November 10, 2014 - 17:53
Like others who have already posted, Satrapi’s discussion of the veil has been very interesting to me. Within the first few pages I was, like smalina, reminded of a cartoon I saw a few years ago. Here it is:
So often I hear judgments about how oppressive veils and hijabs are, and only a few times have I heard a counter argument from the perspective of a woman who wears one. To hear a little bit of the history behind the veil is important in order to understand what it means to wear it or to reject it. I noticed that the people she aspires to be like (social activists and martyrs) are men, and don’t wear a veil. By rejecting the veil and aspiring to a certain kind of power that’s generally held by men, I don’t know if I could consider her a neo feminist. If she was able to somehow gain a different kind of power while still wearing a veil I think that would be closer to what we’ve talked about as nego feminism. Although I think this very personal story is great for helping us to understand what its like to wear a veil, I would assume (though I may be wrong) that her story isn’t the norm. Much like our recent discussion about international students’ experiences at Bryn Mawr, I wish we had someone who could share their experience on this topic with us. But then again, maybe reading memoirs like this one is one of the best ways to learn about a culture because authors are offering their stories up as examples instead of forcing someone in a class to speak for and represent a larger group of people.