Stuff Your Prejudices
By: Sara Fahmy (English Editor
Last week a friend of mine said, “Most girls in this university are half un-dressed”.
When I first came to AUC, I was brimming with excitement – finally I was in a place that allowed freedom of
expression, and that this somewhere I’d feel a belonging to. But my expectations were throttled.
The statement above from my friend is one that I have repeatedly heard since I joined AUC.
I soon realized that the university, like any other community in Egypt, was still in its early stages of acceptance, although it applied no dress code or regulations.
Nevertheless, the society within was one laden with prejudice and intangible rules of dress code.
On campus you can hear timely comments made by students about what female students are wearing.
I still struggle to comprehend why people feel the urge, the need to comment on something so trivial.
The part that disheartens me the most is that women themselves most often do the shaming of other women’s outfits. Living in a patriarchal society is hard enough on its own and I think we as women should better ourselves, let go of such negative values, and stand up for our freedom of choice.
Being a woman in Egypt is to be constantly harassed no matter what I wear on the street, a reality I’ve grown to accept since moving here. Unfortunately, even inside AUC’s protective borders, hostility towards women’s dress is ever-present.
Making a woman feel ashamed and hesitant to dress the way she wants isn’t an achievement to be proud of,
but a detrimental reality filled with struggles and contempt. If I could not dress freely that would mean a big part of me is being imprisoned.
Every day before university, I wake up and decide what I’ll wear; this process usually takes 10 minutes of picking out an outfit and then putting it on.
Innumerable meanings are wrapped between the threads of an attire, intertwined with emotions.
My thought process is quite simple: I wear what makes me feel comfortable on that day or what makes me feel pretty.
We aren’t only recognized by our faces and body types but by our fashion styles and the visage of our inner selves displayed in garb.
These “rash” choices made in the early hours of the morning could lead to me being judged, cat-called and demeaned with sexist and sexual slurs. I’ll likely be called an attention-seeker, ill-mannered or … a despicable array of phrases too descriptive to mention here.
This needs to stop.
How someone wants to dress is their concern and theirs only. It should not be tarnished by other people’s beliefs, prejudices, or ideals.
Next time you get up in the morning, wear what you want to wear. And remember that every person is comfortable in whatever way they choose to dress. Who are you to judge?
