Violence Against Me!

I, too, experienced violence… violence against me… violence against a woman… in the US…

Violence isn’t always about being physically or mentally abused by someone close to you. Violence is not always directed toward you from someone who knows you. I experienced it from ordinary people on the streets, at restaurants, on the university campus, and at job interviews… I sense it through their body language: by the looks directed to me from the corner of their eyes… I sense it through their interaction with me: by refusing to help, by not answering me in a proper way. I have to live knowing that I am viewed as inferior, as oppressed, as incapable… because this is how the media has portrayed me to the society.

This is my everyday challenge: it disappoints me in many different ways and lowers myself-esteem.

Yes. I do experience violence as a Muslim veiled woman living in the US society.