Crazy Question - Do most Islamic Fundi men make women wear

[Bobbieo]

black burkas as a form of control? I live in southwest AZ where the heat is comparable to that of the Middle East and the thought of wearing a black burka outside in 110 degree heat in Yuma is absolutely suffocating.

I also have noticed most Islamic fundi men wear white.

[LostinVA]

1. Burqas are not common garb for Muslim women n/t

[sam sarrha]

2. lots of Muslim women prefer to wear the Burqa, safe from leering men..

that is where they wear them.. i dont think you would find many volunteers in educated circles where it is same not to wear them..

the Burqa is a tribal custom, Mahmud tried to keep men from imposing them and from locking women in casket like apparatus at nite.. even he didn't succeed at that in his day..

[Bobbieo]

3. Why not white burkas?????

[sam sarrha]

4. blue is popular in Afganistan... i have never seen white one's.. may have

something to do with women being soul-less hollow shells whose only purpose is to bring good Muslim men into the world... that is basically a tribal attitude.. white indicates purity

[megatherium]

7. Are Muslim men more prone to leering then men in

western cultures? Just a rhetorical question. And another rhetorical question: Why not ask both genders to cover their heads and faces--leering can go both ways!

[sam sarrha]

12. i have heard that explanation from Muslim women.. i know a German Woman

that left Germany and came to the usa to get away from the Muslim men.. she said there were lots of Muslims there and they would leer and sexually harass her if she was alone.. seems in some cultures single women alone un-escorted are prostitutes. she said she couldn't take it any more sold everything she had and moved to the usa. we were talking at her citizenship party and talking about why she came here.

[Rosemary2205]

16. I've had a similar experience

I lived in the coed international dorm back in the 80's at college. I went thinking basically all humans are the same everywhere. I moved to a women only dorm 3 years later convinced most Muslim men are pigs. I've spent the rest of my life struggling to undo those ugly and unfair lessons.

[sam sarrha]

22. i didn't intend to indicate all Muslim men were pigs.. i was just referring

to the ones who were acting unacceptably in this culture.. i was in an Islamic Republic in the Peace Corps in '73.

the reason Europe is having such problems is a lot of the immigrants are from northern african Muslim countries. they are importing uneducated and culturally isolated young men for cheap labor.

when i was in Senegal, the Moors were the most amazing and interesting people i have ever met. they didn't think much of the Arabs, but then the Arabs stoled their children and sold them into slavery in open slave markets in Dakar. there is a serious slavery problem in North Africa and Persian gulf countries, especially abducted child slavery.

[Onlooker]

21. I think so

When I lived in Sweden, where many women sunbathe topless, you would always see men who looked Pakistani leering. A friend who is very pro-Palestinian told me that at the Internet cafe's there, the Arab men are always looking at porn. I think it's such a sexually repressed culture that even women who do not wear burqas are hardly allowed to express themselves.

[benddem]

5. the whole thing got started

when Arabia was in the spice routes and there were many travelers (with terrible ideas) and the women were covered to make them unattractive to men. It really has nothing to do with the muslim religion, it is tradition. The men in Arab countries wear white and many (varies from country to country) of the women wear the black burqa. I had to wear an abaya (one layer of black) when I lived in Saudi Arabia when I was outside. During the hot weather I was terribly uncomfortable and I wore as little as possible underneath. One day I was standing outside a tailor shop with a Saudi Woman when the men in the shop were called to prayer. I was miserable, dancing around, fanning myself, wiping off the sweat.
I counted that the woman had 7 layers on some parts of her body. She never turned a hair or a veil.
They have a different set of controls (not physical)a different mindset than we do. They are taught to internalize while we externalize. They really do think differently from us. I used to tell myself every morning on my way to work "They don't think wrong, they just think different."
Note that in Afghanistan some of the tribal women wear white or blue. It is unusual in Egypt to see a woman totally covered.

[Master Mahon]

6. Very interesting - Thanks!

Sounds like the women learned a meditation technique to control their bodily response to horrid conditions. People who go to extensive military training (Special Ops, Seals, etc.) learn a similiar thing.

I quess it's learn to adapt or die!

[Bobbieo]

9. Thank you benddem - that makes sense.

I got to thinking about burka color when my little white '94 Mitsubishi finally broke down and I had to buy another car. Because it was a such a good buy, I settled for a dark blue '02 Gran Prix.

