I wore a burka today.

The catch-all forum for general topics and debates. Minimal moderation. Rated PG to PG-13.
Post Reply
_Hally McIlrath
_Emeritus
Posts: 118
Joined: Sun Jul 27, 2008 11:12 am

I wore a burka today.

Post by _Hally McIlrath »

I took my kid to the local "World Culture Museum," surprisingly well-endowed for a town with a population of 6,000. There were matryoshka dolls and African musical instruments, an antique Chinese bed, dolls and utensils and Buddhas and exquisite things made from scattered found objects, honed with incredible skill in spite of what must have been desperation on a scale unimaginable to us, cosseted away as we are in our snug existence, safe as houses.

And there was a rack with flowing ethnic clothing, all vivid silks and ornate sequined beading and they said, yes, of course you can try them on. Try them on and feel for one half of a second, in this well-lit air-conditioned building, in this twee little brick-and-clapboard village, what it's like to be a sherpa in Nepal or a bushman in the Kalahari. So I clicked the hangers one by one, laughing at my little boy as he tried on an impossibly beautiful Chinese shirt with elaborate Mandarin collar and clever fabric ball-and-eye clasps to keep it closed. Rose beaded saris and Hungarian embroidery skimmed under my fingers and suddenly I saw it there, all shimmering satin, pleated periwinkle blue, beautiful and innocuous on the hanger, pretty designs etched in thread across the brow and the front, in its way as sensuous as anything found at Victoria's Secret. That it was a burka registered immediately, but I thought it was as improbable to find it there as to have found any other device of subjugation -- a chastity belt, leg irons, a ball and chain, Mormon garments. (:P I'm wicked.)

I pulled it off the hanger. It was light and so smoooooooth, cascading like silk onto the floor, the symbol of sickening misogyny and public whippings for showing an ankle by accident, and at once tangible evidence of all that's wrong with religion, and a culture that feels the need to blot out any part of woman at all, even her eyes, her mouth, her hands. But also strangely feminine and beautiful and safe, pulling the cloth over the head at once giving a delicious anonymity and sense of invisibility, like the wall to the secret garden inside your mind.

And I wore it for a long time, walking back and forth to feel the fabric pleats swishing behind my feet, admiring myself in the mirror, posing for a picture. Taking it off at last I realized suddenly how stuffy and uncomfortable it had been, difficult to see properly through four inches of fabric grid over my eyes, the world made small and far away, and every sense deprived, which is rather the point.

I was profoundly grateful to emerge from underneath and be fearlessly dressed in plaid cuffed Gap shorts and a red twin set and sandals, something that would have had me whipped in Kandahar or maybe just shot in the head, execution-style, in the public soccer pitch. But I was also surprised at how much of a secret part of me liked it, too.

Image
I have been astonished that Men could die Martyrs for religion - I have shudder'd at it - I shudder no more - I could be martyr'd for my Religion - Love is my religion - I could die for that -
John Keats
_antishock8
_Emeritus
Posts: 2425
Joined: Sun Jan 27, 2008 2:02 am

Re: I wore a burka today.

Post by _antishock8 »

Why?
You can’t trust adults to tell you the truth.

Scream the lie, whisper the retraction.- The Left
_Ray A

Re: I wore a burka today.

Post by _Ray A »

Hally, this was a brilliant post. Good Lord, girl, you have a way with words. And I thought a picture told a thousand words.
_Hally McIlrath
_Emeritus
Posts: 118
Joined: Sun Jul 27, 2008 11:12 am

Re: I wore a burka today.

Post by _Hally McIlrath »

antishock8 wrote:Why?


Why what? Why did I try it on? Because I was curious. Because I had to know. Because I could, and that made me want to. And because I knew I could take it off again when I wanted to.

Or are you asking why did I secretly like it? I don't know if I can articulate that, exactly. Maybe there's a primal part of me that hasn't yet been flayed to death by radical feminism that kind of likes the thought of a woman keeping herself just for her husband alone.

Ray A wrote:Hally, this was a brilliant post. Good Lord, girl, you have a way with words. And I thought a picture told a thousand words.


(blush) Thank you.
I have been astonished that Men could die Martyrs for religion - I have shudder'd at it - I shudder no more - I could be martyr'd for my Religion - Love is my religion - I could die for that -
John Keats
_antishock8
_Emeritus
Posts: 2425
Joined: Sun Jan 27, 2008 2:02 am

Re: I wore a burka today.

Post by _antishock8 »

Any chance you can put a little more thought into the 'why'? I think it would be interesting to flesh out your thoughts on the subject.

Personally, I liken a woman putting on a burqa to a Jew wearing an SS outfit. I can't even imagine a woman voluntarily placing that symbol of misogyny on herself.
You can’t trust adults to tell you the truth.

Scream the lie, whisper the retraction.- The Left
_Hally McIlrath
_Emeritus
Posts: 118
Joined: Sun Jul 27, 2008 11:12 am

Re: I wore a burka today.

Post by _Hally McIlrath »

antishock8 wrote:Any chance you can put a little more thought into the 'why'? I think it would be interesting to flesh out your thoughts on the subject.


Well...the burka is about sublimation, isn't it? It's about obedience to something. I think there's a very real element to human beings that has some part of themselves longing to be told what to do. For there to be a plan, even if they don't particularly like that plan. I think that's why religion and governments work at all.

So the burka is a symbol of obedience, of a woman (if she wears it voluntarily) believing that the tie between her husband and herself is sacred enough to shield herself from temptation -- hers or anyone else's. She's saying, "I'm yours and yours alone. Everything I am is for you." I think that is kind of beautiful.

