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nice article just read it no need 2 reply |
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yumna |
12/07/03 at 14:34:18 |
[slm]i got this wonderful artivle or story thought u might like it ;) ( :-[it might ( ie IS) long Hijabed Like Me >A Non Muslim Woman Experiments with Hijab >by Kathy Chin > >I walked down the street in my long white dress and inch-long, black >hair one afternoon, and truck drivers whistled and shouted >obscenities at me. > >I felt defeated. I had just stepped out of a hair salon. I had cut >my hair short, telling the hairdresser to trim it as she would a >guy's. > >I sat numbly as my hairdresser skillfully sheared into my shoulder- >length hair with her scissors, asking me with every inch she cut off >if I was freaking out yet. I wasn't freaking out, but I felt self- >mutilated. > >I WAS OBLITERATING MY FEMININITY > >It wasn't just another haircut. It meant so much more. I was trying >to appear androgynous by cutting my hair. I wanted to obliterate by >femininity. > >Yet that did not prevent some men from treating me as a sex object. >I was mistaken. > >It was not my femininity that was problematic, but my sexuality, or >rather the sexuality that some men had ascribed to me based on my >biological sex. > >They reacted to me as they saw me and not as I truly am. > >Why should it even matter how they see me, as long as I know who I >am? But it does. > >I believe that men who see women as only sexual beings often commit >violence against them, such as rape and battery. > >Sexual abuse and assault are not only my fears, but my reality. > >I was molested and raped. My experiences with men who violated me >have made me angry and frustrated. > >How do I stop the violence? How do I prevent men from seeing me as >an object rather than a female? How do I stop them from equating the >two? How do I proceed with life after experiencing what others only >dread? >The experiences have left me with questions about my identity. > >Am I just another Chinese-American female? I used to think that I >have to arrive at a conclusion about who I am, but now I realize >that my identity is constantly evolving. > >MY EXPERIENCE OF BEING "HIJABED" > >One experience that was particularly educational was when I "dressed >up" as a Muslim woman for a drive along Crenshaw Boulevard with >three Muslim men as part of a newsmagazine project. > >I wore a white, long-sleeved cotton shirt, jeans, tennis shoes, and >a flowery silk scarf that covered my head, which I borrowed from a >Muslim woman. > >Not only did I look the part, I believed I felt the part. Of course, >I wouldn't really know what it feels like to be Hijabed-I coined >this word for the lack of a better term-everyday, because I was not >raised with Islamic teachings. > >However, people perceived me as a Muslim woman and did not treat me >as a sexual being by making cruel remarks. > >I noticed that men's eyes did not glide over my body as has happened >when I wasn't Hijabed. I was fully clothed, exposing only my face. > >I remembered walking into an Islamic center and an African-American >gentleman inside addressed me as "sister", and asked where I came >from. I told him I was originally from China. That didn't seem to >matter. > >There was a sense of closeness between us because he assumed I was >Muslim. I didn't know how to break the news to him because I wasn't >sure if I was or not. > >I walked into the store that sold African jewelry and furniture and >another gentleman asked me as I was walking out if I was Muslim. I >looked at him and smiled, not knowing how to respond. I chose not to >answer. > >BEING HIJABED CHANGED OTHERS' PERCEPTION OF ME > >Outside the store, I asked one of the Muslim men I was with, "Am I >Muslim?" He explained that everything that breathes and submits is. > >I have concluded that I may be and just don't know it. I haven't >labeled myself as such yet. I don't know enough about Islam to >assert that I am Muslim. > >Though I don't pray five times a day, go to a mosque, fast, nor >cover my head with a scarf daily, this does not mean that I am not >Muslim. These seem to be the natural manifestations of what is >within. > >How I am inside does not directly change whether I am Hijabed or >not. It is others' perception of me that was changed. Repeated >experiences with others in turn creates a self-image. > >HIJAB AS OPPRESSION: >A SUPERFICIAL AND MISGUIDED VIEW > >I consciously chose to be Hijabed because I was searching for >respect from men. > >Initially, as both a Women's Studies major and a thinking female, I >bought into the Western view that the wearing of a scarf is >oppressive. > >After this experience and much reflection, I have arrived at the >conclusion that such a view is superficial and misguided: It is not >if the act is motivated by conviction and understanding. > >THE MOST LIBERATING EXPERIENCE OF MY LIFE > >I covered up that day out of choice, and it was the most liberating >experience of my life. > >I now see alternatives to being a woman. > >I discovered that the way I dress dictated others' reaction towards >me. It saddens me that this is a reality. > >It is a reality that I have accepted, and chose to conquer rather >than be conquered by it. > >It was my sexuality that I covered, not my femininity. The covering >of the former allowed the liberation of the latter. > >This article was originally published in Al-Talib, the newsmagazine >of the Muslim Students' Association of the University of California >in Los Angeles (UCLA) in October 1994. At the time of its >publication, Kathy Chin was a senior at UCLA majoring in >Psychobiology and Women's Studies. PS is it written by u sis kathy? |
Re: nice article just read it no need 2 reply |
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Kathy |
12/07/03 at 20:53:37 |
no, not by me... the only time I recieved a wolf whistle..was when i was in Hijab! |
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