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Strength Under Different Veils

     The other day I was talking to a friend who is really very beautiful and she was saying that she really hates it when "disgusting" men stare at her face in the hospital and how she is considering to cover it solely for that reason.
    Yesterday I was talking to another friend who was bothered by the mannerism some men speak to her addressing her by "hey" and "يا مرا".
    A girl was walking in front of me and the door was lodged and she spent a few seconds "trying" repeatedly and gently to open it, until my friend leaned forward and forcefully opened it on first attempt for her.
    A girl in our class so cute so pretty and I'd actually like her or be her friend if she didn't walk around like she is made of glass that's about to be broken.
    Yesterday a girl was examining the patient and I didn't even notice her until the doctor said your examination technique is excellent when God knows how long she has been with us in class -we are 6th year after all-. She spoke shyly and with a lot of confinements and I just wondered how her life would've been different has she never been brought up being told that "الحياء من الإيمان" and that she should he shy and that she should never make eye contact with men and that she shouldn't be affirmative because that's rude?
     To me all these girls are oppressed in a way or another.  How you choose to dress and what parts of your body you decide to cover should be based on YOU. On your personal relationship with God. Your own concept of decency. Not because some man said so. And most importantly not because a man looking at you makes you feel uncomfortable because he should not be looking and you should make him know that.
    A man or any person speaking to you should be corrected if he spoke to you in a way you don't accept. In a way YOU find unacceptable regardless of what he thinks. And you should never hold back from correcting them.
   You're not made of glass. You have a body with strong bones muscles and beautiful skin so don't submit to socially imposed concepts of gentle tinder weak and needing help being feminine traits that make a woman attractive. Nothing can break you unless you let it so dive in into life. Speak up. And demand. Don't ever shy out in a culture that taught us to look down when we are supposed to stare at the sun and shine. And be weary to the little things in life that oppress you and fight them, because at the end of the day no matter how outspoken, how independent, how respected we get we are all oppressed in a way or an other.  
    The other day a consultant was praising our female consultant in front of us and called her "حرمه عظيمه" and linguistically alone the contrast between the two words is unsettling.

   Our society, and consequently lives, have condiments to them governed by a long history of disguised oppression. We can't escape. And most certainly we'd need many generations to come to change it. But what we can do is to reject how it reflects on us in our every day to day life. Within the limitations of the control the average Saudi woman has over her life she chooses when is the next time she'd allow to be shoved against a wall or shine her face under the sun without burning.  In any situation there is the strong way to fight, and the moroseful submission. Choose well.

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