Head Scarves Now a Protective Accessory in Iraq

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A35086-2004Dec29?language=printer

BAGHDAD -- They want to be invisible, these young women at Baghdad University explained. They were sitting in a small group -- five students with pale head scarves pulled tightly around their somber faces.

They would not give their names. That would be crazy, they said. The whole point of wearing the scarves now was to be anonymous and unimportant, to avoid being singled out and followed, or kidnapped, or shot. It was more than a matter of blending in. It was a matter of disappearing into the landscape.

"I put on the scarf because I wanted to walk in the street without fearing someone will kill me or kidnap me," said one of the women. " I want to finish my studies. Without the scarf I cannot. I heard rumors about killing women without a scarf. Why should I risk my life?"

This is the new reality for many women in Iraq, Muslims and Christians alike. As the months have passed since the U.S.-led invasion, fewer women are daring to venture out without wearing a traditional Muslim head scarf, called a hejab in Arabic. In Baghdad, moderate Muslim women used to feel they had a choice whether to wear the scarf, even as religious oppression under Saddam Hussein grew over the past decade. Now, in many neighborhoods, it is hard to find a woman outdoors without a head scarf.

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[FloridaPat]

1. Bush team - great defenders of the right of women -not.

[OKNancy]

2. It's a crazy up-side-down situation

Here we are trying to defeat the same gang that Saddam was trying to squelch.

It does bother me as a feminist to see other DUers defend the theocratic bunch over there as "freedom fighters".

The one true enemy in this is the Bush gang who started this whole mess.

[Barrett808]

3. But Fox News says "women's centers are cropping up" n/t

[underpants]

4. Does that mean "their own schools"?

Sounds like it to me.

[doubleplusgood]

5. can't they see that "Freedom is on the march" ?

Yes, freedom IS on the march...apparently the freedom to kill people who don't conform to religious fundamentalists who have now come out of the woodwork thanks to us.

[maxsolomon]

6. not a fan of the hijab

i often drive past 3 little somali girls waiting for the school bus. all wearing the hijab, and the oldest is 8. what's the point? dad wears what "normal" americans wear; leather jacket & sneakers, but the girls don't get to blend in with their classmates. they are held separate by their attire.

it seems like the hijab may have served a purpose in desexualing women in tribal societies where warfare was often accompanied by rape & enslavement. but now it seems like an insult to both sexes: telling men they are all rapists who can't control their lust, and women that they're whores for tempting men with their hair.

i know i'm culturally insensitive, but i can't think of too many positives in islam this morning.

[VegasWolf]

7. but FAUX says the new library is just dandy! n/t