The Blue Bra Under the Abaya

Sally Quinn, a prominent writer for the Washington Post, recently wrote a stirring piece about an Egyptian woman who, in the process of participating in a protest, was knocked down by soldiers. In dragging her away, they tore her outer garment or abaya. And to the surprise and shock of many, underneath that abaya the woman was wearing a very feminine blue bra as well as blue jeans.

The woman involved is unknown. She has not come forward. Local media criticized her for not wearing more. To Quinn and a surging population of women in that country and now several others in the Middle East, the blue bra is a vital symbol, not only of a changing culture, but also a growing statement of their inner freedom.

Quinn notes in a larger context that "...it is time for all women to own the blue bra, either a real one or one of the spirit. Let's not allow that young woman in Egypt to have been beaten, stripped and exposed in vain. Let us make her humiliation our triumph."

And Quinn did not stop there: "That blue bra [became] the ultimate symbol of women's power, the one that threatens men above all. It makes them so crazy that over the centuries they have encoded it into their religions that women are kept down and denied the same freedoms that men have. There are very few religions where women have not been oppressed.

Men know that women's sexuality is something they cannot live without; It is something that renders them powerless. Women can have babies, women can breast-feed, women are the lifegivers. The blue bra is a bold statement of that."

Despite being a heterosexual male, the story really resonates with me. Perhaps it's because I'm a husband and the father of two grown daughters -- and I don't live in the ultra-conservative Middle East, but in liberal America. And each of the three women in my life genuinely understand the power of their femininity, although they never flaunt it.

Because I am a male I wish neither to overstep any boundaries here nor produce any sexual misunderstandings. This is a delicate subject. Yet I join Quinn and hopefully millions of other women who have realized in a very singular way that they possess qualities gender politics can never dismiss. And they don't have to be blatant.

The fact is -- "when a woman goes out into the workplace, or the public square, or anywhere else, that men are always going to wonder, is she wearing a blue bra?" As Quinn would affirm, let the answer always be yes. Finding equality can be a very difficult pathway, but enjoying freedom is already attainable.

Carry on,

Paul in Potsdam
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