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Arabia
Islam and Women: Honor The Father - or Else
2005-02-02
EFL - RTWT
Western women have long wryly accepted that their mates rarely notice new outfits and new hairdos. Muslim males, by contrast, take a more intense interest in what female family members wear on their heads, what they put on their faces, how they wrap their bodies, who they shake hands with (no one) and talk to, and obsess more about their genitalia than British lap dance king Peter Stringfellow and the wardrobe chief for Caesar's Palace combined.

Little girls, who should be playing jump rope and taking tennis lessons, are forced to submerge their individuality in hot, uncomfortable, anonymous robes that severely limit movement. This is called teaching them to be "modest". They are made to attend school looking different, and apart, in their headscarves, a barrier, as it is intended to be, to integration.
I've often wondered what the cutoff is between childhood and hijab...is it a birthday, onset of menarche, or the whim of the family? Is there a ceremony, or does mom or dad come in one morning and say: "Here, put this on"?

All these elaborate protocols are done in the name of "protecting" women and girls from themselves. But the truth is, it is self-defense on the part of the Muslim man. To protect Muslim women, immigrant families to the West comply only 50 percent with normal Western dress codes. How often have I seen, in the south of France in the baking heat of summer, a North African family walking across a parking lot, daddy and the teenage son in smart Bermuda shorts, T-shirts and Reeboks, hair cut trendily short and gelled, as Western as you please, and lumbering along in their snappy wake, struggling with the shopping and the swathes of draperies, two or three ambulatory swathes of black sheeting.
Posted by:Frank G

#1  I believe, though I don't recall where I heard it and thus can't verify the accuracy, that it is the first menstruation, traditionally, but might also be ordered (by the father or imam) for other reasons, such as development of breasts, booty, etc., which do sometimes begin prior to menarche.

But... in the end it's about allure. You know there are numerous subtleties to it - it's not always just T&A. The "package" may be alluring without anyone being able to actually pinpoint individual aspects to explain it.

In simple speak: If she gives Daddy or the imam a woodie, or she menstruates, then it's time - whichever comes first. (pun unintentional)
Posted by: .com   2005-02-02 7:33:05 PM  

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