Waitaminute.

[hoveringsombrero]

This is oddly cute except ... why are her arms showing? Doesn't that defeat the point of wearing niqab if you're not going to cover your arms? POSED! Still, oddly cute.



By glenrichards on Flicr via riotclitshave

Comments

[hotcoffeems.livejournal.com]

I suspect it's not that it's posed, it's that it's an accident of the moment.

Looks like she pushed her shirt sleeves up almost to her elbows under her niqab (really, you can wear what you like under it since you're free to dress as you please in private); the niqab has big loose sleeves and when she raised her arms, they fell back...exposing her forearms!!!

Reminds me of the Fulla doll: I got one for myself and of course one for my daughter. But I got the one they sell in the conservative Gulf. She's wearing a big black abaya. Underneath, she's wearing this darling little outfit with color-coordinated heels and she has pinky streaks in her hair.

[eris.livejournal.com]

I sit corrected!

That makes me happier though, that it's a candid instead of a posed. There's something oddly appealing about technology+tradition.

[hotcoffeems.livejournal.com]

And of course I could be wrong about what's going on here, especially as I am not niqabi (but hijabi!)...Niqab is a funny thing...in many Islamic countries where it's not the "done" thing, it's regarded as quaint and a little peculiar (but of course, not "scary" the way it is in your non-Islamic countries). In some places niqabi are referred to as "ninjas"; my habibi tells me that in Algeria, the slang for a niqabi is "rideau qui marche": walking curtain. Of course, they don't say that to a niqabi's face -- uh, in her presence -- as most Algerian grandmothers would knock the heck out of you for disrespecting a woman. :P

Dunno if you saw that Syrian cartoon I once posted about the types of hijabi you meet in the street; I will see if I can find it...

ETA: here it is. Funny; after seeing this, i realized why so many people at Sufi gatherings assumed I was Iranian (because that's pretty much how I dress, right there :P ).

[eris.livejournal.com]

I have seen that little cartoon a few times, likely from both you and google image searches.

And yeah, I've been running across both ninja and walking curtain terms in just general searches for scarf wrapping styles.

I really cannot wrap my brain around more covering = scary. In my recent obsessive research I've even seen just hijab referred to as scary. It's something I've never even really been aware of that it was even a thing. I assume they equate something that looks a certain category of foreign as OMGTERRORIST.

I'm just too literal so it just keeps scanning like they're associating modesty with scary and it keeps giving me brainspeedbumps.

[hotcoffeems.livejournal.com]

They can't see *all of you* that they feel entitled to see. So it is scary.

[eris.livejournal.com]

That's distressing. I sorta feel like my privilege is showing that I really didn't get that this was even a big thing in "civilized countries".

Entitled to see my parts? That sorta makes me want to go niqab. UGH. MAH BITS IS MAH BIZNESS, BITCHES.

[hotcoffeems.livejournal.com]

One of the things that I hear a lot from people who knew me before I began covering (not just during salat): "Why would you want to cover your hair? You have such pretty hair..." in the kind of tones where women might hear, "Why don't you lose some weight? You have such a pretty face..." As if they are the arbiter of whether or not you are good enough, and as if your hair, your body, whatever, are in fact theirs to have access to and to judge worthy.

This can also be seen in the issues POC have with whites who feel a *right* to "touch your hair" because it's loced or braided, or whatever -- and don't get how really rude it is to touch *anyone's* hair.

And: it *does* keep people's hands out of my hair. Alhamdulillah people do *not* seem to have the same urge to touch hijab as they do "unusual" hair. Possibly they're afraid I'll start screaming "Jihad!" at them, really. You can make people's stereotypes work for you, sometimes...

[eris.livejournal.com]

Ok, yeah, that totally brings it into perspective. Now I don't feel as bad, I'm just terribly forgetful, apparently.

I do my own braided extensions, or I used to a lot, have not in quite a while, and it seems like it is somehow permission to come touch my hair, or even GRAB a handful of braids to stop me so they can paw at it.

I hadn't really thought of that in a while, since it has been a long time. Thinking about it just made me shudder.

P.S. to any other friends who may see this response, you still have full permission to play with my braids any time I have them. Strangers and friends are entirely different animals.

[eris.livejournal.com]

Possibly they're afraid I'll start screaming "Jihad!" at them, really.</>

See now, this one reason I would make a terrible Muslim. I find far too many inappropriate things funny, and I might not be able to resist such reactions upon questioning of faith.

I declare holy wars and civil wars and ethnic cleansing on kitchen utensils and the cat, regularly.

[eris.livejournal.com]

oops I fucked up the italics and I'm not nifty enough to edit IGNORE THAT.

[hotcoffeems.livejournal.com]

How do you ethnically cleanse the cat? I'm afraid...!

[eris.livejournal.com]

Heh, I think I've only used that when there's too many spoons next to forks or something.

I annex her pillows. THIS PILLOW IS NOW PART OF ERISLANDIA SYDLANDERS MUST RELOCATE! "mew?" HUSH INFIDEL

[hotcoffeems.livejournal.com]

Yeeeeep. You nailed it. Women are not allowed to decide for themselves how much flesh they want to show or not show, and how they will be judged therefore.

[eris.livejournal.com]

THE MORE BOOBAGE THE MORE RESPONSIBILITY YOU HAS TO SHOW THEM!

[hotcoffeems.livejournal.com]

This post is mighty full of win, ma'am.

[eris.livejournal.com]

\o/

I mean ... no I totally meant yay, except that would be a sadmudge having to go about topless in public, which is not yay.

[fatpie42.livejournal.com]

That is a really cool pic, but do you have any explanation as to what it all means? I'm an RE teacher and it'd be nice to show how ordinary Muslims consider hijab and nikab type stuff, but I'm a bit worried about showing an image of a Malaysian maid with pointy teeth. *gulp*

[fatpie42.livejournal.com]

*looks back at image* Sorry, Indonesian maid. But yeah, same concern.

[hotcoffeems.livejournal.com]

Yep, that Indonesian maid has been raised as an issue elsewhere, although given that the Bedouin has the same teeth, it seems it might just be the artist's style for conveying a toothy grin.

I went and looked, and the artist is a Syrian woman who goes by "Puppeteer" (aha! She's the final panel). Her blog post on it is here: http://thoughts-journal.blogspot.com/2007/04/islamic-syria_06.html

http://muslimahmediawatch.org/2008/03/a-class-apart-2/

Has a post on it. Read the comments for more explanation, including the issue of the Indonesian maid. People object, saying it seems racist/classist, and that she is being portrayed as an accessory...and it is pointed out that in fact, the way Asian maids are treated (as accessories) by wealthy Syrian women is in fact EXACTLY what the cartoonist is commenting on with this image. It's an interesting point: an artist is walking a fine line in making social commentary on classism/racism, because he or she can be construed as racist and classist.