Lina featured on tumblr I just discovered

[Deleted03]

Pentacostal hair is frightening. I'm going to give my chin-length bob extra love tonight.

Other observations: the Muslim women are by far the best dressed- I've noticed this is my students as well. I tend to find shades of oppression in headcovering, but I do give the nuns a pass. Possibly because I grew up Catholic, but also because it is a complete and total choice- to become a nun, and to wear a veil. Some orders have mandatory veiling, most don't. The others don't get the choice- to be a 'good' Amish/Muslim/Fake Jewish/Fundie woman, you HAVE to cover your hair.

I find that for mulsims, being a "good" or a "bad" muslim is much more complicated than being a "good" or a "bad" christian. For instance, I have several friends whom I discovered are muslims. I assume they were not because they drink alcohol and smoke. When I asked them they said that they were not "good" muslims. I don't know about you but I never heard anyone tell me they were not "good" christians/catholics.

So I think this concept is just much more complicated in islam, about good or bad muslims. Also I think that there is a time dimension in islam that is different. For instance, my friend from the middle east, says she does not want to wear the veil right now, but ultimately it's her goal (maybe 10, 20 years down the road). I also have another acquaintance from Senegal who says that once you've been to the mecqua then you have to cover your hair, so you push it later in life.

Just to show that understanding islam with a western frame of mind won't give you much to understand.

[FaustianSlip]

I have a good friend here who's Muslim, and she covers her hair. I think she's pretty devout, but she was born in the US, is far away from home working in a pretty high-powered job and could certainly opt against covering her hair if she wanted to, as there's no one here likely to judge her, and she chooses to cover anyway. Whether for religious reasons, cultural reasons or a combination of the two, I've never asked, but I try very hard to avoid equating "hair covering" with "oppressed," because while I don't particularly agree with it (though weirdly, I've had brief moments where I've considered it as a possibility after marriage, though it would make laying tefillin a giant PITA), there are plenty of people who decide to do it of their own volition. I have a harder time with niqab, just because I really think it can cut women that wear it off from a lot of social interaction (I'm not saying that's right or fair, incidentally, just stating it as fact) and, IMHO, can pose some safety issues, but as some niqab wearers here will tell you, people choose to do that, too. If the person involved is an adult and isn't living in some Taliban- or Saudi-esque regime where they're obliged to cover under pain of lashings or worse, I don't really feel it's my place to judge, regardless of my feelings on the matter, because I'm fully aware that there are aspects of Judaism that come off as weird or oppressive or whatever, so who am I to say?

[fluttershies]

Isn't Lina due soon?

I think she's due in June or July.

[fluttershies]

I have a good friend here who's Muslim, and she covers her hair. I think she's pretty devout, but she was born in the US, is far away from home working in a pretty high-powered job and could certainly opt against covering her hair if she wanted to, as there's no one here likely to judge her, and she chooses to cover anyway. Whether for religious reasons, cultural reasons or a combination of the two, I've never asked, but I try very hard to avoid equating "hair covering" with "oppressed," because while I don't particularly agree with it (though weirdly, I've had brief moments where I've considered it as a possibility after marriage, though it would make laying tefillin a giant PITA), there are plenty of people who decide to do it of their own volition. I have a harder time with niqab, just because I really think it can cut women that wear it off from a lot of social interaction (I'm not saying that's right or fair, incidentally, just stating it as fact) and, IMHO, can pose some safety issues, but as some niqab wearers here will tell you, people choose to do that, too. If the person involved is an adult and isn't living in some Taliban- or Saudi-esque regime where they're obliged to cover under pain of lashings or worse, I don't really feel it's my place to judge, regardless of my feelings on the matter, because I'm fully aware that there are aspects of Judaism that come off as weird or oppressive or whatever, so who am I to say?

Yeah, this. I personally would find niddah a TON more oppressive (and for me it has icky women-are-dirty subtext) than even wearing a niqab, but it's not my place to judge because women can make their own decisions.