Some History On The Veil

An excerpt from, “Some thoughts on the Veil” by Max Dashu, Suppressed Histories Archives:

“Most people think of the veil solely in terms of Islam, but it is much older. It originated from ancient Indo-European cultures, such as the Hittites, Greeks, Romans and Persians. It was also practiced by the Assyrians. Veiling had class as well as gender implications; thus, the ancient Assyrian law required it of upper class women while punishing commoners for it. The strong association of veiling with class rank, as well as an urban/peasant split, persisted historically up until the last century. Then more privileged women began rejecting the veil, as did Egyptian feminist Huda Sharawi, while poor women increasingly adopted it as a ticket to upward mobility. (A similar dynamic occurred with footbinding in modern China.)”

Video Title: The Veil Erases the Woman and Her Mind. Source: MEMRI TV. Date Published: September 2, 2016. Description:

Jordanian Author Zulaikha Aburisha: The Veil Effaces (Erases) the Woman and Her Mind

In a TV interview, Jordanian author Zulaikha Aburisha said that there is no consensus about the woman’s hijab among jurisprudents and that the niqab “effaces the woman and her mind.”

Speaking on the A1 Jordan TV channel on March 10, she said that “the writing off of women, their effacement, the insistence upon covering women with veils, and the focus on the details of their body… are all manifestations of the sexual inhibitions experienced by our Arab societies.”

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