Putting a veil over humanity
18 Comments Published by Tom Gara on Wednesday, March 23 at Wednesday, March 23, 2005.
Well, Luly and Tamer are hitting the topic so I might as well chime in as well. I'll cover the serious aspects in a later post - but here, I wan't to make a point that all the non-Arab readers of this blog might not understand.
In Egypt the vast majority or women seen in public are veiled, meaning a scarf is covering their hair. The unveiled remainder are either part of a young, progressive, western oriented minority (nearly everyone I know), or Christian (10% of the population). Within this majority of veiled women, you will find a good number, say 50%, dressed in a veil, with otherwise normal, slightly conservative clothes - long flowing skirts, long sleeved shirts, looking fairly normal. A small percentage, maybe 5%, are wearing clothes that do not match the veil - skin tight designer jeans, fashion label tops pulling tight over the cleavage, make up with red lipstick etc. Another bunch are wearing the veil in combination with conservative long flowing robes, normally black, white or dark blue in colour.
All of this is fine to me, although still a little weird. I don't personally see the need for this kind of dressing, but its not something that really concerns me. And I can tell you one thing, it definitely achieves its purpose - there is no more effective way for a woman to put a "not available" sign on herself than to be veiled. It is just impossible to look at a veiled woman in a sexual way.
I'm going to let my more naieve female readers here in on a little secret. Are you ready for it?
Every male friend you have ever had has considered what it would be like to have sex with you.
Its true, so horribly true. Unless you are related by blood, already in a relationship with one of our best friends, or horrifically unattractive, we have thought about what you would look like, naked, in bed. Its not a bad thing, or done in any nasty context - its just that our flawed male characters need to think about sex a lot, and something needs to provide that input. And most of the time, its you, the women in our immediate surroundings, who provide that inspiration.
Now most women don't really mind this fact, and some actively support the idea, by doing everything possible to encourage us to focus our thoughts on them. But some women don't like the idea of being thought of as potential sex partners to every guy they spend time around. For whatever reason, these women want men to look at them purely as sexless humans, with no accompanying naked bedroom fantasies playing through out minds. If you are one of these women, you need to do one of two things:
1) Fundamentally change male human nature
2) Make some kind of "don't even think about it" sign public to all who see you.
Option 1 is next two impossible. Option two can be done in a number of ways, the most effective way I have ever seen being the wearing of a veil. I don't know exactly what it is, or why, but trust me, from experience, there is no possible way to think sexual thoughts about a veiled woman. It just cannot happen. And in this sense, veiling achieves some tangible purpose, however valuable that purpose may be.
In Egypt the vast majority or women seen in public are veiled, meaning a scarf is covering their hair. The unveiled remainder are either part of a young, progressive, western oriented minority (nearly everyone I know), or Christian (10% of the population). Within this majority of veiled women, you will find a good number, say 50%, dressed in a veil, with otherwise normal, slightly conservative clothes - long flowing skirts, long sleeved shirts, looking fairly normal. A small percentage, maybe 5%, are wearing clothes that do not match the veil - skin tight designer jeans, fashion label tops pulling tight over the cleavage, make up with red lipstick etc. Another bunch are wearing the veil in combination with conservative long flowing robes, normally black, white or dark blue in colour.
All of this is fine to me, although still a little weird. I don't personally see the need for this kind of dressing, but its not something that really concerns me. And I can tell you one thing, it definitely achieves its purpose - there is no more effective way for a woman to put a "not available" sign on herself than to be veiled. It is just impossible to look at a veiled woman in a sexual way.
I'm going to let my more naieve female readers here in on a little secret. Are you ready for it?
Every male friend you have ever had has considered what it would be like to have sex with you.
Its true, so horribly true. Unless you are related by blood, already in a relationship with one of our best friends, or horrifically unattractive, we have thought about what you would look like, naked, in bed. Its not a bad thing, or done in any nasty context - its just that our flawed male characters need to think about sex a lot, and something needs to provide that input. And most of the time, its you, the women in our immediate surroundings, who provide that inspiration.
Now most women don't really mind this fact, and some actively support the idea, by doing everything possible to encourage us to focus our thoughts on them. But some women don't like the idea of being thought of as potential sex partners to every guy they spend time around. For whatever reason, these women want men to look at them purely as sexless humans, with no accompanying naked bedroom fantasies playing through out minds. If you are one of these women, you need to do one of two things:
1) Fundamentally change male human nature
2) Make some kind of "don't even think about it" sign public to all who see you.
Option 1 is next two impossible. Option two can be done in a number of ways, the most effective way I have ever seen being the wearing of a veil. I don't know exactly what it is, or why, but trust me, from experience, there is no possible way to think sexual thoughts about a veiled woman. It just cannot happen. And in this sense, veiling achieves some tangible purpose, however valuable that purpose may be.
Wow tom, i never thought about it in from that prespective. I always thought about what leads to veiling not what is the consequence of veiling.
good point,
Assem
just wait until my new video, "veiled vixens," comes out on DVD
that was me that said that. i am the tasteless one. but i enjoy your perspective. women and men who consider the veil protective could not imagine it as a device of oppression. like they tell me sir please sit down in the airplane the captain has turned on the fasten seatbelt sign, then they announce it is for the safety of you and everyone else around you
are you sure you are not the only one who doesn't think about veiled girls sexually?
