not to be scarfed at

Right now in Turkey the great headscarf debate rages. Way back in the 80’s
when the people’s hero Ataturk was in power, he banned the wearing of
headscarves in government buildings, including schools, in the interest of
promoting a secular and modern society.
The current President, Gul, is known as a hard line Islamist, whose wife
wears a headscarf and whose election caused the recent street
demonstrations and the threat of a military coup back in May of 2007.
People feared it would only be a matter of time before he started imposing
his ‘extremism’ on them. Perhaps they were right.

His argument is that the banning of headscarves in schools and universities
is sexist and prevents many women from teaching and studying in schools.
Gul’s own daughters study in America where head scarves are not an issue.
The opposition say that allowing scarves is only a step away from forcing
people to wear them. This may sound extreme, but remember that this is a
fiery nation. Last year some teenagers were nearly beaten to death by fellow students for
drinking tea in a café during the daylight hours of Ramadan. The last thing
you want is for this country to take the hardline.

Non of the female Istanbulus I know want to wear headscarves or see them
introduced. They spend way to much on their hair to cover it up. Most of
the more traditional Muslims are poor, uneducated and from the country. The
problem is that their numbers are many and they have the voting power to
see this law revoked.

It’s true that whenever I am in a Muslim country I see women wearing
headscarves and long dresses I feel sorry for them, and think about how
awful it must be to be forced to wear something black, hot and
uncomfortable because men are too brutish to be able to control themselves
around the sight of a naked ankle. I always saw it as a repression.

But now I wonder. Which is worse? A girl in a headscarf, or a nine year old
girl in the biting wind in Newcastle wearing a g-string, short skirt,
heels, make up and a T-shirt emblazoned with an utterly inappropriate
sexual slogan? We talk about Middle Eastern women being repressed, when so
far as I can see, feminism in Europe has taken a million steps back over
the last decade.

There was a decade or two when using bikini clad women in
advertising was seen as sexist. Not anymore.
Thanks to the semi naked sweaty chicks that grace the cover of ‘Maxim’
females are conned into thinking that looking like a cheap tart is a sign
of empowerment. Getting so plastered on ‘Tropical Reefs’ you end up having
drunken unprotected sex and getting a good dose of the clap from a stranger
is a sign of freedom. Hurrah! But so far I am only seeing one beneficiary
in all of this. And it ain’t the woman.

According to hug a hoodie, Cameron (conservative M.P), studies have shown that nearly half of all British males
believe it is okay to force a woman to have sex in certain circumstances. In Turkey it is said that 45 percent of men think its okay to hit a woman in certain circumstances. Which is worse? Or are they the same? In one culture a woman can work if she wants but generally stays home to look after the kids. In Enlgnad women generally work AND look after the kids and all to be paid, on average, 20 percent less than their male counterparts some 37 years after equal pay laws were introduced. Freedom? One wonders.


Personally I am against headscarves because I detest all forms of organized
religion but I do quite like the hymns. I also like wearing skirts but then
I do have the legs for it. A lot of women don’t. Therefore shouldn’t in the
interests of common decency.

Anyway onto cheerier subjects. Had a mostly quiet weekend punctuated by one
expats gathering during which I won an award for the ‘best expat
introduction’ written on a website. Can’t remember what I wrote. It wasn’t
that good and I was banned from the site shortly afterwards.

The other nights I stayed in – quelle horror! Yes party Maie seems to have
gone to ground for the moment.

My friend Mike is having an operation on his brain tumour today. We are all
anxiously awaiting news of his status. It’s the size of a golf ball which
isn’t good. Okay so that wasn't a cheerier subject.

The other week I met members of the Istanbul Foreign Correspondents club.
Lovely bunch of people, although I felt like a fraud as all of them were
fresh out of war zones.

This week not a lot. I should start getting paid now all my documents are
here. I’ll probably go to the cinema and on Wednesday join my friend on his
photography course. I plan to go to the gym lots and start running so that
I can join the running club over the next fortnight without looking like
an idiot.

Also good is that my documents are all here, so I can finally start the
process of getting hold of my stuff that is being shipped from the Czech
republic and, more importantly, I can start getting paid. Thank god!

Anyway, its nearly gym time. My boss isn’t here today so I can have a nice
long session.