My Heart Still Goes Out To Those Who Veil Along With Me - Tumblr Posts
So, not even a week after resuming my veiling practice, I experienced discrimination. I don’t wish to recount the experience to save my emotional energy, but I do want to go into why I’m glad I had this experience, and how it encourages me to continue.
Firstly, I want to acknowledge the fact that my preferred approach to veiling does in fact make me resemble Muslim women. And because of this, I want to give a heartfelt thank you to Muslim women worldwide for setting the standard for others who find empowerment and comfort in modesty. As a white person, I have been aware of and sympathetic to the plight of Muslim women worldwide, but it’s different when it happens to you. It cements it. My heart aches for your strife and is full by your courage. This is one reason I’m glad for this experience. It strengthens my resolve and compassion. Thank you.
Another reason I’m glad for the experience, is because it reiterates why I want to veil in the first place. I live in Midwestern America. Our bodily autonomy is quickly being stolen from us. Our bodies are hyper-sexualized and spoken about as if all I’m good for is having babies that the government can raise as cattle for the capitalist machine. It’s a physical symbol of rejecting that. I get to decide how I look to others. I get to decide who gets access to my body, not just in a sexual manner but as a whole. For me, it’s a radical act of feminism. It feels as though the fibers in my headscarves and coverings are woven together in a greater tapestry of women worldwide. I can feel it with Muslim women, whom I do not share a religion with, but share something more important: kinship, and sisterhood. My threads are woven with the Muslim women in France who are fighting legislation for their right to be modest (that is batshit insane) and also with those victimized by western imperialism (which gave birth to the Taliban). The tapestry is worldwide, including Jewish women and their tichels, other pagans with their bandanas and beanies, even traditional Christian women who wear lace coverings. But modesty and autonomy reach beyond the gender divide so I have home in those who are also men, nonbinary, gender-fluid, two-spirit, and many others. It is community. It filters out many people who show their true intentions and beliefs, and makes it so much easier to cut through the lies and masks of people whose support is conditional.
I have always been modest and prudish and now I can celebrate it, instead of being “othered” by it. I feel as though it is a symbol of my devotion, but also a form of radical self-care that I celebrate myself.
It is Hera’s Crown.
It is Athena’s War Helmet.
It is Hermes’ Winged Helmet.
It is Eurybia’s Cloak of the Ocean.
It is Hades’ Helmet of Shadow.
It is Hestia’s Veil.
It is Zeus’ Crown.
It makes me feel godly and holy. It protects me. It invigorates me. It gives me confidence.
Khaire.