Headscarf

I consider myself a feminist. I'm more educated than most on the topic - which isn't saying much - and I'm outspoken when necessary. If I had to put everything I know about the topic into a single sentence I'd say it's up to the individual woman. No matter if it's dress, being a stay at home mom or sexual harassment: it's up to the individual woman to interpret her own desires.

Before coming over to Turkey, I'd read about the controversy in France over the headscarf, and again I applied my default: It's up to the individual woman. I'm not sure how I feel about full-body burqas. My hesitance toward them most likely sprouts from my own feelings about how it must feel to wear one. I can't imagine how hot it must be, especially in the Middle East. Also, it's not flattering at all. However, I could totally pull off a headscarf: It's like having beautiful silk as hair. And, you don't have to curl it or blow dry it. It sounds pretty awesome to me.

However, wearing a headscarf isn't just about bad hair days and trying to find something to match that one dress in your closet that's been sitting there for ages. Wearing a headscarf is a religious and - in Turkey - a political statement. A professor in KU's J-school told me about a time when her and her daughter were in France and her daughter had put her scarf over herself head to protect herself from the heat. As a result, she was given dirty looks everywhere she went.

My only other concern with the headscarf is whether or not women are pressured to wear them. Outside of party lines, I wonder whether or not they truly feel comfortable with the idea. Do they have celebrities to look up to with and without the headscarf? Would it be like that horrible dream where you show up to work/school completely naked if for some reason you didn't have it or did have it?

From what I've seen, it seems like women have role models both with and without the headscarf. And, it seems that women on both sides of the issue fear having to make the change due to political motivations.