Great car, but hotter than hell in the summer months!!! I burn my hand on the door handle and it's suffocating inside til the AC kicks in.

[cushla_machree]

8. why can't they wear white?

Or purple or blue or yellow. ANYTHING but that black in the desert!

[PsychoDad]

11. They can

There is no limitation as far as I know as to what color someone can wear. Hadeeth would indicate that black and dark colors were favored by the prophet, but that is all.

The website http://www.alhannah.com/ and http://www.desertstore.com/ has some good examples of Islamic fashon. I plan to order the black Thobe myself. ;)

Peace

[RagingInMiami]

14. Well black makes you look thinner

[PsychoDad]

10. Depends on the country

In the Arab middle east Men and Women wear layers of clothing to insulate themselves from the heat. Arab men wear underwear, a pair of pants, a thobe and over that an aba along with a small cap and the smaug, head cloth over that.

My american wife likes to wear the abaya along the Hijab, sans niqab. She often wears something light under it during the summer. She says she enjoys it because it gives her cover from the sun and is light and airy....and she doesn't have to worry about what she has on under it.

And no, I don't make her wear it. :P

In indonesia, the world's most populous muslim country the burka, afaik, is nver seen.

So it all depends on culture... Like the way fundi christian men and women choose to dress in this country.

Peace.

[RagingInMiami]

15. What's a thobe?

[PsychoDad]

20. These are Thobes

[RagingInMiami]

24. I've seen those

Thanks for explaining

[Lydia Leftcoast]

27. The traditional Malaysian women's dress is

a long cotton skirt, a loose, long-sleeved overblouse, also in lightweight cotton, and an "Aunt Jemima" scarf. It looks very comfortable for wearing in a tropical climate. You'd also think that it's "modest" enough to meet Koranic standards.

However, with Islamic fundamentalism making some inroads, some Malay women have taken to wearing what looks like a nun's habit with a hijab. I can't imagine what kind of fanaticism would inspire someone to wear that in a country where it's basically summer all year.

[liberaliraqvet26]

13. In Iraq it is sometimes over 110 and the women wear black burqas...

and the men wear white. From June-Aug I have no idea what the real temperature was the thermometer was pinned down at 120.

[undeterred]

17. On the other side of it-

A few years ago I spent a few weeks on a tour in Brazil. I don't think anyone wears a bra in Brazil- its hot and people are used to dressing in a way which Americans might consider too revealing. We were camping and swimming and by the end of the second day all but one of the women had given up wearing a bra. There were a half dozen Brazilian men working for the group and none of them even seemed to notice. Nor did the American man who was used to living down there.

The touring American men seemed to be extremely distracted by it and I felt uncomfortable around them, like they were always sneaking a stare or a peek. Same thing happens here in the US when I go braless because of the heat as I have the last few days.

I've also lived in Africa where breasts are more or less about feeding children. The men do not react to a woman nursing as if it were something bizarre. The breast is not nearly as sexualized in Africa as it is here. In Brazil people seem to have a more relaxed attitude about their bodies than we do. I think theirs is the healthiest attitude; the cultures that impose the Burka are the unhealthiest. Ours is wildly inconsistent.

[deaniac21]

18. Black would be much more complimentary to one's figure.

[deaniac21]

19. .

[sam sarrha]

23. Does this Burqa make my butt look big...?????

[PsychoDad]

25. You owe me a coke!

I spit mine all over the monitor when I read that.. LOL :)

[TallahasseeGrannie]

26. I've given burkas a lot of thought

because I am often on the FSU campus and see what the girls wear. Very tight, very short tops, very low short or jeans. Lots of midriff showing, every single curve. And then the guys wear all the baggy stuff. I've talked with some of my students (high school) about styles for girls and they say they feel like they MUST show it all or be categorized as uncool. And it doesn't matter how good their bodies are. I see very heavy girls dressing very scantily as well. So who is to say who is more compelled? Our women who feel they have to bare it all, or fundamentalist Muslim women who feel they have to cover it all.

Also, I don't want to add to stereotyping here because it is a cultural thing, but when I was in college 30 years ago the Middle Eastern men were very, very aggressive with the co-eds. They didn't appear to be all that selective, either. A lot of the less attractive girls found dates that way. I guess quite a few married them, as well. I wonder sometimes how it worked out for them.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

28. Do you mean like these?