Posted on 01/28/2015 10:41:01 AM PST by SeekAndFind
She didn’t do anything that Laura Bush didn’t do (although Bush did once don a scarf in Jeddah when a group of cancer survivors presented her with one), but as the west’s elite slowly assimilate Islamic norms on blasphemy, affronting the Kingdom by eschewing a scarf feels more transgressive than it used to. I wonder if she’ll be the last FLOTUS to maintain this tradition. If the future must not belong to those who would slander the prophet of Islam, presumably it also shouldn’t belong to women who would offend his inheritors by their immodesty.
On Twitter, Saudis used a hashtag that translates to “#Michelle_Obama_Immodest” or “#Michelle_Obama_NotVeiled” to chastise the first lady for being disrespectful to Saudi traditions.
Saudi Arabia has a strict dress code for women, who are instructed to wear black robes and head coverings at all times in public, though visitors to the country are not required to abide by the dress code.
The headscarf is a less restrictive version of the veil but, per Ayaan Hirsi Ali, they’re both badges of inferiority:
“The veil deliberately marks women as private and restricted property, nonpersons. The veil sets women apart from men and apart from the world; it restrains them, confines them, grooms them for docility. A mind can be cramped just as a body may be, and a Muslim veil blinkers both your vision and your destiny. It is the mark of a kind of apartheid, not the domination of a race but of a sex.”
Hirsi Ali once made the point in an interview that the veil forces women to take responsibility for men’s sexual self-control. It’s too much to expect men to resist temptation around a woman who’s displaying her hair or more; forcing them to cover up reduces the male urge to sin. The headscarf is a smaller concession to the same belief in a country where a woman who’s been gang-raped can be punished with 200 lashes for riding in a car with a male non-relative. And while it’s true that foreign women aren’t required to wear the scarf, there’s obviously some pressure for them to do so — even at the highest levels. Via Jane Parent, here’s a charming encounter from Condi Rice’s memoir about the late King Abdullah:
When Rice visited Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Abdullah, he presented her with a gift. “I opened the package and realized that it was … the black robe and veil Saudi women traditionally wear,” Rice wrote. “‘I had it made especially for you,’ he said tenderly. ‘Our women wear them.’ Yes, as a sign of oppression, I thought. But it was so dear, and he meant well.”
That’s the guy who’s been celebrated the past week as a Saudi reformer. Michelle Obama, having caused a ruckus in Saudi social media by passing on the scarf, slyly reminded everyone of how far reform has to go. I wonder how much the politics of all this drove her decision and how much of it was a pure comfort/tradition/fashion thing. And why skip the scarf today if she was willing to wear one in Indonesia in 2010? Maybe she’s become more sensitive over time to the oppression of women in Muslim countries. Or, more likely, maybe it was a pure protocol thing: The Indonesia trip involved a visit to a mosque whereas today’s visit was just a meet-and-greet with the new Saudi king. That distinction is thin — apart from the Vatican, there’s no state in the world whose civic institutions are more enmeshed with religion than the Kingdom — but a White House that’s too “sensitive” to even use the term “radical Islam” anymore to describe terrorists surely is too sensitive to violate Islamic customs at a mosque. Whether FLOTUS wanted to or not, she was wearing that scarf.
This will be the moment that goes down in history that I TOTALLY AGREE with Michelle’s decisions and behavior. No headscarves for free women. Ever.
I didn’t love the tacky blue outfit, however.
LOL!
I’m glad Michelle didn’t wear a scarf. With all due respect to Mrs. Bush, I found that picture of her with a scarf on her head to be disturbing.
It’s almost like the equivalent of Obama bowing to the king. Americans do not bow, and I don’t think American women should be wearing signs of oppression. They are just as free as American men.
Wow, perhaps it’s because Mrs. Obama is black that they are making a fuss about her not wearing a scarf. They didn’t make a fuss about the white first ladies not wearing a scarf. Are they racists? And regarding Condi Rice, I’m sure that while Ms. Rice is being diplomatic and saying the King meant well by giving her a “shroud” to wear, that she knows that more then likely he really was insulting her and trying to let her know where she belongs. Again, are they racists?
At least it was blue, which seems more subdued than red, yellow or orange for mourning...
In other words, Laura Bush did it first, but Michelle is, well, Michelle, so she's MUCH more bold to have followed Laura's lead!
The great woman libber wears a scarf in the Mid east.. just a hypocrite
We should have told them to take their funeral & stuff it where the sun doesn't shine.
Even Nancy Pelosi was sufficiently obsequious to don a head cover when she made a point of visiting dignitaries in Damascus. And if it was good enough for Nancy, it sure is equally good for Michelle.
Michelle just might find herself buried to the waist and being pelted with stones before she gets out of town.
For the first time, I am with her on this.
Anyone that tells muzzies they can shove their 6th century attitude on women up their collective ....holes is gets a kudo.
Now, if only she’d say what she really thinks about her muzzie, limpid, weak-d*cked quota boy socialist hubby......
As noted in the article, the scarf Laura Bush wore was a present from Muslim women cancer survivors, and was worn when presented.
They all wear a cover for that, even Michelle and Laura Bush.
As an example, while not a Mosque....
The community organizer bowing was not custom, it was the act of a man acknowledging he is not top dog in the room, similar to how a beta male would show respect to the alpha male of the group. Barry is certainly no alpha male; the world knows that and he does too.
She was registered as livestock.
She was registered as livestock.
Yikes! She looks like a peasant working in the olive grove circa 1910!
She was registered as livestock.
If the rumors are true and Michelle is a tranny, is he/she/it even required to wear a scarf under their law?
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