Well i recall my mom sitting with her friends on the beach and a face veiled girl walked by. my mom's friend (male) checked the girl out and commented " her heel is a bit chubby"
that was me - forgot to sign in :P
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Tom, don't you think some head-scarfed women look sexy?
Not all or most, but some of the scarfed ladies in Turkey have a tantalising "what is under your head-scarve" mystery kind of thing.
I'm not in favour of head-scarves but sometimes they can add something extra.
The incoming Playboy magazine for Egypt will feature naked heels and elbows...so hot !!!
Tom promoting the veil...definitely amazing...
I think you are right that the veil can stop many men from thinking sexually about a woman but then what about when most of the women are veiled???
Tamer - I am definitely not promoting the veil. I like my women unveiled and beautiful, and available for any possible sexual imaginations required.
I'm just saying it achieves a certain outcome that might be wanted by a certain kind of woman.
So women, is that an outcome many of you want?
Rubbish. Veiling dot not prevent man harrassing women. it just pushes the boundaries of morality to more different degrees. In Malaysia, where I come from, the concept of veiling has overtaken the Muslim population like a curse and now 80% of Muslim women here wear one. It has not lessened rape or secual crimes. In fact these have increased. The average Malaysian women now faces 1 /2000 chance of being raped in any given year. And the papers just carried the headlines that Incest is up by over 30% since last year. You see -Islamic Veiling does not prevent vice, but by repressing natural sexual urges it only prmotes sexual dysfunction. The same applies to Shariah or Islamic law. Malaysian has 14 states and one state elected an Islamic Party a few years ago. That state, despite strict syariah law now has the highest crime rates in the country. Veiling, Syaruah and the like have nothing to do with religion but are primitive Arab ideas that have spread with Islam and caused much harm in my part of the world. Enough is enough. The veil is WRONG.
though i do not like the veil, and i am very sceptical about it,
i think it is a huge violation to people's basic human rights to judge them on their dress code and accuse their beliefs of being the wrong ones.it is absolutely culturally insensitive of someone to say that their beliefs are wrong.
i sincerely hope that this anonymous person is not an AIESECer, if you are not an AIESECer i suggest you look it up, you seem to be needing it.
if you are an AIESECer, then you need to brush up on the values that you were "supposedly" committed to.
if wearing the veil will make a woman more compfortable, more at peace with her creator then why not? if walking around naked in the streets like they do in some tribes in africa is what society is like then what's the harm in that.
Now this is a discussion that should earn the author top marks.
The veil was always an issue I never understood quiet clearly and will probably never will.
Its also quite an insight that our male friends have thought out what we might look like under the covers darn!! But I digress... back to the veil this is as controversial ad any topics can get.I understand that in the beginning the veil came up as a protection measure to save women from harrassment during the rough times of the middle ages. I have also been told that the Quaran recommends that women preserve their dignity by covering up. Id be happy to be corrected on both notions if I be wrong.
My contention with the whole story is how vastly this noble notion has been misused. The BBC article on the 'burka' in my opinion, one of the worst infringments on a woman's rights supports my theory. While in Cairo the veil varied from the full garb with only a slit for the eyes to the more funkier headdress worn almost like a 'do-rag' complimented with some happening jeans and a shirt. How then when this range of women explain the purpose of the veil. I can also affirm that a good number of girls wore it as part of an expectation from the family.
Any woman who steps into Saudi has to veil up, WHY?! I ask. We do not share a belief system, the veil will not serve its intended purpose for me and the only reason I may drape up is to keep myself out of jail!!
I have maybe said it n times but I'll repeat, like religion, the veil is one of the most abused concepts and I dunno if someone will ever sit the world straight on this one.
What superluli just accused me of being "culturally insensitive" because I said veiling was wrong? What's wrong with what I said - I am Malaysian, and I was criticizing my own people. If I said America's lack of gun-control regulation was wrong or that South Africa's denial of the root causes of AIDs is wrong; would I also be called culturally insensitive? The veil has nothing to so with Malaysian culture. It was enforced on us 20 years ago by the Islamic clerics. It almost caused our own national costime - the "baju melayu" to become extinct. Our own government is now trying to reverse this trend of veiling. Its always funny when someone accuses you of being culturally insensitive for criticizing your own country. By the way - I choose to be anonymous because we don't have absolute free speech here in a Malaysia and a blogger I know was recently investigated by the police for a similar type comment.
wearing the veil comes from certain beliefs,
now anyone is free not to believe in something but not free to judge other people's beliefs.
a country shouldn't have one culture, there are many sub-cultures with in one culture and there are different cultures within a country. rural cultures are different from urbal ones for example. it still not correct for us to judge them even if they exist within the same boarders as we do.
i am curious, what did that blogger write about?
In regards to women wearing headscarves.. get this !! In the Muslim world, they are supposed to make a woman look LESS sexy to other men !! Now here is the irony of it: I find women in a headscarf EXTREEMLY sexually attractive, to a point where my girlfriend often wears one for me in bed, and so have all of the previous ones. I have to laugh.. when they do it to make their women look less sexually appealing. To me, it is like they might as well walk aroud naked !!!
It's funny - how everyone here seems to question others' choices as to veiling. But one would never think to question others' choices on other matters of dress like wearing a mini-skirt or goth clothing. I believe many westerners have an overactive interest in 'oriental' women and their sex lives - at base they are much like any women of the world. To each his/her own - and simply judge people on their character.