31 August 2009
Common misconceptions
The past six days have been a stretch. Of course, it’s always true that when studying abroad your mind is forced into pretzel contortions that it is unused to. There are many common misconceptions (and true prejudices), as I see them, about Tunisia.
1) Since it’s a Muslim country, everyone is really conservative.
Yes and no. Yes, 98% of the population is Muslim, but you can see women wearing anything from hijab (a headscarf) and a chador (like a loose, floor length, long sleeved dress), to hijab and conservative Western wear, to regular Western wear like anyone in America would wear. Habib Bourguiba, the first president of an independent Tunisia after French colonization, actually banned the wearing of hijab in school a good 40 years before France controversially enacted the same law. At the same time, I have seen women swimming in the ocean in full hijab and chador. It takes all kinds, of course, but on the whole Tunisia is much less conservative than we might think from America, and the people are very tolerant of me wearing what I want.
2) Tunisia is an African country.
Geographically, yes, this is true. However, in terms of its culture, political stability, economy, development, and even climate, it much more resembles the Middle East (which is also true of the other countries of North Africa: Morocco, Libya, Algeria, and Egypt). So, when someone says North Africa, it’s not actually like sub-Saharan Africa.
3) Tunisian men harass Western women.
This one is not quite a misconception. True, they have absolutely no problem staring at you openly as you walk past. This, in turn, means that eye contact is a sign of interest. Accordingly, I have developed the new skill of walking around, with my head up (mostly just so I don’t run into anything) but without actually making eye contact with anyone. You have to learn to make your eyes focus on the spaces between people, which is difficult to do initially. In addition to staring a lot, they will always sometimes say “Bonjour” or “Hello” as you walk past them. At last, they may just walk up to you and strike up a conversation, all simply because you look like you don’t belong. However, I’m fairly sure this can’t be classified as harassment. Tunisia is a very safe country (in part because there are police literally everywhere), and these men, if you insist, will leave you alone without hard feelings. Nevertheless, it is very disconcerting initially, and I think we Western women blow it out of proportion in our minds.
That should suffice for now. Au revoir!
