When i thought about this title, I had a very simple idea in mind; marveling at how comfortable average spanish women look in their daily dressing modes…… No one cares, no one stares, no one gives obscene remarks,… it is almost impressive!

Obviously i am excluding immigrants and minorities in this statement. I am also excluding the contravery of the niqab and the hijab in Europe, in addition to the contraversy that is created by different things such as German Ad Liaison Dangereuse Sexiness for everyone, which left me completely confused. Mostly because it was one of few things i did not know how i felt about… did i like it? did i hate it? was it offensive? was it empowering? What was it?

Let´s put all contraversy in Europe aside and bring the focus to our side of the world. It hit me that notions of human rights place a high value on free speech in our side of the world while barely addressing clothing.

Freedom of dress is just another freedom we lack in Jordan. However purely by social and self imposed restrictions… (like most things really) The thing is we don´t see freedom of dress as an essential aspect of free expression. We see it as part of a collective identity that is imposed either by peers or by authoritarian systems. (this  include both parts of Amman).

I am not sure why two particular stories occur to me now. A young woman reported a case of sexual harrassment by a university professor. It truly surprised me that her male peers said that this happened because she did not wear a jilbab (she adopts the headscarf and is actually conservative… I mean she is not one of those who cover their hair but forget to cover other parts of their bodies).  She was hurt by the comments then: she wondered what did her society want more of her.

The other story took place a few months ago, when a young friend was  heart broken because  her mother would not let her buy a particular brand. When questioned about the reason she wanted to buy that brand. She admitted that if she did not wear it, her peers would marginalize her and belittle her. Needless to say the brand in question was outside her parents cultural league. Worst yet, it was neither her style nor her passion to wear as was expected… but she felt obliged to wear it in order to appease and to fit in.

These two girls can not practice any form of freedom of self expression even though they are both conforming to society. One to peers and the other to a patriarchal system.

It is interesting to me that this paricular type of oppression affects women more than men and i wonder if it would have had more value on the agenda of fight for freedom if men were affected more?

No resolutions today… the whole post if a fleeting thought.

Oxford Circus, Trafalgar Square, Big Ben There is actually a big tower with a CLOCK on it!is there anything more exciting than this?!, Westminster, London Bridge, like in the song! Soho This one was interesting! Especially the girls in windows!! The only other place I saw girl prostitutes in this very obvious context was in Amsterdam, when I went with my friends two years ago we soon realized that people were staring at us, because we were the only DRESSED women in the street! Boy how shocking and embarrassing this was! My face still goes red at the memory!

I still can’t grasp the freedom I feel, I don’t understand it, I don’t know what to do with it. I just know that I want to experience London to the maximum! I want to go to every musical, to every concert, to every museum, to ALL my classes, and I want to walk and walk and walk. I want to enjoy the culture, the beauty that this place has to offer….But to be able to do this, I need to find a job NOW! London is really TOO expensive.

The company was nice as well. My friend took us to this beautiful Japanese place, I had what they call a bento box, it was a bit of everything… sushi, sashimi, chicken tiryaki, some fried shrimps yummy!! and of course the beautiful salad and a lovely miso soup!

The girl was fine, she is clearly in love with the guy and as sweet as her devotion is to him, as much as these very same feelings made me realize that we women are much more attractive and much sexier when we are strong and in control of our destinies, and we are completely unattractive and boring and Blah…when we allow ourselves to be weakened and submit to emotions… I am not talking about falling in love, I am talking about how to handle being in love….and as my good friend used to say “il tu2ol san3a”! which means for a women to be hard to get is actually hard work that requires very good skills!