Women and fabric

Read an interesting piece by Elizabeth Payne today. She talks about women being oppressed in the name of religion -- Muslim women in particular, but other religions too. When I was teaching at Algonquin a couple of years ago, I wondered at the young women who wore the hijab in the name of modesty, but who also wore high-heel boots, a ton of makeup and bright nail polish? Could not square that circle. Clearly, they were forced to wear the head scarf by their families. But was this in the name of religion, or in the name of control? As to the burka (sp?), why do woman have to be completely covered? Is it because any glimpse of any flesh on any part of a woman's body is a dangerous invitation? We are all God's creatures and why women have to schlep about swathed in fabric mystifies and saddens me. When I schelp about in fabric, it is fabric I have chosen to enhance my outfit -- like a fur coat or a silk wrap.

That being said, I have to add that I am not a member of "The Sisterhood". The Sisterhood has cost us very dearly. We have given up our traditional place in society, but this has not turned us into men. Members of The Sisterhood remain women, but disenfranchised on both side of the street. Joing The Sisterhood has always struck me as dumb. All one achieves is the thrill of hanging around other members of The Sisterhood all pounding at the glass ceiling that never seems to crack for them. How depressing. For me, being a women is a delight and enjoying all the perks of being a woman is welcome indeed. Having had both children and a career (or should I say a bunch of jobs) the only thing I did not want to encounter were penalties for carrying the biological function of procreation. I didn't.

So, if given the choice of being a member of The Sisterhood or a middle-class Male Chauvinist Pig, I choose the latter. At least the Male Chauvinist Pig is outwardly polite and deferential to women. Society forces him to adhere to its norms -- all to the benefit of the women in his path.