“Shrouded in Contradiction” by Gelareh Asayesh

In the essay “Shrouded in Contradiction” by Gelareh Asayesh discusses the distention of gender in her Islamic society. She expresses her feeling toward wearing a hijab and how it’s not a big deal until it is. “None have been more daring than I. I’ve wound my scarf into a turban, leaving my neck bare to the breeze. The woman in black is a government employee paid to police public morals. ”Fix your scarf at once! ” she snaps. ”But I’m hot,” I say. ”You’re hot? ” she exclaims. ‘Don’t you think we all are? ” I start unwinding my makeshift turban. The men aren’t hot,” I mutter. Her companion looks at me in shocked reproach. “Sister, this isn’t about men and women,” she said, shaking her head. “This is about Islam. ” I want to argue. I feel like a child. Defiant, but powerless. Burning with injustice, but also with a hint of shame. ” In this excerpt, she clearly expresses the way that a hijab is about a lot more than a religious article of clothing.
It’s a societal definition of genders. She expresses the way that the hijab can become complicated do to the societal views. She feels a strong sense of injustice because on a hot scorching day by the sea short, as a result of their sexuality women have to endure the heat in silence under there hijab. When she expresses her discomfort, she is reproach by a women officer. She reminded her; that the hijab has nothing to do with being a woman or a man, but is about being an Islamic woman.
Thus, lies the contradiction, gender does play a role within the Islamic religion and society. This dictates the way in which a woman should dresses, and is expected to behave. This excerpt correlates with the main topic of this essay, by explaining the role of clothing in an Islamic society. She also links this excerpt by expressing the powerless and guilty feelings she felt when the officer reproach her. There she was a women, yet she felt “…like a child. ” Because of the societal rules and expectations that where being demanded of her.