Lingerie Revolution .. !
Continue reading THE LINGERIE REVOLUTION!!In commemoration of the 9th anniversary of Egyptian Jan25th revolution this week, , .. there is another revolution that not a lot of people talking about, The lingerie revolution!! Where Egyptian women may not have political choices, but they have plenty of choices of lingerie.
Cairo’s Tahrir Square is the global symbol of the January 25th Revolution, where millions of Egyptians, including women, went to demand the toppling of the regime. Lately, Tahrir Square has witnessed the courting of the Egyptian population by General Al Sisi and his propaganda machine as well as a “Million Woman March” demanding the toppling of the hijab.
The history of progressive women and their struggle for independence and social freedom is an old one. They are starting with the Egyptian feminist and activist, Huda El Sha’arwi, founder of the Egyptian Feminist Union in 1923. Two events stand out in the history of women’s struggle in Egypt. In the Egyptian Revolution of 1919, women showed side by side with men. And used their hijab as a symbol of resistance to the British occupation, and again in the 1940s and early ’50s, when small groups of radical women leftists embraced the topics of inequality and nationalism with a strong anti-imperialist bent. Here is a pamphlet published by the group that announced, “. . . struggle to realize democratic freedom for women in Egypt–that is the freedom which cannot arrive under the shadow of the imperialist and imperialism nor under the shadow of enslavement and exploitation.”
Egyptian women, who are again trying to gain the freedom to remove their hijab, need to “burn their bras” first. Their western counterparts did in the sexual revolution of the 60’s. Back in Tahrir Square, Egyptian women may not be correctly burning their bras anytime soon. Still, you can see them buying bras, lingerie, and undergarments on the street. Nowadays, it is not uncommon to see bras and lingerie displayed on every street corner and in the windows of shops, even on sidewalks in the slums of Cairo.
According to Random History experts, “lingerie” comes from the Old French linge, meaning “linen,” and it was originally introduced into the English language as a euphemism for scandalous underclothing.
It is not known exactly who started wearing “Lingerie” but if we go by the history of things, and according to Random History experts, the first record of “Lingerie” comes from ancient Egypt around 3000 B.C. which it was wear only by high ranking women. This has changed now in Egypt and Specially after Marshal Sisi toppling of president Morsi and clamming down on Islamists political ambition. Now Egyptian women are trying to restate and ensure their independency and identity; and modern clothe other than traditional ones is used to express their individuality and sexuality. You can see now “lingerie” and women undergarments displayed in every corner and shop window-dressing even in slumps of Cairo, but the biggest display of “lingerie” and women undergarments can be found on sidewalks carts at open market, something like farmer markets where buyer and sellers directly meet.
Sidewalk in Egypt, has always a striving vibrant life and culture of its own, where millions of Egyptians use as an extension landscape of their own homes, a refugee from their own harsh reality. On Sidewalks Egyptians sit, converse, watch TV, eat, drink and sell and buy everything and anything even women lingerie. Watching Egyptian women with their traditional cloth, hijab buying lingerie in public is confusing cultural experience for the untrained eyes.
The sidewalk carts are covered with Chinese made fashionable scantily colorful underwear’s and bras, the lingerie sidewalk shop runs usually by men, Egyptian women don’t sell underwear in public, but they exclusively buy them, buying a lingerie in public is a new phenomenon, flirting is a big part of the lingerie buying bargaining process, where is not a social taboo … one sidewalk lingerie shop in a Suburb east of Cairo city, the lingerie carts were everywhere, surrounded by a few women with their traditional dress, sorting and holding lingerie in their hands, confidently checking sizes and style, oblivion to the piercing public eyes; no dressing room at sidewalk lingerie shops, the salesman was very cool respectable and helpful conversing with a slightly full figure woman as he casually handed her a thong as if it was a Kleenex …
_ that is too small… she protested
_ no … not at all .. it is your side… he ensured her
she smiled steered his hand away.. and continues sorting her quest for the right fit.
….
– how do you know the sizes for your customers , I asked the charming salesman!
_ I look at her waist/shoulder … as he demonstrated on his own body
_ what if she was accompanied by a husband or a man
_ it is ok, Im just a salesman trying to help my customers; to chose the right style and size…
Contemporary lingerie can be whatever modern women want it to be. And women have more choices now than at any time in history. Western woman still buy her undergarments in secret from Victoria Secret, in a private moment inside a store in a mall… but Sidewalk lingerie market in Egypt is striving with confident women buying their lingerie under public eyes which empowers and gives her the freedom to express her sexuality in a such conservative culture, at the sidewalk lingerie market, there was a lingerie for all situations and intentions, including lingerie that is strapless, and backless. Also offered are the sexy thong, teddy, chemise, as well as a plethora of everyday bras and panties. Egypt with all the political turmoil and anxiety, woman escape for a lingerie shopping journey to reward herself and feel good about her own body that has been ignored for a long time, Now in the era of the new prince charm Sisi, the Alpha man, the conquer of the brotherhood invaders, as some Egyptians like to call him, woman not only can dance in the street, but she can also buy her own lingerie!!
Ahmed Tharwat/ Host of Arab American TV show “BelAhdan”
Minnesota, Public TV
Airs Mondays at 10:30pm
Blogs at www.ahmediatv.com
