Saudi Arabia uncovered
Posted Monday, March 19, 2007, 4:54 PM by Lonely Planet
Frances Linzee Gordon has just completed an unprecedented research assignment in Saudi Arabia for Lonely Planet's forthcoming guide to the Arabian Peninsula. As the first person ever to be granted a visa to visit the Kingdom as an independent tourist, she kept a diary of her adventures. In the fifth of eight blog posts, Frances reflects on Saudi fashion...
'A woman's beauty is her hair', goes the Arab saying. And walking around without a headscarf certainly seemed to attract attention. Though you don't have to wear a head covering by law in Saudi Arabia, doing so avoids chastisement from the mutawwa (the infamous 'religious police', a kind of self-appointed moral vigilante), as well as earning the respect of the ordinary citizen.
In the more conservative regions of the Kingdom (the centre, the far north, the northwest and far south) many would apparently prefer more:
'May God lead him to a straight path', were the mutters Abdullah and I heard as we walked down a street in Najran in the far south of Saudi. As we were alone, people assumed we were married. It had its advantages: like donning a disguise, we could move about undisturbed doing what other couples did, such as browsing the local markets, or sharing a rug while picnicking on the seafront. But it also made Abdullah even more responsible for me than he already was. As my 'husband', it was his shame to show me.
For Abdullah's sake therefore more than for my own, I decided sometimes to adopt the full attire. To my surprise, I rather liked it. From within the veil I could see without being seen, understand without being understood, and ogle the magnificent tribesmen of Najran without suffering inspection myself.
It shielded from the sun and deterred the dust; it hid blemishes and bags brought on by a late night's writing or a 15-hour journey. It concealed uncombed hair, a crumpled shirt or clumsy cosmetics. When I later returned to London, the pressure to appear fashionable, feminine and au fait again seemed almost overwhelming. To my surprise, I secretly coveted those days in my coverings.
Don't think the Saudis themselves miss out too much either. Underneath that austere attire, many Saudi women don the finest fabrics or Milan's most fashionable fittings. Saudi women are also among the highest spenders on luxury lingerie.
Saudi men manage too:
'From the fold in a woman's ankle, you know her age,' Abdullah one day explained gleefully and sheepishly at the same time. 'From the size of her wrist, you know her build. From the abeyya in motion, her figure; and from her hands, her complexion. And from the eyes, you have everything else...'
Labels: Frances Linzee Gordon in Saudi Arabia, Middle East
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15 Comments:
I think this entry is a beautiful representation of how Western ethnocentric ideals can be challeneged so simply, and how everything we think oppressive is not always so depending on your viewpoint.
That pose on that picture is strikingly elegant. Well done for the way you presented this essay. (Read double trouble as well) Specially liked that last bit about how Abdullah felt more responsible, since she was in hijab. And how others wished him well. 'Ms Frances' was excellent to have been so frank with her observations on that particular experience.
I didn't know that they didn't allow independent Visas. That's a shame. I'd love to visit one day. Please keep on reporting from the Kingdom.
We are constantly told the veil oppresses women, yet here we are told by a non other than a western woman that the veil protects from the harsh nature of the sun as one of its practical aspects. Francis also raises a very important point in western societies and that is the fact that women in those big cities are constant slaves to the materialist culture, to look chic and wear make up. In the Arab or Islamic world this is not a priority but she makes sure she tells that underneath the black attire women dress elagantly.
Thank you for the brutally honest, intriguing and positively-addictive articles of a world that us mere waasita-less mortals could only read about.
From the way they are written, it is easy to work out that the writer has not tried very hard to guard anyone's sentimentalities or sensibilities; I think open-mindedness is the culprit! Cheers to that!
Arun
Hi Tim,
Thanks for the kind words. My intention - as in my guidebooks - was merely to encourage people to think a little.
It's one of the things I love about travel: how you learn not only about other countries, but about your own country by comparison.
Hi Shaukath,
Thanks for the posting and the generous words.
Note that it is now possible to obtain a "tourist visa". See my posting to a question about this in Week One. Hope you get there one day.
