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Bikini or headscarf
On the way to the store, I stole glances at her in my rearview mirror. She stared out the window in silence, appearing as aloof and unconcerned as a Muslim dignitary visiting our small Southern town -- I, merely her chauffeur. I bit my lip. I wanted to ask her to remove her head covering before she got out of the car, but I couldn't think of a single logical reason why, except that the sight of it made my blood pressure rise. I'd always encouraged her to express her individuality and to resist peer pressure, but now I felt as self-conscious and claustrophobic as if I were wearing that headscarf myself.
...
I'd spent countless hours studying my reflection in the mirror -- admiring it, hating it, wondering what others thought of it -- and it sometimes seemed to me that if I had applied the same relentless scrutiny to another subject I could have become enlightened, written a novel, or at least figured out how to grow an organic vegetable garden.
I don't 'hate/fear' the burka and you'll never see me throwing eggs at a woman wearing one or trying to rip it off of her. You won't even see me giving her nasty looks. But I can assure you I will be shaking my head on the inside.
What if my Daughter is Afraid?
She assured me that her daycare didn't teach religion. Cool.
But then she told me that when she's in public, she covers her face.
She said the last time she didn't warn a family over the phone that she wears the niqab, they walked into the meeting and then walked straight out.
....
My daughter isn't afraid of any of the women who take care of her, whether they have their faces covered or not. On the contrary, she reaches out to them for a hug every morning. To my daughter, the women who work at the daycare are simply the women who hold her when she's sad, wipe blueberries off her face, clean her snotty nose and change her cloth diapers.
My daughter isn't growing up with the same ideas about Muslim women that I did.
I'm glad she's learning something in daycare.
So am I.
Originally posted by LeSigh
Wearing hijab or not has zero effect on how women are perceived and treated in primarily Muslim countries.
Originally posted by LeSigh
Niqab creeps people out because they can't see a person's face. It is next to impossible to interact with someone when you can't see their face. You can't connect with a person on any comfortable level when confronted with that.
Well, that's exactly what one of the women in the article I quoted said. She started wearing hijab, loose abayas, no makeup- and she was still sexually harassed. In other words, in the case of Egypt, it doesn't matter how women dress, they are still overwhelmingly sexually harassed every day. What a literal hell it has to be for them. It's worse now. Women are stripped by the military and journalists are sexually assaulted by mobs- and that's what we know about from the news.
Originally posted by babloyi
reply to post by LeSigh
Originally posted by LeSigh
Wearing hijab or not has zero effect on how women are perceived and treated in primarily Muslim countries.
Errr....no it doesn't. And whatever the case may be, you are talking like the major reasoning that someone would wear a hijab is to stop being harassed or something, which is really not true.
Originally posted by LeSigh
Niqab creeps people out because they can't see a person's face. It is next to impossible to interact with someone when you can't see their face. You can't connect with a person on any comfortable level when confronted with that.
We can only hope that niqab disappears by the next generation. It's a fact of socialization that people have difficulty interacting with people whose faces they can't see- because covering one's face is essentially saying, 'Don't look at me, don't talk to me, I want nothing to do with you, etcetera.' If you (and others) don't like how people perceive niqab, then you're the ones who need to change, not the rest of us. Covering your entire face from the world is a very unhealthy way to go through life.
You: I am sorry you feel that way. I guess it is the norm now, but who knows, maybe even by the next generation (like in the article I linked above), such prejudices will disappear. We can only hope.
Yes, it does happen in those places. And still reality speaks to the fact that sexual harassment is worse in places where women have fewer rights. Did you even bother to check out the article I posted? Culture matters.
You: Sexual harassment occurs in hundreds of major cities. It happens in Tokyo, it happens in New York, it happens in New Delhi. And certainly, it is unfair and oppressive when people are forced to wear the hijab or niqab or such coverings. But most of the muslim women I know (and ALL the young adult muslim women I know- i.e. 20s-30s), wear it of their own accord, of their independence, as a symbol of their culture, and why shouldn't they? I see that you live in the US. There is no Iranian morality police there to be judging and reprimanding people on what they should and shouldn't wear. Unless you have proof otherwise, it is more likely than not that if you see someone in a hijab or niqab, they are wearing it out of their own choice. So I am not quite sure you list these as problems you have when you see someone wearing one.
I don't fear hijab. I don't care. Knock yourself out. I don't fear niqab. I do dislike it. It has no place in this world, imo, and I am always glad to see it banned in different western countries. It's a sign of oppression, whether it is forced or willingly accepted.
You: But I guess it all factors in to the topic at hand, where I was talking about certain people's fears and hatreds of the hijab and niqab.
Originally posted by Nammu
It annoys me that everyone tends to assume that every woman is forced to wear them. Where's the proof? it's pure speculation. I've known a few woman that have worn face veils and many that wear hijabs. None of them were forced to wear it. I've never personally known anyone that wears a full burka, but a friend's mum did, and that friend didn't want to wear one so just wore a hijab instead. Her choice.
The idea of 'saving' women from control and oppression by these horrible men by controlling them and oppressing them in what they choose to wear is completely ridiculous!
Originally posted by LeSigh
Well, that's exactly what one of the women in the article I quoted said. She started wearing hijab, loose abayas, no makeup- and she was still sexually harassed.
Originally posted by babloyi
While my point is being validated even further, it is somewhat sad that this sort of animosity towards something as basic as what people wear can still exist....