Saturday, February 03, 2007

Thoughts on Dressing

It has been lovely here this last week..sun shining and much less windy. We went out walking today along some footpaths near our house, overlookign the ocean and enjoying the sunshine.

I was thinking about some of the comments DARK made to a recent post when Muslim Lady talked about her perusal of my early blogs. He gets very incensed about what he percieves as a fraud I perpetrate because I dress in a rubber burqa but am not Muslim. Now this whole issue of whether how I dress insults someone's religion is something I want to address a bit.

First, while SIR did tell a TSA agent ONCE that I was muslim and could not unveil in public, he no longer does so. He simply tells them that I cannot unveil in public without any reference to a religion. So, for the record, neither Sir nor I ever actively state that either of us are associated with any religion.

Now, the response to this is typically that I am allowing people to assume that i am a muslim even so because I wear a burqa. However, DARK made the comment that,

"I know some women who wear leather hoods, full face, and when asked give a "medical" excuse and even carry a letter from a doctor stating that they can't have their skin exposed for some medical reason. This is still a fraud in a sense, but I don't find it as offensive and "disrespectful" of a religion."

He was talking about how I COULD wear full ace masks in public if I just explained it when someone asked such as a policeman.


Now, I must ask, which is the greater 'fraud' or 'wrong'? To wear a garment I like and which I think is beautiful which is MOST commonly worn by memebrs of a particular religion or to carry a bogus 'excuse' written by a doctor to support a lie I would tell police that I had a skin condition which required me to wear a hood?

I contend that the second, active, fraud is more of a wrong than the first, passive one. And there are some other considerations.

Many of my Muslim contacts tell me that even if I have not said my Shahadah, dressing and acting as a muslim makes me one. Now I disagree...I do not believe you can become a member of a religion without actually believing in it. But the compliment to me is very kind of these women and men.

I also cannot recall any of my Muslim contacts telling me that I am insulting their religion by wearing a burqa; indeed most of the people who comment on it at all like the fact that I decide to veil completely, act and dress modestly, and submit to my husband. in fact, only people of other or no faith seem to be concerned about whether I am dressing appropriately or not.

Now, there is the question of what I am wearing. Is it even a burqa? And, of course, is it religious?

I COULD make the arguement that it is not even a burqa. It is, rather, a new garment that Sir has created which only slightly resembles a burqa. for example:

A burqa is not made of rubber, it is made silk or polyester
A burqa has a cap made of a cylinder of cloth with a disc of cloth on the top. My garment has a dome shaped top and no separate cap
A burqa does not have arm slits as my garment does
A burqa is not fully closed all around...typically it is open in front, has a long veil and often must be held shut by the wearer
A burqa has embroidered details around the cap and usually around the eye mesh. My garment is completely smooth.

So, I COULD argue that my garment is not a burqa and anyone who mistakes it for such is making the same mistake that one who mistakes a maid's uniform for a nurse's uniform has made or who mistakes a british nurse's uniform for a nun's habit (british hospital 'sisters' wore veils too but were not nuns)

However, I call it a burqa and I think of it as a burqa and I believe it is a burqa. But the 'no it's not' arguement could be made.

Finally, with respect to whether a non muslim woman should wear a burqa, it was an absolute requirement in Afghanistan under the Taliban that, for religious reasons, any woman should wear one. And, in some other muslim countries, non-muslim women must veil to the degree that other muslim women are required to do so. So wearing it can be interpreted as a sign of respect, not of disrespect. And finally, why should such concerns be limited only to the burqa...what if i wore a rubber shalwar khameez, or a rubber abaya...would that be 'better' or 'worse'

The whole arguement seems silly. What one wears neither defines one nor ones religion. How one acts does so.

Well, those are my red rubber burqa'd thoughts on the matter :-) i hope all my readers enjoy them. And just for the fun of it, here is another photo Sir said i could publish. I truly enjoy lazing around in these garments with their incredible sensuousness and lovely shine.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dark,

People can assume whatever they want. If they mistakenly assume that LL is Muslim, so be it. She is under no obligation to correct them, and she has no power over another persons choice to take offense. Someone offended by a non-muslim in a burqa could be just as offended by a woman in a short skirt.

Anonymous said...

Latex Lady
I strongly support your choice. You are free to wear a "so-called burka", a nun's habit, a policeman uniform or whatever else if you feel confortable and you don't appear as a public danger for the communitity. I consider your choice to be all time in rubber under your burka is wise as it is confortable and convenient. I wear rubber most of the time during week-ends, in the street, but I can't of course achieve full enclosure ouutside while I do it inside as much as possible. Being a woman gives you an advantage on men to choose among a wider range of possible garments ! Feel free to live your sexaulity and dedicationto rubber as you feel it, and, again congratulations for your commitment, courage and energy. But I am sure -experimenting it - that the award exceeds the investment !

