_____
In comparison to her mother, who was a typical Egyptian woman in that she wore makeup and always removed unwanted hair from parts of her body and face, Nawal writes in A Daughter of Isis: "I never hid it under makeup or powder, or pastes of any kind, did not believe in a femininity born with slave society and handed down to us with class and patriarchy. My mother rebelled against many things but still she held on to certain traits of femininity which I did not share with her." When I ask how she feels about makeup and hair removal, and all these things that women do today, she reasserts her position: "Women are pushed to be just bodies – either to be veiled under religion, or to be veiled by makeup. They are taught that they shouldn’t face the world with their real face – they have to hide their face somehow. Both are very significant of the oppression of women, that women are not really encouraged to be real, to be themselves, they are encouraged to hide, to be what society wants, what religion wants, what men want."
Why, indeed, can't women hate men? It's not like women don't have reason to.
_____
No comments:
Post a Comment