Jezebel 
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New York, 3:35 AM
Thu Dec 10
65 posts in the last 24 hours
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08/12/09
YES!!! EXACTLY!!!
Sadie. We are not worthy.
08/11/09
08/11/09
Although, it is disingenuous to assume the 'judging' only goes one way - in more fundamental Islamic communities, women who don't cover up are regarded as whores. As I know from my experience of living just off Edgware Road in London, where I would get heckled by men while wearing jeans and a crew-neck T-shirt. Each to her own, and burqas/headscarves should not be outlawed, but I can't help resenting the kind of institutional sexism it legitimizes.
08/11/09
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08/11/09
Given that, we are only left to consider the ramifications. I do not see a woman in a burqua getting elected to political office. How could she campaign if no one saw her face? The shame-textile is part of the whole sexist hedgemony. The women in these cultures CAN NEVER be equal until they start acting equal.
Too much respect for your body? Why do women's bodies deserve so much more "respect" than mens? Did The Prophet wear a hijab? Was he disrepectful of his body?
Its not about respect. Its about covering yourself because you might tempt a man. The men have made it YOUR fault for their sexual urges. You are the scapegoat!
08/11/09
A woman can choose to wear a niqab or burqa out of choice; talk to those who have converted. The fact that *I* find them to be a cover-up of identity, because of the culture *I* was raised in, does not mean that *my* opinion is the superior one, or the correct one, or the objective one.
08/12/09
Understanding how covering one's body can be an expression of self-respect requires one to first see the women who do so as active subjects, engaging with the world in a way that contributes to the development of themselves as people of faith. Your comment suggests you see them only as passive objects, until such time as they live and dress as you command them. Feminism FAIL.
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08/11/09
Can anyone find that youtube clip?
08/11/09
08/11/09
"YOU CAN READ MINDS?"
Next up, I hope Jones wears a fat suit and goes shopping. That would be really groundbreaking and brave ;)
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08/11/09
i'm a muslim and i've been wearing the hijab for as long as i can remember (13yrs)... after wearing it nonstop for 2 years here in the US i decided lately to try and go out without it... it was weird at first... no one knew that i'm missing my second skin... but for the first time i actually became invisible... i didn't get any stares or weird nudges... i didn't get random ppl asking be about marrying my cousins or 73 virgins in heaving (wtf?)... and yet i wasn't comfortable having unveiled myself and i wasn't exactly "liberated"... i might've looked like a "normal" person but i was thinking at least before i made them think... now i'm just background"... it was a very weird feeling... invisibility is very relative to the culture you're in... while some wear it because its religious... i just continued wearing it out of habit...
now i understand how my claim can be filed under the "oppressed muslim woman finds liberation" but really we should look beyond that binary of opprsesion and liberation... the only reason i am telling my story here is because i know that my statement won't be overdetermined by judgmental stereotypes... it's really great reading your comments i love it!
08/11/09
I have done somewhat the opposite experience. I lived in Egypt one summer and would occasionally wear the hijab if I were visiting mosques or just wanted to be less conspicuous. It seemed weird and hot to wear it, not being religious. But I noticed there was a certain expectation of how a woman should behave if she is wearing it.
So it's all in where you are and your expectations. I hope I'm not taking away from your comment, I just wanted to share the reverse idea.
08/11/09
Today my feet are killing me because I walked around in strappy four inch heels all day yesterday. They were not comfortable. My friend wriggled into a pair of skinny jeans last weekend, so tight they split while she was out-- not comfortable before or after split, obviously. But there was no force behind those decisions, other than general cultural cues about what is cute or appropriate or feminine. My concern is that for some women, not just middle eastern women, the level of force goes beyond general cultural cues and into them realm of actual threat-- if they do not dress a certain way, they will risk experiencing physical violence or economic or social sanction. What needs to be focused are the infrastructures that allow that sort of coercion, not the dress itself. But of course, in order to identify whether this was an issue, and if so how to address is, Liz Jones would have had to, you know, actually speak to muslim women, as opposed to pitying them from afar.
08/11/09
And seriously? This lady covered her face for a week and thinks that gives her the authority to pass judgment on 1 billion Muslims around the world? I can't even begin to understand the level of arrogance that requires.
08/11/09
i'm a muslim and i've been wearing the hijab for as long as i can remember (13yrs)... after wearing it nonstop for 2 years here in the US i decided lately to try and go out without it... it was weird at first... no one knew that i'm missing my second skin... but for the first time i actually became invisible... i didn't get any stares or weird nudges... i didn't get random ppl asking be about marrying my cousins or 73 virgins in heaving (wtf?)... and yet i wasn't comfortable having unveiled myself and i wasn't exactly "liberated"... i might've looked like a "normal" person but i was thinking at least before i made them think... now i'm just background"... it was a very weird feeling... invisibility is very relative to the culture you're in... while some wear it because its religious... i just continued wearing it out of habit...
now i understand how my claim can be filed under the "oppressed muslim woman finds liberation" but really we should look beyond that binary of opprsesion and liberation... the only reason i am telling my story here is because i know that my statement won't be overdetermined by judgmental stereotypes... it's really great reading your comments i love it!
08/11/09
08/11/09
I wonder if there is a similar advantage perceived by women who like wearing the burqa. Besides the religious and cultural reasons of course.
08/12/09
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