While living in Egypt I typically enjoyed my morning coffee with a peek at people.com, E! Online, or something more mindless than al-Jazeera News. I liked to check out the latest celebrity sightings and fashion trends, laugh at the Olsen twins, and see if anyone in the states is sporting Aladdin pants or bedazzled veils being sold at the Cairo mall. Clearly people.com has yet to design an Arabic version of their site, because no one is selling the golden Lady Gaga neck brace! In recent years there has been a lot of hype and literature on the ”fashions” of Muslim women, their veil, and whether or not they are oppressed members of Middle Eastern society. After moving to Cairo, I have discussed this issue with several Egyptian and American men and women, and have encountered various egotistical, uninformed, excellent, and interesting opinions.
There are actually various types of veils in Egypt. First of all, if they are simply scarves that cover the head they are called hijabs. Some women wear their hijab tightly around their head and neck being careful not to expose any of their hair. I personally believe this is one reason why Muslim women have such nice eyebrows. The hijabs are matched in accordance to the lady’s outfit and secured tightly with straight pins. If the woman is the fancy type, her pin may have a faux gem or tiny rose on the end. The common trend among the younger Muslim generations is to wear two scarves at the same time.
Once while walking through the mall I noticed a litter of adolescents convening near the authentic Egyptian Pizza Hut. One particular girl was decked out in green and yellow. Her green and yellow stripped shirt was accompanied by yellow leggings and green flip flops and the entire outfit was topped off with two scarves layered in green and yellow. Likewise, one friend had a similar outfit in purple and yellow. Instantly, I wondered if the Packers and Vikings were playing somewhere that day. When their mothers approached them, they had similar outfits on as well, only with more of a Chicos flair. My point is that these girls were hardly oppressed by the hijab accessory, but rather embraced it like the Wisconsinites wearing cheese on their head. Quite honestly, it didn’t seem much different than the time my middle schoolers decided to wear their red and black gang colors for a week in anticipation of fighting the other sixth grade team.
Another common trend accompanying these veils is the perfectly matching, offensive screen tee. In middle school my mother refused to buy me a tiny, partially see through t-shirt with a rubber ducky saying, “What the Duck” on the front. During this particular visit to the mall I vividly remember her holding up a shirt saying, “Slippery When Wet” and declaring in a voice loud enough for all the popular kids of Rockford High to hear that these shirts are highly inappropriate and that she’d never spend $25 on a poorly made piece of junk. After moving to Cairo and seeing the ridiculousness of both male and female screen tees, I understand why my mother wouldn’t “dumb down” her children by dressing us in trashy clothes. Such screen tees go practically unnoticed in America, as they are an accepted part of our liberal, humorous culture. Likewise, a hijab or burka is less common in most areas of the states, and may potentially alarm terrorist-fearing Americans. Because Cairo is a city within a religious driven state that revolves around the call to prayer, wearing a “Buck Fuddy” or “Lick Me” shirt to a class led by a Muslim professor and then heading off to pray at the local mosque is about as appropriate as wearing them to your nieces baptism. At my church, even a “Jesus is my Homeboy” shirt probably wouldn’t sit well with the majority of the congregation. On that note, they say that the American University in Cairo is the educational institution of future Egyptian diplomats. So, basically that guy wearing the “tell your boobs to stop staring at my eyes” shirt will be the next leader of Egypt and the girl wearing the cute, pink “never underestimate the power of cleavage” shirt will be solving the Arab-Israeli conflict.
The other type of female covering in the Middle East is more common in Saudi Arabia, but has been seen frequently on the streets of Egypt as well. This covering is the burka. Of the burkas I’ve seen, they are typically black, cover the woman from head to toe, and have tiny eye slits that allow the ladies to see. Though I can’t make assumptions on the personal feelings of these women, I must say their eye make-up is quite stunning. Furthermore, while venturing around the city, I wandered in to an undie store, and the garments worn under this garb are quite scandalous! Let me just say, they aren’t wearing Spandex under there! I have also come to the conclusion that such an outfit has several positive aspects that make the burka very appealing. These women probably never fret about what they are going to wear each day. They also don’t have to worry about their hair, pimples, muffin topping their jeans, or running in to a person that they didn’t want to see. Once after having my lip waxed I ran in to Walmart to buy some desperately needed toilet paper. So there I am standing with my Charmin, hair in a pony, no makeup, and an upper lip blazing red when, “Hello!” there stands my ex-boyfriend’s best friend. Awesome. If only I had a burka. The only drawback I see is attempting to cross an Egyptian street with the peripheral vision through an eye slit. I have a hard enough time as it is.
Such coverings are not necessarily required by state law, so most of the time I avoid feeling like a poser and I don’t wear anything over my head. Unfortunately, failure to wear a covering and look like a foreigner attracts unwanted attention from egotistical Arabs. It isn’t uncommon to be hissed or whistled at or followed. So, the questions remain. Are these women just avoiding the undeserved, negative attention by covering, or are they embracing it whole heartedly for personal fashion and religious preference? The World May Never Know.
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