Jilbab Strip Tease
At a table of young Indonesian Fulbrighters, readying themselves for a few years in America, I met 25 year old, German-born RS, a very bright woman bound for 2 years in Queens, who to most appearances is already a New Yorker.
Unlike most of her fellow Indonesians, certainly unlike virtually all of her fellow female classmates, RS is fast-paced, loquacious & brashly confident, shoulders-back, face-forward, round cheeks smiling, & a buoyant, sharp sense of humor at the tip of her tongue, & not afraid to ask a million questions. She genuinely seems ready for anything.
The fact that she wears jilbab—a pale pink that day—does make her a little nervous. She’s concerned for how people will treat her in America, because that is something she can't control. But I can’t imagine anyone better prepared to face US stares or questions with a confident laugh & a direct, productive retort than RS.
At this table of otherwise fairly meek, very bright, & varyingly frightened young women (some headed for community colleges in Butte, MT; Houston, TX; Des Moines, IA; Amherst, MA), RS told a story about the jilbab striptease.
A Taiwanese theatre director approached her in a school in Singapore with plans to stage a play called NYMPHOMANIA. He wanted her to play the “Muslim Nympho”. It took her a comically long time to figure out what this word meant & when she did discover its meaning, was not sure this was actually a play or that he was serious. It was & he was. She was intrigued—not enough to act in it, but enough to hear him out.
Here was the director’s idea:
She would saunter on stage in hijab, with only her hands & face showing. Then she’d coyly, with a little dance, remove her jilbab…under which would be another jilbab. She’d do this over & over, each time revealing another jilbab beneath it, onion-skinning down until finally the music would end & she—still in jilbab—would bow & exit. RS declined.
I think this concept is hilarious. For my part, it’s exactly the kind of humor the world needs more of right now. But it’s not remotely clear to me how Muslims would take it. So we polled the table, about 6 people in all. RS herself also thought this was hilarious & a great idea, & said so strongly. She admitted to having seen a lot of theatre, however, & having traveled the world a bit. It surprised but did not offend her.
No one else thought it was hilarious. Even hearing the story openly told shocked the other girls (the country’s highest scoring high school grads, half in jilbab, some with braces). In an obvious state of shock already, they said as much, too: “it would shock me”, but went on to suggest that this was because, they felt, they had never been exposed to such humor before. They had little experience seeing plays. They’d never seen hijab parodied; the very idea unnerved them.
The one obviously Christian girl—dressed, as Christian girls are said to dress, in tight, fashionable clothes, makeup & styled hair—was too weirded-out to comment. Diplomatically, she demurred with the apology that she had never seen a play before.
Thinking of E’s production of the Syrian comedy, The Jester—performed almost entirely by Americans, most white, some Jewish, some Asian, some Indian, & one Muslim—I asked the girls if it would make a difference to them if the actor performing the jilbab strip tease was a non-Muslim, even a white American?
They all said No at once: it would make no difference to them who performed it. The thing itself was too shocking to care for such details.
They all concluded—no doubt feeling obligated in their pre-departure mentality, as a form of self-preservation, to exercise a deliberate openness to new experiences, comfort zones & cultural quiddities, even jilbab strip teases—that they would probably get used to such things, & not be offended, eventually. If only they were more exposed to foreign or new cultures & forms of humor.
That goes for all of us, I think. But if there’s one thing conservative Islam could use to everyone’s benefit, it’s a more developed sense of humor
Unlike most of her fellow Indonesians, certainly unlike virtually all of her fellow female classmates, RS is fast-paced, loquacious & brashly confident, shoulders-back, face-forward, round cheeks smiling, & a buoyant, sharp sense of humor at the tip of her tongue, & not afraid to ask a million questions. She genuinely seems ready for anything.
The fact that she wears jilbab—a pale pink that day—does make her a little nervous. She’s concerned for how people will treat her in America, because that is something she can't control. But I can’t imagine anyone better prepared to face US stares or questions with a confident laugh & a direct, productive retort than RS.
At this table of otherwise fairly meek, very bright, & varyingly frightened young women (some headed for community colleges in Butte, MT; Houston, TX; Des Moines, IA; Amherst, MA), RS told a story about the jilbab striptease.
A Taiwanese theatre director approached her in a school in Singapore with plans to stage a play called NYMPHOMANIA. He wanted her to play the “Muslim Nympho”. It took her a comically long time to figure out what this word meant & when she did discover its meaning, was not sure this was actually a play or that he was serious. It was & he was. She was intrigued—not enough to act in it, but enough to hear him out.
Here was the director’s idea:
She would saunter on stage in hijab, with only her hands & face showing. Then she’d coyly, with a little dance, remove her jilbab…under which would be another jilbab. She’d do this over & over, each time revealing another jilbab beneath it, onion-skinning down until finally the music would end & she—still in jilbab—would bow & exit. RS declined.
I think this concept is hilarious. For my part, it’s exactly the kind of humor the world needs more of right now. But it’s not remotely clear to me how Muslims would take it. So we polled the table, about 6 people in all. RS herself also thought this was hilarious & a great idea, & said so strongly. She admitted to having seen a lot of theatre, however, & having traveled the world a bit. It surprised but did not offend her.
No one else thought it was hilarious. Even hearing the story openly told shocked the other girls (the country’s highest scoring high school grads, half in jilbab, some with braces). In an obvious state of shock already, they said as much, too: “it would shock me”, but went on to suggest that this was because, they felt, they had never been exposed to such humor before. They had little experience seeing plays. They’d never seen hijab parodied; the very idea unnerved them.
The one obviously Christian girl—dressed, as Christian girls are said to dress, in tight, fashionable clothes, makeup & styled hair—was too weirded-out to comment. Diplomatically, she demurred with the apology that she had never seen a play before.
Thinking of E’s production of the Syrian comedy, The Jester—performed almost entirely by Americans, most white, some Jewish, some Asian, some Indian, & one Muslim—I asked the girls if it would make a difference to them if the actor performing the jilbab strip tease was a non-Muslim, even a white American?
They all said No at once: it would make no difference to them who performed it. The thing itself was too shocking to care for such details.
They all concluded—no doubt feeling obligated in their pre-departure mentality, as a form of self-preservation, to exercise a deliberate openness to new experiences, comfort zones & cultural quiddities, even jilbab strip teases—that they would probably get used to such things, & not be offended, eventually. If only they were more exposed to foreign or new cultures & forms of humor.
That goes for all of us, I think. But if there’s one thing conservative Islam could use to everyone’s benefit, it’s a more developed sense of humor
posted by Anne E. Campisi at 6:52 PM
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