Burka Too

by Herb Press

Burka. A word I didn't know before 9.11. Also, I didn't know how bad it was for women in Afghanistan--a place that still seems unreal and surreal. Whether that place will ever recover and whether women there will be allowed to live like human beings is anyone's guess. One thing is clear to me, however: we need to look at ourselves too. Are we also in danger of turning women into objects?

Ridiculous you say? We don't make women here wear burkas. True. But we are in fact pressuring girls and women to wear a different type of rig: the glamor costume. Ironically, both the eastern burka and the western glamor rig have one thing in common: control of a woman's appearance and her identity.

While there are no fashion police literally forcing western females to wear glamor rigs--like the Taliban mullas forcing women to wear burkas--there is pressure nevertheless to make western women conform to a glamor identity. A day at any mall is all it takes to see girls and women rigged in glamor costumes. They have to look a certain way to appear in public.

Tyranny will never take hold here as long as we continue to question what we are doing to ourselves. Being in control of our bodies and appearance is very important in any society. Let's be sure that the way we dress is the way we like to be seen not the way we have to dress in order to be accepted or appreciated.

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