Know your role
Before I came to Egypt, I used to think that women in burka's were either coerced or fanatics.
I remember arrogantly thinking that I wasn't afraid of any man who couldn't deal with having women unfettered.
After two weeks in Egypt I don't sense any coersion. The country is overwhelmingly muslim, but not exclusively. I have met many christians too.
The muslim women almost invariably wear some form of scarf, and then every permutation from bland scarf to colorful, short to long, with clothing provocative to formless, all the way to burka.
I have come top see the burka as a symbol of respect. That goes both ways. Invariably the women in burka's aren't the down trodden, but the proudest, and often the best groomed and most alert.
I need to get out more.
I remember arrogantly thinking that I wasn't afraid of any man who couldn't deal with having women unfettered.
After two weeks in Egypt I don't sense any coersion. The country is overwhelmingly muslim, but not exclusively. I have met many christians too.
The muslim women almost invariably wear some form of scarf, and then every permutation from bland scarf to colorful, short to long, with clothing provocative to formless, all the way to burka.
I have come top see the burka as a symbol of respect. That goes both ways. Invariably the women in burka's aren't the down trodden, but the proudest, and often the best groomed and most alert.
I need to get out more.
posted by Doug Delaney at
12:36 PM
2 Comments:
Muslim women aren't exploited like weatern women but western women don't recognize that fact.
We actually had a group on campus at York that was all about educating the public about the "ploitics of veiling" and that it is a choice a woman can make...there is an element of mystery to it that I like. And I mean really who is more exploited? The Muslim woman in the burka or the Western woman suffering from anorexia and dying for fake breasts?
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