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Saturday 25 October 2008

Of Acting Like A Woman

It's a really good thing I'm not Muslim. Otherwise, my very existence would be the reason for lots of overtime on the part of the Malaysian religious authorities.

In their latest spate of brilliance, Islamic clerics in Malaysia have ruled to ban tomboys:

Malaysia's main body of Islamic clerics has issued an edict banning tomboys in the Muslim-majority country, ruling that girls who act like boys violate the tenets of Islam, an official said Friday.

The National Fatwa Council forbade the practice of girls behaving or dressing like boys during a meeting Thursday in northern Malaysia, said Harussani Idris Zakaria, the mufti of northern Perak state, who attended the gathering.

Harussani said an increasing number of Malaysian girls behave like tomboys, and that some of them engage in homosexuality. Homosexuality is not explicitly banned in Malaysia, but it is effectively illegal under a law that prohibits sex acts "against the order of nature."

Harussani said the council's ruling was not legally binding because it has not been passed into law, but that tomboys should be banned because their actions are immoral.

"It doesn't matter if it's a law or not. When it's wrong, it's wrong. It is a sin," Harussani told The Associated Press. "Tomboy (behavior) is forbidden in Islam."

Under the edict, girls are forbidden to sport short hair and dress, walk and act like boys, Harussani said. Boys should also not act like girls, he said.

"They must respect God. God created them as boys, they must behave like boys. God created them as girls, they must act like girls," he said.

Now I'm really not the authority on how girls should act.

My ex-colleague Lisa and I once made a pact to wear a skirt to work on one day of the year. We got a kick out of seeing the facial expressions of our male colleagues. :)


Alright, maybe not that particular skirt. :) Something more proper. *ahem*

Those are Mastercard moments, I'm telling ya!!

But seriously, more often than not, I'm seen wearing what our esteemed religious authorities would refer to as "men's clothes". I wear slacks to work and when I'm chilling out with friends, I'm usually in a comfortable pair of jeans.

Not only that, I'm nearly always spotted wearing lipstick (frankly, because I like looking hot) and high heels (well, because if the truth be told, I'm vertically challenged *sniff*).

You and I know what other Muslim authorities feel about lipstick and high-heeled shoes.

It's confusing how they can't get their edicts straight. And sometimes, you just can't win.

But it reminds me of the chorus of this old Blur song:

GIRLS WHO ARE BOYS
WHO LIKE BOYS TO BE GIRLS
WHO DO BOYS LIKE THEY'RE GIRLS
WHO DO GIRLS LIKE THEY'RE BOYS
ALWAYS SHOULD BE SOMEONE YOU REALLY LOVE

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Crankie..

Yeah, I know. I couldn't behave like a *girlie girl* to save myself. I've been in and out of construction sites since the last I remember, and the last time I've worn a skirt would probably be my uniform in Form 6.

It's funny. They don't allow 'male clothes', and they don't allow lipsticks n heels.

*doink*

Pat said...

Dahlink!

The thought of you in jeans, the forbidden high-heels and lipstick! Red ah? Hsssssss ... Smokin'!!

And moi? I have 2 skirts - and only because my daughter 'forced' me to buy them and expand my wardrobe of slacks and jeans, and my daily uniform-for-at home: boxers! I'd be deleted if I was muslim, no?

But the thing is, I think someone should do them a favour and tell them that there're two sides to this unnatural homosexual story. They're banning butch, and letting the girly-girls get away scott-free! They really should update and upgrade their info lah!

Un-natural acts and sex and whatever. It's all in the mind lah. And their minds are in the gutter. But a thought just popped into my head: Does this mean that the Tourism Minister is in deep poop?

Keep sizzling, Crankie!

Pat

Unknown said...

That skirt is hawt!! =)

Anonymous said...

I don't wear skirt coz i'm lazy to shave!

Crankster said...

Michelle, you too huh? :) I wonder what they want us to be.. can't be masculine and can't be feminine. Zombies?

Pat, hehehe. Now I'm blushing! Yep, like me, you'd be vapourised and exterminated for existing, were you Muslim. And even I completely missed the femme side of it - they're getting away scot-free, but landing the butch in trouble!!

I don't know about Azalina Othman, but it would be fun to find out. Malaysian politics are never boring, I say!

Jed, perhaps someone ought to sue the government for emotional damage by claiming she acts like a man purely because she dresses like one.

Naga, I don't own one like that, dude. And I wouldn't wear it to work, if I did. :)

plan bee, LOL! Watch out for the religious authorities...

GobloKing said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
GobloKing said...

I know gay women who are more feminine than me x100 - on their worst hair day

Are these ppl simply discouraging tomboys as tomboys are competing with muslim men for women? I can understand this dilemna

WHY would anyone want a relationship with a man whom one has to share EQUALLY with other women when - if one was so inclined - have a relationship with one who
- helps with the housework,
- treats one considerately & as an equal (automatically)
- is monogamous
- & with whom one can bond as a woman ie do the hair, the nails etc?

"Behaving" like a woman does not a heterosexual make!

When we were in our dating yrs, my girlfriends & I have often said "Now if only we can find a bloke just like us, then we'll marry them!"

GobloKing said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
walla said...

Engineers will tell you that being vertically challenged is only being horizontally rotated. After all, what can possibly diminish a great mind?

And if constantly making noise about gender and clothes makes for good religious practice, something must be OTC somewhere in some people, nibbling at the edge of eternity, really.

Jarod said...

i Dun think cloths will make some one turn gay? And how human is just the way they are, having a more manly attitude, but still keeping the girlie characters. How can they just say I wanna arrest you for your characters that are not right according to your gender.... Duh. I pity my muslim friends. Minus those really HOMO.

zewt said...

hmm... why is you wearing a skirt a mastercard moment?

Crankster said...

Gobloking, nonsense! I've seen you in person and you look feminine enough! :)

Walla, you always flatter me. :)

Jarod, people are just stupid, especially our politicians.

Zewt, it's not my skirt-wearing that is a mastercard moment. It's the expression on men's faces when they do a double take, suddenly realising I'm wearing a skirt. The slow evolution of the check-out-the-legs smile. Priceless!

zewt said...

should have taken a pic.

Crankster said...

Of the skirt or their smiles? :)