Anonymous said...

One of the main reasons for checking this blog everyday is see your pictures and read about your adventures dressed in latex and the detail you give us.
I cannot live a life in latex like you can , so I ENJOY reading this to fanastise about what it would be like to have the clothes you have and to be able to wear this out in public. Are there other peolpe like you on the net ?
If so I would like to read about their adventures and life in latex.
The point I was trying to make is could we get back to ENJOYING the latex lady in latex talking about what she puts on and how she feels and interacts with the outside world and her partner.
Also how about some more pictiures.
I hope I don't sound to harse but isn't that the point of the blog in the first place.
Thanks

Latex Lady said...

Anonymous, thank you for the comments .. all you anonymouses (sp) :-)

I have found a few people who wear latex out in public sometimes, but most of the blogs I see are pointers to pictures for pay sites. Other people who wear latex a lot do not seem to blog their experiences which os one reason Sir had me start this one.

I have also avoided writing about our sex lives explicitly since there is so much text on those issues available (both real and imagined).

I shall, however, endeavour to provide a few more accounts covering those enjoyable sessions which Sir puts me through.

I do enjoy writing about my dressing and the sensations that layering tight and supple latex provides me. We had some gas mask fun the other night and I shall describe that in a blog entry soon.

Dark, the burqas are made of a medium weight latex and weigh about 7lbs (3kg). I will post other pictures as Sir allows, but he rather prefers the burqa pics. However, there are some others I might be able to post and my yahoo profile has several from a few years ago with me in my nuns habit and other garments.

regards
Lady

Anonymous said...

We are a few of us living with passion our latex fetichism, most of the time, whenever it is possible, because we have time, means and life conditions allowing us to fulfill our passion without remorse or economic and social limitations...
I have this chance, but my mistress doesn't allow me to share all this information on our sexual commitment as a mistress and rubber slave on a blog.... But I have already described a lot of things on IAR. Thanks again Lady for your precious testimony on your latex slave life... Your are an icon for our community !

Anonymous said...

Hi Lady,

Your blogs are interesting and a joy to read; however I do have a couple of points to raise. Any Muslim, and I speak as a revert would not consider anyone a Muslim purely by dress and actions alone. What underpins being a Muslim is the Shadaha, that there is no God but God and that Muhammad is His Messenger. One could be the most modestly dressed woman, abstain from alcohol and pork, be generous in word, thought and deed but without the Shadaha one can not be considered a Muslim; I would suggest that your friends are ill informed and fail to grasp the basics / fundamentals of being a Muslim.

Your comments regarding the burqah are not entirely correct; I agree that the traditional burqah is not made of rubber but silk or polyester. The cap can be plain, need not be embroidered or have the disc on top as you describe and can be dome or conical shaped as yours is. Some burqahs are fully enclosed like yours with slits on either side for the arms to protrude. The traditional afghan style which we generally associate with the burqah is open at the front and requires the wearer to hold it closed. Again the opening can be triangular or rectangular depending on the style and the region of origin. The grill through which the wearer views the outside world can again be elaborately embroidered or plain, have holes like yours or it can have a woven or crocheted mesh. The Kashmiri style has a meshed opening for each eye rather than the larger opening. Because of the media coverage of Afghanistan and the Taliban the general public tend to have a set image of the burqah, either blue or white, embroidery to the cap and front and volumes of pleated fabric enveloping the wearer; however they can be plain and almost tent like.

The public tends to make a judgement of who / what we are by our dress and I would agree that as individuals we should be free to wear to wear what we wish and not be governed by stereotypic images. One could equally wear the full chador that falls from the head to the floor with a full niqab (interestingly also called a burqah) and not be a Muslim, or be fully covered and wearing a long black veil and no be a grieving widow.

I conclude by saying that any sensible person who sees you wearing the red rubber burqah, “may” at first glance consider you to be a Muslimah but further reflection should raise the question whether you genuinely are a Muslimah due to the colour and fabric.

Regards

Chris

Latex Lady said...

Anonymous
You are absolutely correct. As I said, I do not believe just dressing and acting as a muslim makes you one. I think my friends would, if pressed, agree with that...they were just being very kind. The certainly understand the importance of the Shahada.

