ok, so i'm a lazy bum sitting inside avoiding the snow, and figured this was my chance to finally post something to the venerable haramdotcom.
so let's see... what sort of haram things have happened to me lately. well, frankly i think the constant haramness of the men is sorta making me crazy. lillie and i were talking the other day about what would possibly make the men STOP acting like this. we even discussed, when they call to us like a cat, turning around and growling at them like a crazy tiger, thinking they'd be so shocked maybe they'd go away. this idea was an amusing one, but not something either of us would ever do. until the other day i was walking down "culture street" (which by the way contains nothing at all of any cultural value... mostly banks and fast food chains), and these young guys are lounging around just doing the cat-call thing to every girl that walks by. when they did it to me, i thought "why not?" and turned around and growled at them! they looked at me for a second, shocked, and then i couldn't help it and burst out laughing, as did they. i don't think i helped the cause that much unfortunately, but i don't know. i couldn't help it, the looks on their faces were just too priceless! idiots.
but i don't know... in my "arab women writers" class the other day, the professor was talking about how the best way to combat those men was through silence, and through ignoring them... if you respond, she says, they win. normally i'd agree, but after spending 7 months here i must say that i can't say she's right. every woman is silent, everyone just sits back and takes it when they're demeaned and leered at in the streets... and it's NOT helping! it's not doing anything! maybe if fewer women were so silent, something would actually change... maybe if many women went up to them, as i'm tempted to do sometimes, and just said "i'm a nice girl, i am not an animal or a prostitute, so why do you treat me like i'm one? you just ruined my day, how do you feel about that?" they'd stop. i don't know, maybe they wouldn't... but the status quo is just not something that should be upheld in this case! it's not amusing, it's not ok, and this ubiquitous "boys will be boys" excuse is just repulsive! ugh.
i heard this great story from someone the other day (maybe even a haram.com contributor, i don't remember) about a girl in egypt who had to walk home from work every day past the same group of guys, who would catcall to her every single day. one day she'd had enough and decided to do something about it. when she reached the men she took off her galabiyya (that black cloak muslim women wear around here) and beat every one of the men up. kicked their asses! when she was interviewed by a surprised newspaper reporter, she revealed that it was really no surprise she could take on all those men-- she was the top-ranked tae kwon do champion in egypt! haha.
now i don't know if that's true or not, but i certainly hope it is. man, how i'd like to be able to pull that off!
but anyway, i could go on for hours about that, i have on certain really bad days. as for right now, i'm going to end my first haram.com post. and go try to clean up the house before a certain few arab boys we've gotten hooked on kings show up!
~amanda haRAMnnoosh
p.s. stay tuned, because one of these days you are going to see a groundbreaking video tribute to the qasid institute of amman on this very site, made by myself and lillie!
Thursday, March 15, 2007
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