But in actual practice it's been perverted to the cause of snuffing out all aspects of femininity because woman is dangerous and not to be trusted and the root of every bad thing since Eve first sank her teeth into the apple. That's where the misogyny comes in, and that's where only a secret part of me longs in a distant way for that fragile and beautiful trust that says, "I'm yours and yours alone."

Personally, I liken a woman putting on a burqa to a Jew wearing an SS outfit. I can't even imagine a woman voluntarily placing that symbol of misogyny on herself.


Actually, the analogy is a Jew willingly wearing the yellow Jude star, to know what his fellow Jews experienced during the Holocaust.

I knew I could take it off again. And there is no real way to truly understand what another human being experiences without doing what they do.

...I don't know if I really "fleshed out." I'm not really sure what you want...
I have been astonished that Men could die Martyrs for religion - I have shudder'd at it - I shudder no more - I could be martyr'd for my Religion - Love is my religion - I could die for that -
John Keats
_antishock8
_Emeritus
Posts: 2425
Joined: Sun Jan 27, 2008 2:02 am

Re: I wore a burka today.

Post by _antishock8 »

I think my analogy worked, because you understood it. However, yours definitely drives home the point that the burqa, and the yellow star, are symbols placed on a subjugated class by the oppressor class to set them apart and dehumaize them.

I appreciate you talking a little more about your mindset and your perception of the burqa. I think Muslim women, in most cases, think that veling themselves, whether it's a hijab or a burqa is a "choice". Not that this would ever happen, because the love for modesty is so great, but I wonder what would happen if women across the Islamic world rejected the idea that they had to cover themselves and refused to wear a veil or a burq outside? It's no small stretch of imagination to state that women would be beaten and murdered over this, but after the initial tremor and subsequent aftershocks I wonder if Islam would accommodate the new political reality? Probably, but the reality is it will never happen. Women embrace veiling as a practice of political or religous statement, and of course, for the reason you explained. Men embrace it because it firmly entrences their control over half the population where this is practiced. That's the bottom line.
You can’t trust adults to tell you the truth.

Scream the lie, whisper the retraction.- The Left
_Hally McIlrath
_Emeritus
Posts: 118
Joined: Sun Jul 27, 2008 11:12 am

Re: I wore a burka today.

Post by _Hally McIlrath »

antishock8 wrote:I wonder what would happen if women across the Islamic world rejected the idea that they had to cover themselves and refused to wear a veil or a burq outside? It's no small stretch of imagination to state that women would be beaten and murdered over this, but after the initial tremor and subsequent aftershocks I wonder if Islam would accommodate the new political reality?


The Koran does not mandate a woman to cover her whole body from head to toe. And liberal Islam does not require a woman to cover her hair at all. The Tuareg tribes in Africa actually have the man wear the veil, not the woman:

Image

Here is a Tuareg woman:

Image

So I think the rules of veiling in Islam really come down to culture, not religion.
I have been astonished that Men could die Martyrs for religion - I have shudder'd at it - I shudder no more - I could be martyr'd for my Religion - Love is my religion - I could die for that -
John Keats
_antishock8
_Emeritus
Posts: 2425
Joined: Sun Jan 27, 2008 2:02 am

Re: I wore a burka today.

Post by _antishock8 »

I think taking the Tureg tribe and using them as an example of men veling themselves is... To say the least... Seriously misguided. You might as well tell Muslims that the FLDS are an appropriate examle of Christian practices.

Regardless, Muslims view the Hadith much in the same vein as Mormons do the D&C. Since the Quran implicity states modesty in dress for both sexes, and the Hadith further clarifies the kinds of vestiments a woman should wear I think Islamic doctrine Trump's tribal influence. In other words the reason why the majority of Muslims wear the hijab and so many cover themselves from head to toe is because Islamic doctrine is recognized as god-inspired... Not tribal custom. Regardless, the doctrine itself is set in place to oppress and subjugate women. The idea that a man's lusts are so incontrollable that it requires women to hide themselves from us, in my opinion, is a power play on behalf of Arab patriarchy. Sure women are uncomfortable with constant male leering, but I don't think the onus is on women to become invisible so men aren't tempted. Infantalizing men and hiding women are effective ways at controlling the population, apparently.

Going back to your placing this very real garmet of repression on yourself. I understand the desire that you hold in your heart, however the act of actually placing that thing on yourself... It's demoralizing for someone like myself who has two daughters that he's trying to raise in a world that would seek to marginalize them based on their gender. I almost wonder if there really is something in the female psyche that demands subordination. I don't know. But I do know if a daughter of mine voluntarily placed a burqa on herself I would be extremely disappointed in her. Perhaps I believe in antiquated notions of standing for something rather than accommodating everything...
You can’t trust adults to tell you the truth.

Scream the lie, whisper the retraction.- The Left
_truth dancer
_Emeritus
Posts: 4792
Joined: Tue Oct 24, 2006 12:40 pm

Re: I wore a burka today.

Post by _truth dancer »

The idea that a man's lusts are so incontrollable that it requires women to hide themselves from us, in my opinion, is a power play on behalf of Arab patriarchy. Sure women are uncomfortable with constant male leering, but I don't think the onus is on women to become invisible so men aren't tempted. Infantalizing men and hiding women are effective ways at controlling the population, apparently.


Well said! WOW! I'm a serious fan! :-)
I almost wonder if there really is something in the female psyche that demands subordination.


No, no and NO!

We do however have a long history (say 5,000 years) of woman' very survival based on their service and use to men. As far as we have come over the last century or so, we still see women today who feel their only worth is how valuable they are to males. :-(

On a side note... even as a faithful LDS believer I NEVER felt right about the requirement that women veil their faces in the temple.

td
"The search for reality is the most dangerous of all undertakings for it destroys the world in which you live." Nisargadatta Maharaj
Post Reply