Burkha Under My Lipstick Link

Living with the "burkha under my lipstick" means accepting that I will never fully fit into a neat box. I am too religious for the feminists and too liberated for the fundamentalists.

But underneath that glossy sheen is the burkha —or rather, the hijr (the protection). It is the shield. It is the whisper that says, Your value is not in your neck, your hair, or the curve of your ears. Your value is in your substance.

It’s not the silence of oppression, as the pundits on television would have you believe. It’s the silence of being a walking contradiction. I am the girl who sips a caramel macchiato while discussing Tafsir. I am the woman who can negotiate a six-figure contract in a blazer, yet soften her voice when an elder enters the room. burkha under my lipstick

I was wrong. They aren’t enemies. They are roommates in a very cramped studio apartment called my soul.

So, to the woman looking in the mirror right now, confused by her reflection: Stop trying to peel off one layer to reveal the "real" you. The real you is the sum of the layers. Living with the "burkha under my lipstick" means

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.

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. It is the shield

And I am the woman who wears a slick coat of crimson lipstick over a mouth that prays for forgiveness.