Friday, 03 July 2009
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What's So Frightening About a Veiled Woman?
Nothing strikes fear in the Western psyche like a piece of cloth on a woman's head.Is it hate? Fear? Why do some people hate me right away when they see me just because of cloth on my head?
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Comments (72)
I do not think it is hate. I think that many, myself included most of the time, automatically think that they were forced to do it, and never really consider it their choice, but as i have interacted more with those who choose to, i have learned to judge less
I think it's because of the different movements it has been associated with in the past. I don't hate the women who wear them, but I can't deny that the visual has some negative associations in my head, as much as I may try to counter them. Usually I feel more curious than anything when I see it.
I don't feel hate or fear. Amongst the many things I've thought or felt throughout my lifetime when around veiled women:
1.She is completely detached from the world I live in.
2.Poor girl. She doesn't get to make any choices for herself and is treated unfairly.
3.I'm being looked at through eyes of pompous condemnation. She obviously thinks she's better or holier than the majority of people around her.
In other words, she is not like us, we don't understand why she engages in what seems to be such an outdated, socially abnormal behavior, so she must just be from another world. It must suck to be her, a helpless woman with no voice of her own... I hope she's not abused at home. Others may be under the impression that you think you are better than those around you who don't cover their heads.
Those are all unfair assumptions, and I've definitely gotten past those nowadays. Thats just what I - and many people I know - have thought, and I'm sure people still think it today.
I don't get it. What do they do? Scream and start crying, begging for their life?
and >99% of people don't "hate" you. I don't know why you'd ever get that idea. It takes more than some stuff on your head to make someone hate you, unless it happens to have a swastika painted on it.
i don't hate veils. i think they are a waste of time, though. covering yourself up for some twisted reason that makes you think that men will look at you less and you are somehow contributing to the Christian community by making yourself look like a bolt of cloth. if you have to wear a veil to get men to not look at you lustfully, then that's your problem. men will lust. that's the bottom line. wearing things so that they will lust less is a moot point.
Because, regardless of what people claim, people only accept what they want to accept.
Right now it's really popular to accept people that have no firm standing-- so typically people with firm beliefs are often called radicals. Many who exhibit that kind of clothing would be considered radical...
I don't necessarily hate veiled women. I hate veils and what they represent. And I hate the men who impose them on women. But I do hate those women who blindly accept to be repressed by men. (And hate is a strong word, I don't think I fully mean it--more like just... "disagree" with o_o)
It may not be so much the veil itself as the woman wearing it.
i don't hate or fear veiled women. i just find the rationale behind their behavior inherently sexist.
I think it's less about fear and more about not understanding the motivation for it.
There are Jewish women who cover their
heads. Christian women who cover their heads. Messianic women who
cover. Muslim women who cover...etc.
I can not speak for all women who cover on why they cover.
I can give a few of the reasons
1 cor 11 in the bible
There are verses in the Koran
fulfilling
a mitzvah (commandment) that is founded on tzniut (modesty), the most
important characteristic of the Bat Yisrael (Daughter of Israel).
A
woman completes her attire with head-wear that is impressive in its
refinement, and reflects the regal and virtuous character of N'shei
Yisrael (Women of Israel). (Mekorot 32:1)
"Strength lies in conforming with the ordinances of the Torah" (Shir HaShirim Rabbah 2:10).
And
say to the faithful women to lower their gazes, and to guard their
private parts, and not to display their beauty except what is apparent
of it, and to extend their headcoverings (khimars) to cover their
bosoms (jaybs), and not to display their beauty except to their
husbands, or their fathers, or their husband's fathers, or their sons,
or their husband's sons, or their brothers, or their brothers' sons, or
their sisters' sons, or their womenfolk, or what their right hands rule
(slaves), or the followers from the men who do not feel sexual desire,
or the small children to whom the nakedness of women is not apparent,
and not to strike their feet (on the ground) so as to make known what
they hide of their adornments. And turn in repentance to Allah
together, O you the faithful, in order that you are successful
Surah an-Nur ayah 31
O
Prophet! Say to your wives and your daughters and the women of the
faithful to draw their outergarments (jilbabs) close around themselves;
that is better that they will be recognized and not annoyed. And God is
ever Forgiving, Gentle.
Surah al-Ahzab ayah 59
Here are a few links too if you want to research it more..
According to the Scriptures: Headcovering
Biblical Headcovering: The Scarf of Hidden Power
Christian Women's Headcovering Directory
Headcoverings and the Christian Woman
Is a Woman's Hair Her Only Covering?
Let Her Be Veiled
Modesty and Christian Living in the 90s
My Testimony Regarding the Headcovering
Nigerian Catholics told to be modest
No Such Custom?
On the Covering of Heads
She Maketh Herself Headcoverings
Should Christian Women Wear a Headcovering?
