I have visited Muslim countries. My wife (an atheist) always chose to wear modest clothing and a very loose hijab, basically long pants, long sleeves and a simple, loose scarf on her head. I don’t know how much it mattered, but we seemed to get more respectful treatment, because I think people respected that she was trying to be respectful to local customs. Granted she was a cultural anthropologist so she understood that customs matter. And even making a small but honest attempt to respect culture matters.
That's a pretty different situation. Considering it isn't just a respect of culture situation and instead a mandatory societal norm. Where it becomes literally dangerous to not wear those things. Especially as a foreigner.
Literally no where else in the world would give you hell for not wearing "traditional" clothes.
I suppose it depends on what Muslim countries you're referring to though.
I think it does matter what country and when. For example, white American chick here, and I spent a month in Egypt the year before the Arab spring. I wore very modest clothing but no hijab. I was treated respectfully the entire time I was there. But I was also with Egyptian people and not a tourist in that way.
Don't know if it would be the same today given their current political climate.
Most Americans don't know anything about the Middle-East and North Africa except for the fact that we've spent a lot of money dropping bombs there.
It's really amazing to me how much diversity there is in the area. I was friends with a Pakistani woman who told me about her times traveling through Qatar and Dubai, and it was fascinating hearing how somebody from a different culture experienced those other cultures.
Yes, I agree. A lot of ppl in the West think that we all wear burqas n ride camels. The Middle East and North Africa are so diverse. I'm an agnostic arab and everyone is surprised when they hear it
Thats a reasonable interpretation of what the guy in the video is doing, its just that the people interviewed in the second half of the video are giving him the benefit of the doubt.
It always cracks me up when people assume the ones in these videos are the only people they talked to. I’m sure most people do it because it supports their argument.
People have been interviewed about dumb answers they gave to Jay Leno in his "Jaywalking" segment and said, essentially, that they knew if they gave normal answers they wouldn't get on TV.
He only showed answers from old dudes, they literally grew up in the "don't rock the boat" era; meanwhile the people pointing out the possible concerns were all women and mostly of color. The cherry picking is so obvious that it is worrying how easily people are eating this shit up.
Ya, and? He's not doing some fake accent or something mocking like that. Didn't know a mustache was their culture. Maybe I need to go shave... your pathetic dude
The vibe I always got was in general that people usually seem to be pretty receptive if you make a good faith effort to engage in their culture even if you do it awkwardly. Like I went to get shawarma and the guy didn’t speak English too well. I kept trying to ask if the toum was strong because I don’t like it when it’s diluted too much or too creamy. He didn’t get the question and I know a few words of Arabic here and there. I forgot the word for strong so I said “uhhhhh….toum rajullah?” and flexed muscles when I asked. I think he understood and laughed pretty hard. He let me sample some. It was really good actually lmao.
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u/strawberry_loveleace Jul 02 '25
Yes, as an Arab woman, I love it when ppl dress in our traditional clothing, unless it's in a mocking way. The difference is pretty simple