Saturday, October 27, 2007

Some interesting thoughts on Muslim women, modesty and empowerment

An interesting perspective:

[T]he burqa can actually be empowering, by offering me the privacy and anonymity to just carry on with my work instead of worrying about whether my hips look huge in that dress...there are psychological effects of not wearing a burqa as well -- a tendency to get too caught up in trying to achieve the perfect look, for example.

via Tradicionalista

1 comment:

Miss Kelly said...

I found the comments there as interesting (maybe more so) than the original blog. There were as many Muslim dissenters as there were supporters for wearing hijab. One crux is whether wearing it is voluntary or not. In much of the Islamic world, a woman doesn't have a choice, which is why France banned wearing headscarves in public schools. Even young girls are forced to cover up in Islamic schools in the US, never mind KSA or Iran.

I'm all for modesty, but hijab comes loaded with lots of political/ ideological baggage. It's a kind of branding really, a way of making yourself distinct. There are many other ways to dress modestly without drawing such attention to yourself.