Hi Anonymous,
Thank you for the posting.
Yes, I think it is important when travelling to try and look at things from the other person (and culture's) point of view, and not just make judgements based on your own experience and education. It's one of the things I love about travelling: the questioning of your own beliefs and ideas.
Hi Arun,
Thanks for the posting and your kind words too.
Yes, cheers to open-mindedness, as you say!
Note that `tourist visas' (see my posting in answer to a question in Week One) now permit "waasita-less mortals" access to the Kingdom now too.
Re my contact, funnily enough, it was merely as a result of briefly meeting a Saudi six years earlier at a conference I was speaking at in Africa. Merely remembering me, let alone helping me out with the visa, is a testament to the incredible hospitality of the Saudi people.
I have always wondered why the women wear black and the men white.
Is it because the male dominated society likes to stay cool in the sun reflecting white - let the women suffer in the sun absorbing black?!
Or is there some religious significance to the color choices.
Hi Anonymous 2,
Thanks for the posting. It's a good question that you ask, and I failed to find any very convincing answer to it myself when I was in Saudi Arabia. It does seem peculiar to Saudi as well as to Yemen; in other countries, Muslim women appear usually to wear coloured abeyyas.
And yes, I can tell you from experience that it does get very hot! When I was in Saudi Arabia, it was actually the coldest winter they had had for 20 years, so I was quite glad of it if anything.
During a previous trip to Yemen, however, I found that the black colour absorbing the heat of the sun, made it quite boiling underneath. So, every day I would remove one more piece of clothing from beneath my abeyya. Finally, I was down to just my underwear.
To my horror, I discovered one afternoon (after noticing the horrified looks on the faces of several passers-by)that, with the sun behind me, my abeyya became completely transparent... A salutary lesson indeed for Saudi.
I've just been to Saudi Arabia for work and had the privilege of meeting women in schools in Buraydah. I completely agree about the abbeya - whilst it feels initially very strange to us, it also offers a level of freedom we don't have in the west. Saudi women feel sorry for us, having to face the constant pressures to be well groomed and attractive. And whilst we consider it a hard-won privilege to be a solo traveller, to them it's a measure of the low esteem our menfolk must hold us in, if we are allowed to travel without protection. Finding this out was a complete eye-opener.
I greatly enjoyed the Kingdom and hope to go back - thank you Frances for your fabulous blog which I've just discovered!
As a veiled Muslim woman, I found your post very fairly and nicely written. Keep up the great work!
Hi Ms Frances,
I must say I am in love with saudi all over again. Your essays have actually made me love this country more. I keep visiting Saudi every summer to see my sister, but apart from shopping I never do anything interesting. Yes ofcourse I do visit Makkah, but didnt see the other historical places, which i will, this time. Specially because of what and how you've written. It makes me believe Saudi is a lot more than what we think it is.
Regards,
Salwa Khan
Congratulations on your super blog, Ms. Frances!
Black abayas are thought to be traditionally Syrian, and they made their way into Saudi Arabia as gifts in the early days of Islam. There is nothing in Islam that says black must be worn (although there is a reference to the Prophet's wives being like "a flock of crows"), and so now, some Saudi women are wearing colored and decorated abayas. But the main value of black is its traditional modesty, and the fact that it very directly sets the women apart from men. If women wore white abayas and hijab, it would be difficult to tell them apart from the men, wouldn't it?
I wore the black abaya every day, and did not find it at all hot as long as I wore a long, loose-fitting dress underneath it. If you wear jeans and a regular shirt, you will be hot in these in the Middle East even if you are not wearing an abaya.
Being a Saudi Muslim girl, it makes me feel sick when I see and hear lies everywhere about Islam, Hijjab, and Saudi woman; especially since I've been raised in the US. They're very kind people and they deserve to know the truth. I admire you're honesty. It's a shame I missed you when you came here. I would have liked to meet you :).
I must point out though that we don't get hot wearing the abbayas. We just have to wear light clothes. And, in the summer, most Saudis don't go out till the sun sets to avoid the hot weather.
Best regards,
mia
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