrol peran strategis penting yang dimainkan oleh istri-istri Nabi Muhammad dan wanita- wanita lain pada awal masa Islam, begitu juga hak kepemilikan dan persamaan spiritual yang diberikan kepada wanita pada periode tersebut. Ia menegakan bahwa potensi persamaan dalam Islam pada masa awal telah hilang setelah mendapat penentangan dari elit-elit Amale, para sahabat Nabi yang menentang perubahan sosial dengan kemunculan status baru bagi perempuan, menerapkan aturan bagi perempuan untuk menutupi seluruh tubuh. Mernissi menarik hubu- ngan antara gerakan bagi hak-hak perempuan dan kampanye untuk terciptanya ruang demokrasi yang lebih besar bagi perempuan.
Kata kunci: Fatimah Mernissi, gender, seksualitas perempuan, emansipasi

Abstract
Mernissi examines differences between Western and traditional Muslim conceptions of female sexuality and gender, a subject that she revisits in many of her later works. In stark contrast to traditional Western views of women as inferior and passive, Mernissi argues that many Muslim scholars have historically portrayed women as active and in possession of an aggressive sexuality. She asserts that such traditions as veiling and domestic isolation arose from a desire to control the potential threat posed to the social order by women's sexuality. Mernissi emphasizes the prominent strategic roles played by Mohammed's wives and other women in the early years of Islam, as well as the property rights and spiritual equality accorded to women during this period. She asserts that the egalitarian potential of Islam at its founding was lost in the face of opposition from the Amale elite, companions of Mohammed who resisted the social change arising from women's new status, preferring that women lead private lives under their veils. She draws connections between movements for women's rights and those campaigning for greater democracy for women.
Keyword: Fatima Mernissi, gender, female sexuality,
emancipation