Street entry #1: Muslim Women in Hyde Park

Before coming to London, I've always thought of myself as exceptionally well-rounded and open-minded in terms of other religions and cultures. I've made it a point to be so, and was proud of this facet of myself. While Arlington, TX, is not exactly the culture capital of the world, I felt like I at least had the right attitude about different cultures--I regarded them with respect and understanding. One of the things I was looking forward to most about London was seeing all of the incredible diversity. However, once in London, I had to second guess myself during the visit to Hyde Park. There, the group saw many Muslim women. Of course, I've seen Muslim women in the U.S., but these women were wearing the full hijab, head to toe of black flowing material with a slit revealing the eyes. I had never seen a woman dressed like that in person. I found myself openly staring, staring, at these women. At once they conjured up many different associations for me--newspaper articles about the Taliban in Afghanistan, women's rights stories in magazines, tales of marital violence and honor killings, all about women living on the other side of the world in places as vaguely exotic to me as Bora Bora, New Guinea, Siberia. Whenever people talked about women's rights, stories named something like "Behind the Burqa" were always included. I felt a small tinge of sadness for these women in the park, women who couldn't dress how they want or have as much freedom as me.
Wait a second. Wait just a minute, I told myself. It occurred to me: what right have I to feel sorry for these women? And what right have I to judge the culture? I had to come to terms with the fact that I find it difficult to respect the way women dress in this particular culture. I think this issue with women's garb is especially dicey for me and many others because many people in the U.S. look at the hijab as a symbol of subservience, even oppression, going against basic freedoms of expression. Of course, I'm not ignoring the women's issues mentioned above. However, I never thought that many women want to wear the hijab and appreciate the modesty it offers. This is quite admirable to me, especially living in America where scantily dressed women can be seen easily in movies and advertising. Western and Middle Eastern culture are extremely different in many cases, and how women dress in each culture definitely fuels misunderstanding and disdain. This issue will continue to challenge me, but I will try to move more toward appreciating and respecting the ideology behind the hijab.