Ask Kati: How can you call yourself a feminist if you cover
your head and wear modest clothes?
This is one of the questions I get asked the most, and I
think it comes from a lack of understanding of what feminism really is. One of
the not-so-good things that came out of the women's rights movement was the
idea that you couldn't be feminine and feminist. But true feminism, or more accurately,
healthy feminism is more about choice than about femininity or gender
roles. I refer to this kind of feminism
as "common sense feminism." It
is common sense that men and women should receive equal pay for equal
work. It is common sense that both men
and women should be free to choose whether they want to enter the workforce or
be a homemaker. This idea of everyone
having choices is a separate issue from the concept of gender roles.
The movie "Persepolis" gives an account of what
life was like in Iran after the Islamic Revolution in the 1970s. Women were required to wear veils whenever
they went out in public. Anyone looking
at the situation would say that this was oppressive because it robbed women of
their right to choose their own clothes and interact freely with males. I have been told numerous times that I "shouldn't" cover my hair or dress modestly because I have the freedom to do otherwise. It's true that I am free to dress how I please and interact with the opposite sex in any manner I choose. This is how I am choosing to exercise that freedom. If I am in a situation where I "have" to leave my hair uncovered, I feel very exposed and uncomfortable because I feel as if my choice is being taken away from me. If I want to share my body with one man in the context of a marital relationship, I should be as free to do that as other women are to have multiple partners. If I decide that my hair is something I want to save for my husband's eyes only, then I should be free to do so. To tell me I "can't" or "shouldn't" live my life that way is as ridiculous as making all women wear veils and penalizing them for talking with opposite-sex friends in public.
