So, I was aware that deciding to travel to Morocco would mean coming face-to-face with a set of extreme discrepancies between how men and women were treated...but actually experiencing it on the street is a completely different story. Men inhabit the public sphere and women, the private. The feminism movement in America broke through most of these taboos- leaving incomprehensible remnants like the "glass ceiling," the mindset that women should be treated more harshly for their sexual behavior than men, and the still immensely wide discrepancy between wages for the same work; whereas in Morocco, the feminist movement is just gaining ground.
I'm currently in a gender class at ALIF University in which we discuss these matters every week, with an emphasis on social norms based on Sharia Law which is in turn based on an interpretation of the Q'uran. Did you know that in the Q'uran BOTH Adam and Eve ate the apple in the Garden of Eden and were BOTH punished equally? It sure blew my mind after experiencing how women are treated as objects and foci of criticism in the Islamic world.
On the streets my friends and I have been called everything from "Spice Girls" to "Beaoootifool" to "Skallywags" to"you stop my heart..." been hissed at and harassed in other verbal ways. After a couple days I got used to it. You learn to look straight forward, appear as though you always know where you're going, even if you're lost, and to remain silent even if you feel like tearing someone's head off. But why?! Why do we have to take extra measures to avoid being seen?! We have often wondered what the teenage boys, who are the most ubiquitous source of catcalls, would think if we turned around and said something back, or called them "Backstreet Boys" or whistled at them when they walked past us!! None of my encounters have been physical, but some of the girls here have not been so lucky...it's never violent, but definitely an unwanted invasion of the personal space bubble.
Overall, if I had one superpower...okay, maybe not that extreme, but if I could change something about my daily experience here, I would want the young men to recognize how degrading and ridiculous they are acting and learn to respect the other half of the population.
I might write more about this again when I have more time, but alas, more class. SO MUCH CLASS!
Anyways...Belly dancing lesson TONIGHT!, second to last test of the term tomorrow morning, music festival in Fés tomorrow afternoon, henna from Kadie's host mom on friday night, hiking a mountain to see the sunrise saturday morning, taking a train to Rabat for the weekend (SO to Hannah Paulson!)
ma salaama
kellen
I'm currently in a gender class at ALIF University in which we discuss these matters every week, with an emphasis on social norms based on Sharia Law which is in turn based on an interpretation of the Q'uran. Did you know that in the Q'uran BOTH Adam and Eve ate the apple in the Garden of Eden and were BOTH punished equally? It sure blew my mind after experiencing how women are treated as objects and foci of criticism in the Islamic world.
On the streets my friends and I have been called everything from "Spice Girls" to "Beaoootifool" to "Skallywags" to"you stop my heart..." been hissed at and harassed in other verbal ways. After a couple days I got used to it. You learn to look straight forward, appear as though you always know where you're going, even if you're lost, and to remain silent even if you feel like tearing someone's head off. But why?! Why do we have to take extra measures to avoid being seen?! We have often wondered what the teenage boys, who are the most ubiquitous source of catcalls, would think if we turned around and said something back, or called them "Backstreet Boys" or whistled at them when they walked past us!! None of my encounters have been physical, but some of the girls here have not been so lucky...it's never violent, but definitely an unwanted invasion of the personal space bubble.
Overall, if I had one superpower...okay, maybe not that extreme, but if I could change something about my daily experience here, I would want the young men to recognize how degrading and ridiculous they are acting and learn to respect the other half of the population.
I might write more about this again when I have more time, but alas, more class. SO MUCH CLASS!
Anyways...Belly dancing lesson TONIGHT!, second to last test of the term tomorrow morning, music festival in Fés tomorrow afternoon, henna from Kadie's host mom on friday night, hiking a mountain to see the sunrise saturday morning, taking a train to Rabat for the weekend (SO to Hannah Paulson!)
ma salaama
kellen
Ah, Kellen! Woman's place in most cultures of the world is lowly, except the West. I often wonder if that isn't the primary reason the West is so hated by Islam. Livestock is more important than woman! It is a man's world, overall! And I think they intend to keep it that way! You are wise to be silent...freedom of speech is not looked upon well there...but know that you are free to THINK whatever you like! It is difficult for most, however. The hardest thing for mankind to control is the mouth!
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