The hardest part isn't wearing both. The hardest part is the smudge.
I was wrong. They aren’t enemies. They are roommates in a very cramped studio apartment called my soul.
There is a specific kind of silence that comes with being a modern, visibly Muslim woman.
Choosing to cover in a world that wants you naked is an act of radical agency. Choosing to wear lipstick in a community that says beauty is only for your husband is also an act of radical agency.
I am keeping both. Because under this lipstick, my voice is loud. And under this burkha, my heart is free. What are the layers you wear that the world doesn't see? Let me know in the comments below.
Sometimes, I walk into a boardroom wearing a silk headscarf and a power lip, and the women look at me with pity. They assume my husband picks my clothes. They don't realize I picked him because he lets me pick my own clothes.
To the outside world, the lipstick is the mask. It is the armor of the corporate world, the signal of confidence, the Western shorthand for "put together." It says, I am here. I am loud. I am ambitious.
The hardest part isn't wearing both. The hardest part is the smudge.
I was wrong. They aren’t enemies. They are roommates in a very cramped studio apartment called my soul. burkha under my lipstick
There is a specific kind of silence that comes with being a modern, visibly Muslim woman. The hardest part isn't wearing both
Choosing to cover in a world that wants you naked is an act of radical agency. Choosing to wear lipstick in a community that says beauty is only for your husband is also an act of radical agency. They aren’t enemies
I am keeping both. Because under this lipstick, my voice is loud. And under this burkha, my heart is free. What are the layers you wear that the world doesn't see? Let me know in the comments below.
Sometimes, I walk into a boardroom wearing a silk headscarf and a power lip, and the women look at me with pity. They assume my husband picks my clothes. They don't realize I picked him because he lets me pick my own clothes.
To the outside world, the lipstick is the mask. It is the armor of the corporate world, the signal of confidence, the Western shorthand for "put together." It says, I am here. I am loud. I am ambitious.