Different cultures and different religious traditions have different norms, that’s the main thing. Giant religions, especially relatively decentralized ones are not a monolith.
In the Gulf states the all-black style is more common for locals, Saudi is massive so it’s different in some areas, here in Lebanon you have many sects and the all-black is more associated with fundamentalist Shia Islam, and so on. Most women who wear headscarves are wearing colorful ones.
As a little kid when we still had a bit more tourists coming from Kuwait and the UAE, I would see some women in Niqabs (full face cover) and metal face plates, which would freak me out. Those are not a thing here.
I think most Americans think all of these are one blob, and use “burka” as a catch-all. And that one is only a thing in super fundamentalist societies in places like Afghanistan, not something common at all. It would be like me assuming all Americans live like the FLDS.
Different cultures and different religious traditions have different norms, that’s the main thing. Giant religions, especially relatively decentralized ones are not a monolith.
In the Gulf states the all-black style is more common for locals, Saudi is massive so it’s different in some areas, here in Lebanon you have many sects and the all-black is more associated with fundamentalist Shia Islam, and so on. Most women who wear headscarves are wearing colorful ones.
As a little kid when we still had a bit more tourists coming from Kuwait and the UAE, I would see some women in Niqabs (full face cover) and metal face plates, which would freak me out. Those are not a thing here.
I think most Americans think all of these are one blob, and use “burka” as a catch-all. And that one is only a thing in super fundamentalist societies in places like Afghanistan, not something common at all. It would be like me assuming all Americans live like the FLDS.