Bitch Slaps, Abayas and Brands

“Bitch slap” can mean a lot of things. Some would say it refers to a type of slap – “like a bitch would give” in a fight. Others say it refers to the destination, like “smacking a bitch.” Say either of those phrases out loud, and most people around you might cringe. Some will innocently fail to see the offense in the words. Others will giggle a bit. Still others might say something like “you know it.”

We’ve all got our stereotypes about which group will react in which way. But all of that East vs. West, Muslim vs. Christian, religious vs. secular, male vs. female crap disappoints if we listen closely.

Typical American stereotype

An educated judge endorsing domestic violence at a conference against it
If you’re Sheik Hamad bin Mohammed Al-Razine – a judge in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and an attendee at a summit against domestic violence – slapping a woman is legit if she spends 75% of her allowance on an abaya [a full black gown worn mostly with a face veil or head covering]. After all, there are plenty of cheap abayas out there. Why does she need a costly one that has character? Modest women have no character, right?

A war-torn country with a Muslim majority electing women to positions of power
If you were a male or female voter in Iraq, a country with far less wealth and fewer resources, there’s a decent chance you went to the polls for your provincial elections in January and helped give 25% of the seats to women for the first time in the nation’s history.

For-profit companies investing in women’s empowerment programs
If you’re a professional working for Dove or Nike, you might be as concerned with women’s empowerment as you are with the bottom line of your company, so you get involved with their initiatives, like the Girl Effect and the Campaign for Real Beauty.

The point is that – whether we’re talking bitch-slaps, abayas, brands or anything else – most of us make our judgments in the blink of an eye based on some pretty ridiculous observations.

That’s why as soon as you pick our first project, we at Finding Bibi are going to start bridging that gap between East and West by connecting you to real individuals in both regions, by sharing the stories of real girls in Islamabad or L.A., so that our impressions of each other are based in reality rather than in assumptions. Of course, we’re also all gonna get to meet some pretty badass people along the way.

-Todd

May 12th, 2009 • Pop Culture • 2 Comments • Comments RSS • Reply • Trackback