Female Species

Remember Hanan al-Turk’s cute hangout spot? Well now she has more to say:

She said she doesn’t allow unveiled women into her salon because she would be aiding them to sin: “Unveiled women coming out of my beauty center will arouse men and I can’t be part of that.”

It’s one thing when chauvinist bearded men blame a raped a women for getting raped because she was dressed up in sexy clothes. However, it’s another thing completely when a woman gets brainwashed with that kind of garbage and agrees with it. Next week she’ll probably tell us she’s also a feminist.

Excuse me while I go and bang my head on a wall.

(hat-tip: Sandmonkey)

Just like Andrew Heavens and Rob Crilly, Blake is also a freelance journalist who spends a lot of time in Khartoum. He’s got two interesting blog posts.

Israel and Sudan: No surprise there really. Her reaction is rather representative.

Men Mustn’t Cook: He sounds like the typical super traditionalist uptight Sudanese male. Yeah, did you hear that women? YOU do all the cooking and cleaning. Besides being a baby-making machine, that’s your purpose in life. Now stop reading this blog and go bake me some cookies.

… so believes this idiot with a brain the size of a rat’s testicle. How cute of him to practice this patriarchal garbage and justify it by glossing it conveniently with his genius “Islam”.

The early Islam which came more than a thousand years ago liberated women. The “Islam” of today however has put them in a cage.

Excuse me while I go and puke.

The first time I read about “The Taqwacores” was in Sandmonkey’s blog. Later on he’d tell me about a video he watched of the bands crashing an ISNA show (ISNA = Islamic Society of North America). “A band of Canadian Pakistani lesbians?! At an ISNA event?! No way!” was my reaction. He giggled… and he was right!

Read about the whole spectacle here. The article is UNMISSABLE!

The last part when they start smashing their guitars is hilarious! Rock on!

This is sad. Last year, around this same time, it was Saddam Hussein. Most rejoiced. Now, we have this shit.

May she rest in peace.

For information and updates, I recommend checking out Ali Eteraz.

I’ll call it “photo of the day”. I found it at Miss Egyptiana’s blog. It displays a very comfortable coexistence between the secular and religious. There is the big umbrella of freedom under which exists mini-”freedoms”. Think about it.

You’ll find other pieces of art bearing strong similarities here, here and here.

Read all about it here.

Don’t ask me Sandmonkey. I’ve never dated a Sudanese girl before and even if I did, I’d be crazy to pick one who’ll sit over a burning hole for a whole hour just to make me go “ding dong”.

This is an update to clarify some certain points brought up by commenters.

Damn you people! Stop harassing me!

Dalu, you asked “why haven’t you ever dated a Sudanese girl?” and Rara Avis, you then added “stop acting all non-sudanese Drima!”

I spent my childhood in Sudan and Qatar. Some of my best friends were Sudanese girls. Since I was a little kid back then, I obviously didn’t date because the thought never popped into my head. Duh! Like I said, I was just a child.

My adult life was spent here in Southeast Asia where there is a huge lack of Sudanese girls, let alone a lack of nice ones. Hence the simple reason I’ve never dated any of “you” my dear Sudanese queens and angels isn’t because I hate “you” but rather because it’s so damn hard finding decent “yous” where I live at the moment. It’s tough out here I tell ya, it’s very tough!

Dear Amru, I hit a nerve didn’t I?

Bro, just because dukhan is a Sudanese tradition, doesn’t mean I have to like it. I don’t! It’s my own personal taste. I hate the smell of the damn thing. I love Sudanese henna though. I even blogged about it before.

Sexy henna designs make me drool. My future wife, whether Sudanese or not, better get it every once in a while or else I’m divorcing her.

Bakhoor* is another thing I like. Like dukhan it’s a Sudanese tradition but hey guess what? I know many Sudanese people who hate its smell or get migraines because of it. Does that make them “unbalanced”?

You also mentioned this:

… dukhan is a practice that pre-dates the times of the Kush Kingdom in Nubia. Its main purpose is to act just like perfume or body lotion and for some it’s used to accent the skin tone or to help in the removal of ‘stretch-marks’ on a woman’s skin.

