Love at first sight/ Arab femininity

My first portrayal of an Arab woman, or Arab femininity was and Arabian Dancer. Did I think it was stereotypical? No. I thought that the Arab women covered in cloth was stereotypical. I thought that and Arabian dancer expressed Arab femininity completely. After all, the art of belly dancing did derive from the Middle East. However, it is very subjective to say that all Arab women ultimately express their femininity using a seductive dance. This is why I have changed my post. Please read and tell me what you think.

 

 

Personal-

After extensive research, I felt that I was getting no where in trying to uncover the mystery of Arab femininity. We all have our ideas, but unless we have actually traveled abroad to the Middle East, it is hard to pin point the absolute representation of what makes and Arab woman feminine. This is when I reached beyond the Internet, and tried to find my answer first hand. I met a guy from Saudi Arabia named, Ahmed, who has graduated from Al Yamamah College with a degree in Marketing. He is now in the US studying for his PHD. He grew up surrounded by the Saudi Arabian cultures, customs, religion, and societal norms. This is why he is the next best way to uncover Arab femininity, as a female was not available for my research.

I asked Ahmed, although not a woman, what he thought represented Arab femininity, and he said, “There is something called aabayah, it is a cover Arabic girls wear. It makes them look nice, but the most important thing that they focus on is their eyes. Eyes are what represents Arab femininity.” Wow! it makes so much sense now. No matter what type of aabayah or mohajabah the women wears, her eyes are always showing.

 

Historical-

Sufi literature in Islam is considered the greatest discussion of Femininity according to the Divine Feminine by peNkaLai kâtalikkirên. The literature symbolizes the woman as the heroine and the Divine Reality itself, which is spoken in terms of female beauty or Allah. According to kâtalikkirên, every part of the woman’s body, especially the face, symbolizes the Divine Reality and beauty. The article backs up Ahmed’s statement by saying that, “

Like the eyes of veiled women in traditional Islamic culture, where all you can see are their beautiful dark eyes: their whole love has to be expressed through a single glance.” It is a woman’s eyes in Islamic culture that makes her feminine, and to be cliche, it is her eyes that lour an Arab man into love at first sight.  

 

Technical-

This photo was posted on a blog sight with the title of, Beyond Islam, by the user name of Mizantropul. I chose to use this picture because her eyes, an index vector, are very luring and are the first thing that catches the attention of the viewer. Is is not the blue aabayah that I noticed first, rather her deep blue eyes. However, the blue aabayah does intensify their color.  Her eyes are not magnified by makeup, but by the way she is staring directly toward you. These are the eyes of a female.

It seems there are two lights in this photo. The key light being shown directly on her face, and a fill light coming from the right side to decrease any case of fast fall off. There is no back light, or background light, because the background is solid black. Also, the dark background adds the the contrast in her eyes, and highlights their color. This photo is an extreme close-up, barely showing her entire face and hand, possibly intending to focus on her eyes.

In the article I referred to prior, Divine Feminine by peNkaLai kâtalikkirên, said that the eyebrows are likened to a bow that shoots the arrow of the eye’s glance, the arrow of the love of Allah into our hearts and makes us go beyond ourselves. In this picture I believe that the eyebrows act as the signifier and the eyes as the signified. The eyes are the referent because they are the meaning behind the photo, and a true expression of Arab femininity.

Ethical, Cultural, and Critical-

During my research, I came across some archives and blogs on the critical aspect of Middle Eastern customs for an Arab woman. Pertaining to femininity, an Arab girl said she was ashamed of being an Arab. “At weddings, all Arabs do is stare at each other and see who is dressed in more revealing clothes. The mohajabah (Veiled) or non-mohajabah. Yes the mohajabah wins this one, cause wearing a tight bare dress with a stupid skin tight shirt under is no longer covered.”

She is obviously saying that it is not accepted to be revealed in Arabic culture, even when living in the United States. Why is she ashamed? From what I understood, it wasn’t because of her heritage, but because of the constant competition between Arab women.

What is most important when trying to understand the femininity of a different culture, is understanding the culture first. For instance, in the South of France, topless bathing is very popular, but still is not accepted in the United State (except for designated areas). American society may not think that being covered in clothing is feminine, but like my friend Ahmed said, in the Arabic culture, the aabayah that the women wear is very appealing, and their femininity is revealed by their eyes. It is not fair to generalize and stereotype without knowledge of the culture, and its norms. What is feminine to you and I may not be in a different culture.

 

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