THE PUBLIC will be glad to hear that there is an increasing number of Muslim
fashion designers who make every effort to diversify the chador, the burqa or
the hijab. Many of these designers are Muslim women who feel that there is not
enough loose and modest clothing in the market that conforms to the Islamic
concept of decency and modesty. I say that the bigger the fabric, the more
designs you can come up with. A plain chador should be considered as an empty
canvass to be worked on. Head scarves now come in different fabrics and styles,
and affluent Muslim women have seemed to take a liking on expensive Hermès
scarves and other prestigious designer brands. Conservative Islamic societies
should encourage fashion design schools that will cater to the needs of their
women. Being comfortable and modest is not enough; variety can come a long
way as to make the individual feel "glamorous" or "chic". Perhaps Muslim
women may not be wearing chadors with French Poodle appliqués any time soon,
but it is certainly an idea to consider when dressing up teenage Muslim
girls who wish to be trendy. It is unfortunate, though, that for every step
to progress, there are forces that hinder it. Three years ago in Niger,
fundamentalist Muslims protested a fashion show that was scheduled to take
place. The fashion show, organized by Niger-born, Paris-based fashion
designer Alphadi, would have featured
latest designs by European, African
and Japanese couturiers. The protestors argued that the fashion festival
would have caused debauchery, prostitution, the seduction of young girls,
and the spread of AIDS.(1) They also did not approve of Alphadi's designs, like
the one shown in the picture above.
In spite of the controversy that entails pageants or beauty-related events, the press
is always present to cover these events and writers never shy away from expressing their
opinions. A Chicago Sun-Times columnist commented on Samadzai's participation in Miss Earth :
But see, here's the problem: No one's concentrating on intelligence when staring at
your belly button. You talk about liberating Afghan women while wearing a teeny red
swimsuit and no one's listening.
Instead, you're just another object to ogle. They aren't hearing when you talk about
what bad shape life is in if you're an Afghan girl.
I don't doubt Vida Samadzai's sincerity when she says she wants to raise money for
schools for Afghan females. But by trading a burka for a tiny bathing suit, she has just
traded one male master's ideas about the female body for another's. (2)
I disagree with almost everything that this author is saying. First of all, who
says that the judges and the public are fixated with Samadzai's belly button?
Afghanistan continues to make the news since the U.S. forces liberated the country
from the Taliban in October 2001. There is incredible information in the media
about Afghanistan that it is almost impossible to ignore the plight of Afghans
especially women. Samadzai's red bikini was her key to grabbing world attention
that resulted in a deluge of interviews by various media agencies, and because
of this, Samadzai was given plenty of opportunity to talk about her negative
experiences in her country. Any smart and beautiful woman would have done the
same thing as Samadzai did; after all, she majored in mass communications,
and what better way to communicate with the masses than to stir controversy
even though she had not planned on it?
Other columnists depict a positive picture of Samadzai, such as a columnist who
goes by the name of "Talleyrand" who writes for a Bangladeshi online news site. The
writer states that Afghan minister Murabi's anger is "misplaced": "She is part of a
government which strives to turn Afghanistan into a modern state (and Afghanistan
last had a modern government, believe it or not, in the days of the communists)
and yet does everything to hold back people from expressing themselves. Every
woman anywhere has the right to demonstrate her beauty in any way she chooses as
long as she does not bring vulgarity into it." (3)
If Samadzai (left) had shown any sign of vulgarity, she would have been dismissed immediately as
every pageant organization requires every candidate to behave as modestly and decently as possible.
Another writer, Newsweek's Gersh Kuntzman who, in his November 3rd article, not
only praised Samadzai's beauty ("she's totally hot") but also suggested that Samadzai
is doing her countrymen a favor by "ushering them into the future, a future complete
with our notions of democracy, equality for women, free markets and peace." Kuntzman
also interviewed the first Miss Afghanistan Zohra Daoud who stated that Samadzai is
"beautiful and has a beautiful body"; however, Daoud pointed out that wearing a
swimsuit actually hurts the women's movement in her country: "Women in Afghanistan
are fighting just to go to school and get health care. Wearing swimsuits doesn't
help because the fundamentalists point to it and say, 'See? We don't want to have
anything to do with the West.' Islamic society looks at America and sees nude women,
alcohol, drugs, prostitution, but not the freedom of choice, the human rights, etc.
They see only the negative."(4) During my
interview with Daoud last August, she stated her approval of beauty pageants
but without the swimsuit competition that she believes is another way of exploiting
women. She also stressed the importance of restoring law and order first before
implementing freedom and economic opportunity. Daoud's statements reflect the
minds of many Afghans who believe in choices and that the transition to full
freedom may take a long time; Samadzai - an Americanized Afghan - felt that there
is little time to wait, and her impatience certainly re-opened heated discussions
about women's rights and pageants.
The bloody events in Nigeria last November 2002, that were caused by the anti-Miss
World riots, attest to the fact that there are certain groups of people who have
either an unhealthy view of the human anatomy or a pathetic understanding of
healthy male-female relationships. It may not be easy to blame someone who has
been raised to believe that the female body should be covered at all times, but
it should be easy to persuade this person into believing that true beauty comes
from within and not from the outside. And once you have convinced this person
that the human heart is the only thing that truly matters, then bikinis and
tight clothes instantly become irrelevant and immaterial. Samadzai, wherever
you are, may your red bikini continue to inspire revolutions to improve women's
lives and may you someday grace an Afghan postage stamp.
(1) http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/1013878.stm
(2) http://www.suntimes.com/output/lifestyles/cst-ftr-shesaid11.html
(3) http://www.newagebd.com/oct4th03/281003/edit.html
(4) http://www.msnbc.com/news/988652.asp
Photo of African model courtesy of www.alphadi.com
Photo of Vida Samadzai courtesy of Associated Press
COPYRIGHT (2003). Rafael Robert Delfin
DECEMBER 2003
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