It would be a lie to say that it does not sexually appeal to men but so do many body lotions and perfumes but that is not all what dukhan is about. To be honest this article is the most unprofessional editorial that I have ever read

Oh please! Come on Amru. Why aren’t you mentioning anything about the ehm tightening properties? Either you’re being naive or you’re purposely avoiding that point.

Yes, it’s true. Dukhan does indeed change the tone of a woman’s skin and do what you mentioned. It gives off a scent which many (but not all) Sudanese men find appealing too.

I found out about the ehm tightening effects (God, I hate that phrase now) of dukhan about a year ago when I was chilling with older Sudanese guys some of whom were married. Of all the effects it produces, guess which one they focused on and got excited by the most?

The article isn’t ill-conceived my friend. Personally I find it daring and rather alright. It does however focus on presenting the two extremes. On one side you’ve got men celebrating the tightening aspects and others on the opposite side calling the practice ignorant. I guess you stand somewhere in the middle.

Kawther, welcome to the club. That was my exact reaction when I found out about Dukhan’s “hidden truth”.

* Bakhoor is a special scented type of wood placed burned in small amounts mostly in Sudanese homes for different reasons by different people. It also gets burned a lot during special occasions like Eid and weddings.

Some believe burning it scares away the evil spirits. Others (like me) burn it simply because the scent is wonderful and creates a festive atmosphere.

A few days ago while reading Mona Eltahawy’s opinion on the sick sentence passed by a Saudi court to punish a victim of gang rape with lashes, I came across this hard-knocking comment left by Mahmood.

Mona, gender apartheid is only one of many heinous discriminatory practices in the magic kingdom: religious, tribal, sectarian, racial and many other prejudices do exist and are propagated and even encouraged by religious clerics the efforts of whom are condoned by the ruling family.

Those attitudes are so entrenched as “normal” in that society now, that I doubt a simple removal of those religious “elite” would correct the situation and bring their society in line with the current century. Not even the removal of the ruling family can do that. The damage is quite deep and requires generations to be undone.

It’s a harsh truth, one that is difficult to swallow. It also points out one thing we usually forget when we’re busy criticizing our obnoxious governments - pointing at ourselves.

It took Europe a few hundred years to rise out of its Dark Ages. At best, it will take us at least a hundred. Gotta start somewhere.

Yes, she finally joins us! I’m so glad. For those of you who don’t know her, Mona is an award-winning and courageous Egyptian columnist whose writings have appeared in many publications including The New York Times and The Washington Post.

She’s probably my most favorite Arab Muslim female writer discussing sociopolitical issues. Much of my views share a very close affinity to hers. Hell, she sees cute Chavez for what he really is and even has the guts to visit Israel!

Go Mona!

(Hat-tip: Mahmood)

Sandmonkey has the story. Thank you Muslim Brotherhood. Egyptian society is more cohesive thanks to your wonderful holy efforts and will continue to be.

Equality between women and men? Equality between Muslims and non-Muslims? Raaaight!

The place is owned by Hanan al-Turk. Big Pharaoh blogged an amusing post in the past showing her “holy transformation”. I’m guessing we’ll find Hala Sheeha and her chilling together. Who’s Hala Sheeha you say? She underwent a more extreme “holy transformation”. Check it out here.

… and why Ms. Dalu is not really a fan:

this reminds me of my first time at the gynecologist (which I refer to as the “Vagina doctor”) I was all kinds of nervous and flippin’ out because I had forgotten to request a female doctor and was totally taken back when I walked in and some dude was sitting there. To calm down my nerves he had said “Don’t worry, I literally look at thousands of these a year, now they are just flaps of skin with gapping holes” I was like WTF, but surprisingly, this very crude remark by him had calmed me down significantly.

… I had then decided that I will never marry a gynecologist.

Because my vagina is more than just flaps of skin with a gapping hole damnit.

Hehehe, I’m still laughing!

She’s right. I’m not an agent of the Mossad. I’m an agent of the CIA. Muahahaha!

Yup, it’s true. I’ve written about the hijab here and here. Even our beloved Danish friend, the one and only Halalhippie has. Now it might actually become a reality in the Danish parliament.

And you know what’s funny? It isn’t in the Turkish one. Ironic isn’t it?