tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1669336124938528228.post4233414811334823410..comments2011-05-08T01:52:57.715-05:00Comments on Hijabi Season: Reclaiming: "I've stopped being Theirs"seghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13226341093016078350noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1669336124938528228.post-38113057739771414962011-04-12T23:44:57.791-05:002011-04-12T23:44:57.791-05:00Sarah,
Thank you for that link! I started to rea...Sarah,<br /><br />Thank you for that link! I started to read it, and it´s great.<br /><br />I will post a link to your blog soon.<br /><br />JJhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05736132926674168822noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1669336124938528228.post-32641857499948543352011-04-10T18:58:32.766-05:002011-04-10T18:58:32.766-05:00Dear J -- I am looking forward to reading your blo...Dear J -- I am looking forward to reading your blog and learning about the similarities and differences in our hijab experiences. Thank you so much for sharing! Yes, please feel free to post a link to my blog on yours. Also, you might be interested in learning more about the Lent practice that Dr. Lisa M. Hess (who commented above) is undertaking. She is exploring kosher practice: http://experts.patheos.com/expert/lisamhess/ongoing-research-current-project/<br /><br />All the best, <br />Sarahseghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13226341093016078350noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1669336124938528228.post-64464597480331089002011-04-10T18:09:00.745-05:002011-04-10T18:09:00.745-05:00PS: Would it be ok if I post a link to your blog o...PS: Would it be ok if I post a link to your blog on mine?Jhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05736132926674168822noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1669336124938528228.post-52634491631416347642011-04-10T11:26:16.274-05:002011-04-10T11:26:16.274-05:00Hi Sarah. A friend found your blog through a coll...Hi Sarah. A friend found your blog through a colleague. I am a Christian (Episcopalian) also wearing hijab for Lent and I´ve really enjoyed reading your blog. You can find mine here if you´re interested in reading it: hijabforlent.blogspot.com<br /><br />Salaams!Jhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05736132926674168822noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1669336124938528228.post-27319852084107555312011-04-04T14:37:42.383-05:002011-04-04T14:37:42.383-05:00Beautifully said. I'm reminded of a time I wen...Beautifully said. I'm reminded of a time I went to pray at the Muslim center for its Friday prayers. I had brought a head-covering, to be respectful, but did not know what it might impress upon me in mind/spirit/body. Earlier that week, I had attended a worship service within my own community which I experienced as antithetical to Christian faith, to everything I hold as holy. I wanted to be with a people of prayer...so I went to the Mercy Center. (Title appropriate). Never before had I felt so cherished, safe, enfolded in unfamiliar but sacred-space as I did in that space/time of head-covered prayer. I learned something about head-coverings that had been inaccessible to me before. My Muslim-women friends, when I said something the next week, reached out and impulsively hugged me, they were so pleased I "got it" at some level.<br /><br />Of course,whenever gender politics fire up in my own work-place, (completely unrelated to this community), I cannot return to praying in the back of this praying people, where the women are required to be. I understand differently, appreciate more, but I also cannot erase what my body has been told for decades, how my 'system' reads social systems and the difficulties women face regularly in religious garb. It's a both/and somehow...Lisa M. Hesshttp://united.edu/Lisa-M.-Hess/Lisa-M.-Hess/menu-id-302.htmlnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1669336124938528228.post-75074462102976586042011-03-29T20:06:35.154-05:002011-03-29T20:06:35.154-05:00I completely agree with your assessment. Another ...I completely agree with your assessment. Another story involving the same woman: demolition orders were placed by the DCO (Israeli Civil Administration) on the generator that pumped electricity to the homes for two hours each night. They said if any men came out to try to stop them they would be arrested immediately. So the women of the village linked arms in the street and refused to let the bulldozers past. They didn't know what to do; so they left. They ended up winning in the Israeli courts the right to keep their electricity.Eric Paulnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1669336124938528228.post-32237976373979974622011-03-29T19:28:41.584-05:002011-03-29T19:28:41.584-05:00Thanks to Sarah and Eric for your comments.
Sar...Thanks to Sarah and Eric for your comments. <br /><br />Sarah, I think the personal example you've shared here provides a telling glimpse into the lived experiences of many young women in America. As I mentioned in my post, I am grateful for the gender inclusivity and sensitivity to sexism (and heterosexism) that have arisen in many religious contexts. I hope that through these changes and through unmasking oppression in all forms, our future daughters (and husband's cousin's daughters) can flourish.<br /><br />Eric, I appreciate the example you have given also. The context of the hijab, I am realizing, is crucial. I have come more and more to see my hijabi experience as a social/cultural intervention. For the woman in your example, it seems like she is motivated by the deep respect she has for her community, for Allah, and, I sense, for her own flourishing. The idea of choice, though, still troubles me. I'm not sure I completely buy the common argument that a woman who exercises her right/ability to choose is, necessarily, a feminist. I believe that societies shape individuals so much that what many times seems like a choice, really isn't. Women may claim to "choose" to wear makeup and not to shave their heads, or men may "choose" football over ballet, but the reality is that society plays a huge role in who we all become, and tries with all its might to dictate what should and shouldn't be acceptable options for our lives. That said, I love societies because they are made up of beautiful, diverse human beings. It's those oppressive, death-dealing structures within societies that make me squirm...Hope this wasn't too much rambling, and I certainly hope you have heard my appreciation for this woman's courage and commitment to her faith and community. Just trying to wrestle out some of those invisible factors at play in this example and elsewhere...seghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13226341093016078350noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1669336124938528228.post-1514345137802167662011-03-27T22:00:54.366-05:002011-03-27T22:00:54.366-05:00When I was in the village of At-Tuwani, in the Sou...When I was in the village of At-Tuwani, in the South Hebron hills, I met a Muslim woman who talked with us about the women's co-op she had started in the town. Yet, she wore the hijab. Some of the women asked if her husband forced her to wear the covering. She responded that her husband had asked her not to wear it. He was a communist who saw everyone as equals and thought it would be best to disregard the covering. She simply replied, "But I choose as a woman to wear it. I have deep respect for my community and Allah. In this way, I am acting as a true feminist."Eric Paulnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1669336124938528228.post-62427213208015109002011-03-27T12:25:04.115-05:002011-03-27T12:25:04.115-05:00totally random ramblings- sorry.totally random ramblings- sorry.Sarah S-Dhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02839861820297123884noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1669336124938528228.post-4178153810677381232011-03-27T12:24:15.037-05:002011-03-27T12:24:15.037-05:00We're in Kentucky this weekend for the confirm...We're in Kentucky this weekend for the confirmation of my husband's cousin's daughter- an absolutely beautiful, delightful, talented, and compassionate young woman- who doesn't know, in her bones, any of these things. She asked her mother last week if she was ugly- partially because her first boyfriend broke up with her (two days before their confirmation retreat on "purity, sex, and dating." sigh.) <br /><br />The confirmation service we sat through used exclusively male language for God- even used a male pronoun for the activity of the Holy Spirit. <br /><br />The sermon also had very troubling implications for inter-religious relations.<br /><br />May more women have transforming and liberating experiences such as the one that you are having. There are MANY ways to be a feminist.Sarah S-Dhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02839861820297123884noreply@blogger.com