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ladydraceOh look! It's me, writing about something serious!
Upon discovering that I on my friends list have a few hijab wearing girls, I've pondered the whole idea a lot recently.
Quite personally, I've always been a little curious about them. Some of them look quite beautiful and I suspect it might be because it seems so exotic to me, but since I was very young, I've been very eager to try one. When I was a kid, I would often play "harem girl". Believe me, I mean no offence at all, but to me - in my young, naïve eyes - harem girls were beautiful, graceful and worth imitating. The hijab brings back that childhood image and somewhere deep in my mind, scarf wearing girls will always look that extra bit graceful to me.
So, you might ask, why don't I just go put a scarf on? Well, first of all, I've tried a few times in front of a mirror and no matter how I try, I end up looking either like someone covering for a bad dye-job or just someone who doesn't know what she's doing. Meaning it looks lumpy or loose or just... I dunno... wrong. My pasty face could have something to do with it, but I do see some pale hijab wearers in the streets and they seem to manage it just fine.
And then there's going out in public with them. This is where it gets hairy. (Oh lol. Horrible pun. Sorry.) In Denmark we value our freedom. Freedom of speech, of religion and just basically freedom from even a hint of oppression. In fact, in my personal opinion, we've gone a little too far and have become fanatics. It sounds weird. Can you have too much freedom? Yes, if the so-called-freedom is dictated by someone other than you, yes. Then it's suddenly not freedom anymore.
Let me give you an example.
I have several time - without even blushing - gone into a sex shop, browsed the toys and movies, asked the clerk for advice and gone out with bulging bags and hauled them home, quite openly. Should people see me on the street or in the shop, they would most likely think I was either a little embarrassing to be around, a sad, lonely cow or perhaps (if I were lucky) a free and openly sexual woman.
Now, if I - with my before-mentioned pasty face - were to put on a head scarf and go out in public, I would suddenly be an object of much more attention. Many would assume I was oppressed, unhappy and in serious need of help. Because, apparently, thinking that hijabs are beautiful means you're insane.
Politics and media have somhow sold us the idea that head scarves of any kind are a clear sign of oppression. Religious oppression, political oppression or social oppression. See how I keep using that word? Well, that's because the media do the same. And I find it a little disgusting.
I like freedom. I really do. But then again, I would also like the freedom to choose restrictions for myself. Even something as simple as restricting my bad dye-job, I would like to be able to do that, without people assuming I need help. I couldn't fault people for assuming I was a muslim, since the hijab is a classic part of being a muslim woman. But even muslim women are not all oppressed and it's hard to convince the Danish people of that with terror-propaganda being stuffed down our throats every time we open a paper, turn on the tv or the pc.
And after those musings, I'd like to announce that I'm a coward. Even if I somehow manage to get the scarf right some day, I don't know if I'd dare to go out the door. I'd rather go out wearing a penis-hat (actually, I might do that just for fun...) than a hijab. And that's sad. It's really sad.
Upon discovering that I on my friends list have a few hijab wearing girls, I've pondered the whole idea a lot recently.
Quite personally, I've always been a little curious about them. Some of them look quite beautiful and I suspect it might be because it seems so exotic to me, but since I was very young, I've been very eager to try one. When I was a kid, I would often play "harem girl". Believe me, I mean no offence at all, but to me - in my young, naïve eyes - harem girls were beautiful, graceful and worth imitating. The hijab brings back that childhood image and somewhere deep in my mind, scarf wearing girls will always look that extra bit graceful to me.
So, you might ask, why don't I just go put a scarf on? Well, first of all, I've tried a few times in front of a mirror and no matter how I try, I end up looking either like someone covering for a bad dye-job or just someone who doesn't know what she's doing. Meaning it looks lumpy or loose or just... I dunno... wrong. My pasty face could have something to do with it, but I do see some pale hijab wearers in the streets and they seem to manage it just fine.
And then there's going out in public with them. This is where it gets hairy. (Oh lol. Horrible pun. Sorry.) In Denmark we value our freedom. Freedom of speech, of religion and just basically freedom from even a hint of oppression. In fact, in my personal opinion, we've gone a little too far and have become fanatics. It sounds weird. Can you have too much freedom? Yes, if the so-called-freedom is dictated by someone other than you, yes. Then it's suddenly not freedom anymore.
Let me give you an example.
I have several time - without even blushing - gone into a sex shop, browsed the toys and movies, asked the clerk for advice and gone out with bulging bags and hauled them home, quite openly. Should people see me on the street or in the shop, they would most likely think I was either a little embarrassing to be around, a sad, lonely cow or perhaps (if I were lucky) a free and openly sexual woman.
Now, if I - with my before-mentioned pasty face - were to put on a head scarf and go out in public, I would suddenly be an object of much more attention. Many would assume I was oppressed, unhappy and in serious need of help. Because, apparently, thinking that hijabs are beautiful means you're insane.
Politics and media have somhow sold us the idea that head scarves of any kind are a clear sign of oppression. Religious oppression, political oppression or social oppression. See how I keep using that word? Well, that's because the media do the same. And I find it a little disgusting.
I like freedom. I really do. But then again, I would also like the freedom to choose restrictions for myself. Even something as simple as restricting my bad dye-job, I would like to be able to do that, without people assuming I need help. I couldn't fault people for assuming I was a muslim, since the hijab is a classic part of being a muslim woman. But even muslim women are not all oppressed and it's hard to convince the Danish people of that with terror-propaganda being stuffed down our throats every time we open a paper, turn on the tv or the pc.
And after those musings, I'd like to announce that I'm a coward. Even if I somehow manage to get the scarf right some day, I don't know if I'd dare to go out the door. I'd rather go out wearing a penis-hat (actually, I might do that just for fun...) than a hijab. And that's sad. It's really sad.