You are correct about the wide variety of how burqas are and can be constructed. I was just trying to make a point. Actually, there is a tremendous amount of variety and individualisation possible in the garment. note, i did not even mention the pleats :-). Can you imagine trying to make pleated latex like that?

I must confess that I have NEVER heard of one with arm slits. You learn something new everyday!

And you are again correct that anyone with an ounce of cultural literacy in the matter would very quickly conclude that I was not a muslimah dressed in a bright red rubber burqa.

But it DOES look lovely, doesn't it?

regards
Lady

Anonymous said...

Latex Lady--

I am a man, and I wear the hijab. In certain countries of this world that would, no doubt, mark me for death. I do not wear the hijab as an insult to Islam, however, any more than a woman might wear the hijab, as Western perception would have it, for the sole purpose of being oppressed. Wearing the hijab is a personal choice, and there are many reasons to do so.

I am not Muslim. I am Jewish by birth, and I still value that religion as my heritage and upbringing, though I have long since abandoned its theology and organized ritual. I am too much of a scientist, too skeptical, to believe in God or soul. Spirituality, however, I do understand and practice regularly. Even without the divine concepts of God and soul, I understand how external practices such as rituals and meditation can alter one’s awareness of body or state of mind. And I understand the need for this.

Religion is what one takes from it. In my own religious practice I borrow from many religions, adopting those practices and traditions which seem to resonate most strongly in my being. Candles. Chimes. Meditation. A special meal. The hijab. I seek to create by borrowed rituals a sacred space and time fit for my own peculiarities, a place of peace within myself. That to me is religion. That is what I personally seek.

The hijab is for me, amongst other things, a prayer garment. It separates the secular from the sacred. When I wear it, the arch of fabric forms a horizon encircling my vision and narrowing it. As my vision focuses, so do my thoughts. A sense of peace and tranquility eases me out of the hellish, hectic week. My breathing slows.

I feel the hijab. The fabric clasps me like a lover’s silken touch, pressing below my chin, at my temples, forehead, and crown. Chakra points, these might be called in other contexts, and while I do not accept new age doctrine of “life energies,” the pressure creates an awareness of my body and further alters my state of mind.

Hearing too is altered. The hijab covers my ears, and while the thin fabric does not precisely occlude sound, I hear its rustle whispering quietly and closely and constantly in my ears as I move.

There is symbolism too. Modesty. Submission. Feminity (which as a transvestite has spiritual importance to me). And then there is masturbatory sex, I will not deny it. I am attracted to the appearance the hijab gives me, exotically and mysteriously framing my face in black sensual fabric, making one wonder what it might hide (a bald spot in my case).

Reading this over I wonder, Lady, if what I feel is so different from your own experience. You have described the sensory deprivation of your hoods and burqas in similar terms. Is this not what you feel, this peace and tranquility not to mention arousal, when you slip into a latex hood (with the added mind-altering eroticism of smell)? Is the weight of the burqa and the tightness of a catsuit not like a lover’s embrace, or God‘s embrace? Is this not a part of what you seek?

In some senses I think that latex is your religion.

I do not wear my hijab in public, or my latex. I have too much respect for the delicate sensibilities of others. When one goes out in public I believe that one is consenting to a certain degree of assault upon the senses, consenting to the potential of being offended. Nonetheless, that does not, in my opinion, give me the right to go out in public in a manner which will, in all likelihood, cause offense. If part of the deal of being civilized is agreeing to tolerate a certain amount of offense in public, the other half must be to be to show at least a little discretion and respect for those others who you might offend.

Western society commonly makes an exception for religious practice, however. You do not practice your religion of latex merely on Sundays; like Islam, your religion is something to be practiced at all times, every day. And in that sense you have every bit as much right to wear your latex burqa as any Muslim woman does to wear her hijab, or a Christian to wear a cross.

There are limits to religious tolerance, of course. Religion cannot be used to justify all behaviors, particularly behaviors that might cause actual harm. But you cause no harm beyond the discomfort of those who would rather not be affronted.

It is not wrong for you to wear your burqa, if that is what you believe in. It is your personal choice, and I can only admire your courage in asserting that right.

J in San Jose

Anonymous said...