The Biblical Practice of Headcovering
The Christian Modesty
The Christian Veiling
The Headcoverings of Sisters
The Rites of Submission
The Significance of the Christian Woman's Veiling
The Veil
Women's Headcovering and the Glory of God
It's likely 'fear of the unknown'; both a religious act that is not well understood and not being able to see one's face (which is an important part of communication..........think of how many e-mail posts or Xanga posts were misunderstood because expressions could not be discerned). Wear what you wish in my book.
@HLPU@xanga - actually many women who veil...Cover their Hair...not the face. Expression can still be seen
@Kristenmomof3@xanga - Good point, I had not gone that far into pondering. Thanks!
subsacred.xanga got it right. Those are most of the feelings that are elicited by the public in the United States when they see a veiled woman. Makes you look subserviant, second class. And it can make you look like an attention whore. Especially when you assume others are "frightened" by your appearance. If that is true, why would you continue to wear a headgarment?
As I recall, you believe in the Bible. Isn't there a passage somewhere that says to not do things that cause other believers to stumble? To insist wearing a veil is the correct thing to do in the presence of new believers causes them conflict, confuses them.
You really want others to believe you are somehow more "holy" by wearing a veil? Then you miss the entire point of Jesus' message in the New Testament. He tried to teach everyone to look beyond the technical aspects of keeping the "law". That is what the Pharisees did, and He ridiculed them all the time. They stood on the streetcorners and loudly preached their long, pious prayers, they flaggellated themselves, they made a big show of themselves in Temple to make themselves look good in mans eyes, all the while corrupt in God's eyes.
Jesus taught that what comes out of a persons mouth and heart is what matters. Who you are, not what you look like. What you say and do, not appearances.
It is sad how so many people cannot see the forrest for the trees...
You never know if the lady is going through chemo therapy and wears a scarf to protect her bare head!!!
It's not hate.
It's pity.
You have let something we consider a work of fiction to rob you of your very appearance.
This isn't an attack. Just a to-the-point response to your question.
@Ork58@xanga - To not cover would go against the bible. I Corinthians 11
I don't think that it's hate. The whole idea of covering the head just seems so archaic. Yes in one of the chapters in Corinthian Paul did mention that a woman head should be covered, but it also that a woman should be silent in the church and that there salvation is through child bearing and so worth. I think sometimes the thing that are written in the bible are not meant to be taken literally. I think the whole idea of head covering, and outside appearance does not have anything to do with a person's salvation. When I see someone with their heads covered I think of Matthew 23, where Jesus was warning the Pharisees about being too focus and on outward appearance and rules made by man, but were not really folowing the word.
@Kristenmomof3@xanga - Is every post you ever make going to be about you covering your head?
@sierrraa@xanga - If you would read my blog you would see that not every post I write is about veiling. Even if you read every post that Revelife has used of mine not every post is about veiling. Only 2 of them even mention veiling....That is in no way even close to "Every one"
@sierrraa@xanga - I was thinking the exact same thing. It seems like every post she writes and that ends up on revelife is about how she covers her head for modesty reasons, or religious reasons.
Original poster: I don't hate you for covering your head. That's your choice. But I am sick of reading about it every week or ever how often. It gives me a feeling that you think you're better than other Christians or Messianic people just because you cover your head. And I really wish you would stop talking about it. One post on the topic is enough!
By the way, I'm a Christian and I have never covered my head - ever. I've never seen or felt a reason to do so. I also know a lady who attends the Messianic synagogue and I've never seen her cover her head.
i think it has a lot to do with fear of something different and unknown. and it depends what kind of veil or head covering you're talking about, as well. no one i know of sees a nun and says, "those damn nuns, they're ruining the country." but i know several people who see women with a middle-eastern appearance and traditional clothing and something inside them snaps and they feel the need to announce to those around them that "those damn muslims are taking over the country, and they're going to impose islamic law on all of us and bring on the apocolypse," as if they take it for granted that they're speaking for everyone present, that it's just a fact that no one can dispute. but nuns are christian, and in the minds of many christian men, christian women must be submissive and quiet and obedient. i think nuns and other kinds of veiled christian women aren't really threatening to american christians in general, just different. you just look at them and think, i wonder what sect or denomination or religion she follows. the religious right sees a muslim woman and red alerts go off in their brains.
@hippiechristian73102@xanga - I talk about it at times because it is part of my life. Only two post of mine mentioning it have ever been on Revelife. There have been a few by other women about it on Revelife. One about someone mistaking something and this one.
I have had 12 post on Revelife so 2 out of 12 is not even 1/4th of the posts.
I have mentioned in a comment above where it is in the bible and why I do it. I do not look down on people who don't wear one...it is between them and G-d.