Wearing a hijab isn’t inherently liberating – but neither is baring one’s breasts. What is liberating is being able to choose either of these things. It’s pretty ludicrous to think that oppression is somehow proportional to how covered or uncovered someone’s body is. Both sides of this argument present a shallow understanding of women’s empowerment, which only drowns out the substantive challenges facing all women – issues that cannot be encapsulated in a debate about a piece of fabric.

Sara Yasin, Is the Hijab Worth Fighting Over?

(via rcabbasi)

2102 : when the choice (to do either) goes away, that’s where we have a problem.

in short, let’s stop yelling and have an actual conversation.  and if we could get things to the point where I could wear a knee length skirt in Cairo without wolf-whistles, that’d be great, thanks…

(via portraitofasmile)