I too would like to support LL & take issue with earlier posts which associate wearing niqab or burqa solely with muslim dress. I am a non muslim white woman living in the west who wears full niqab with eyeveils & often a burqa, because both myself & my husband/master like it. This was the end result of a decision arrived at gradually over several years for me to dress more modestly, starting with my just wearing long dresses & some very 1950's headscarves! I personally know 2 other white non muslim women who wear veils & via the internet am in correspondence with several more. One of them even says that adopting full veiling saved her marriage.
We have all come to believe that it is the way a respectable married woman should dress without feeling the need to adopt the tenets of any religion.
The beauty of living in a democracy is that one can live ones life as one wishes as long as your lifestyle harms noone else. Other women may choose to wear skimpy tops & tiny mini skirts long after they have passed the appropriate age for such attire & it is nobodys business but their own. LL & myself & my friends choose to live veiled for various reasons & again the whys & wherefores are no-ones business but our own.
So as one poster said, lets get back to vicariously enjoying LLs latexadventures!

Anonymous said...

Hi Lady,
I was out of town for the last week, so I wasnt there to share in your steamy discussion. I believe that what u dress is not the issue, the issue is why u dress like that. That's why in Islam, dressing doesn't only represent personal preferences, but it is part of a whole way of life, that is a very balanced one. The western cultures have gone so far in pushing men and women to have the same role in life, do the same tasks, and that culture almost changed the fact that men represent the stronger and providing role, and women represent the nurturing, caring and loving role. Having 2 differnt roles in life doesn't mean that one role is more important than the other, or can go without the other. It simply means that each party(man and woman)have different capabilities which qualifies them for different, but very important roles. In my personal view, people who take the other direction, which is to live a Dominat and Submissive life style, these people are doing so as a reaction to the imbalance the western culture presents. Since the western culture has gone to the extreme in this issue, then fixing that will not be by taking the other extreme.
My Greetings are to Dark and anonymous and everyone who shares in this mind opening discussion.

Anonymous said...

Hi Dark,
Thanks for your reply and thoughts over that issue. The point I'm addressing or want to elaborate is very specific. When there is a certain ideology, people normally adopt it or reject or be objective towards it. In our modern world, where we are encountered daily by lots of conflicting ideologies, and that's because the world has become very small, and everyone can just learn about different cultures and life styles while sitting in the comfort of his or her home. The question that always rises in this situation; what is the most suitable ideology?? By the way, I've been exposed to many ideologies and different cultures, that's why I'm interested in the subject, and that's why I feel the Latex Lady's experience is such a unique one, because she represents a certain ideology that is uncommon, and that's why he blogs attracts all the attention.
The point that always rises as I said before is; Where is the balance? Where is the system that can be practical and can be adopted by most people who cannot lead strange or difficult life styles. For me, when I came to study Islam from its original sources, which is the Holy Quran and the Teachings of the Prophet, peace be upon him, I found this balance that I was looking for for long time. In Islam, there is a lot of focus on balance, there is lots of talk about scaling everything, and every deed. This is a verse in Chapter 55; "(Allah) Most Gracious! It is He Who has taught the Qur'an. He has created man: He has taught him speech and intelligence. The sun and the moon follow courses exactly computed; And the stars and the trees - both prostrate in adoration. And the Heavens has He raised high, and He has set up the Balance (the measure of Justice), In order that you may not transgress (due) balance. So establish weight with justice and fall not short in the balance." This is the focus on balance in Islam. And also, there is a statement about the fact that Islam has made its system according to moderation. There is a Verse in Chapter 2 that Says; "Thus, have We made of you a Nation justly balanced, that you might be witnesses over the nations, and the Messenger a witness over yourselves".
Regards

Anonymous said...

Dear Lady,

i really admire your lifestyle. Wearing a burqa is not an offense because the muslim womens covering is not a religious symbol but just a requirement to cover a her body.

Otherwise Iran couldn't request ALL women to cover up, no matter which faith or culture.

Cordially
Thomas

Anonymous said...

whoever said if you wernt muslim you couldnt veil obivously has misconceptions about purdah, which was around thousands of years before islam.
it even wasnt an islamic tridation in the begining.
and even if it were true, dont the muslims believe we are all born muslim? then there it is.
iv reverted back to christianty and i have no problem veiling, if someone mistakes me for muslim, is it my place to correct every one of them? i think not, i think it is their problem, with limited thinking, how could they possibly understand the needs of true submissives?
i love to be muzzled and at least bound in armbinders under my veils,
im just begining to train with breath play and havent taken it very far as of yet, but intend to.

i say keep up the good work, because weather you realize it or not, you give insperation to the little people over here still in training, longing to go futher, and fly higher.
~cres
~cres

Anonymous said...

From Kimberley,in uk.
i would love too know where you buy your burqa i long to wear one under supervision of my master.
many thanks.

viagra online said...

I love your red burka, after all is what makes you happy :)

Anonymous said...

I did it four times watching You
Woman don't have to be naked