YOUNG IRAQIS FACE RELIGIOUS FASHION CRACKDOWN

[xchrom]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/ML_IRAQ_FASHION_FLAP?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-09-03-05-49-07


Iraqis shop at a marketplace in northern Baghdad's Kazimiyah neighborhood , Iraq, Sunday, Sept 2, 2012. A new culture rift is emerging in Iraq and, largely, at the seat of one of Shiite Islam's holiest sites as young women doff their shapeless cover ups and men strut around in revealing slacks and edgy haircuts. This has prompted clerics to mobilize the fashion police in the name of protecting the Islamic nation's heritage. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)

BAGHDAD (AP) -- For much of Iraq's youth, sporting blingy makeup, slicked-up hair and skintight jeans is just part of living the teenage dream. But for their elders, it's a nightmare.

A new culture rift is emerging in Iraq, as young women replace shapeless cover-ups with ankle-baring skirts and tight blouses, while men strut around in revealing slacks and spiky haircuts. The relatively skimpy styles have prompted Islamic clerics in at least two Iraqi cities to mobilize local security guards as a "fashion police" in the name of protecting religious values.

"I see the way (older people) look at me - they don't like it," said Mayada Hamid, 32, wearing a pink leopard-print headscarf with jeans, a blue blouse and lots of sparkly eyeliner Sunday while shopping at the famous gold market in the northern Baghdad neighborhood of Kazimiyah.

She rolled her eyes. "It's just suppression." So far, though, there are no reports of the police actually taking action.

[Odin2005]

1. MY GOD, you can see their ANKLES!!!

[Sheepshank]

2. Admittedly I don't know the details of the culture in Baghdad....

But is bucking the system and trying to throw off the suppression causing women to jeopardize their lives? What a way to have to finally demand some level of freedom. I suppose it has always been this way. How many women were beaten for the sake of sufferage in the US? Many leaders in partriarchal societies fear giving an inch, in case the women ask for a mile. But thinking it through...so what if they ask for a mile?