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The Politics of the Dupatta | EP 25 | Dear Body
20 Plays9 days ago
In this episode of Dear Body, we explore the politics of the dupatta, not as a piece of fabric, but as a symbol shaped by history, culture, gender, and power.
Across South Asia, clothing has never been only about fashion. Jewellery, fabric, and covering have long carried meanings of identity, honour, belonging, and respectability, often written on the female body. From Mughal courts to modern classrooms, what women wear has been read as a reflection of family, morality, and culture.
Today, these same symbols travel freely across the world. Dupattas appear on global runways, in luxury campaigns, and in Western fashion editorials, celebrated as heritage and elegance. Yet in everyday life, many women still experience clothing as expectation, judgement, and negotiation.
Drawing on cultural history, feminist scholarship, and personal reflection, this episode looks at moral policing, honour culture, modesty norms, and the paradox of autonomy, why the same object can be seen as beauty in one space and control in another.
Listen now on Apple Podcasts and follow me on Instagram @saroshibrahim or @thisisdearbody for more conversations on body politics, culture, and identity.
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Transcript
Kendall Jenner and the Elegance of Fashion
00:00:00
Speaker
A few weeks ago at a Dior event in Los Angeles, Kendall Jenner walked into a room wearing a black outfit with a long sheer scarf draped around her shoulders.
00:00:11
Speaker
Fashion magazines described the look as elegant, minimal, very Dior. Just a soft piece of fabric styled effortlessly, moving as she walked, the kind of detail people call timeless.
00:00:26
Speaker
And when I saw that image, I kept thinking about something very simple.
From Dupatta to Luxury: Cultural Significance
00:00:31
Speaker
When did the dupatta become luxury fashion? And why does this same piece of cloth feel so different depending on who's wearing it?
00:00:42
Speaker
Because for many of us, the dupatta was never just styling. And what made that moment strange was not the outfit itself. Yes, it was the feeling of recognition.
00:00:55
Speaker
The fabric looked familiar. The way it fell over the shoulder looked familiar. The way it moved. When she walked, looking like something many of us have worn without thinking twice.
00:01:08
Speaker
And yet, in that space, under those lights, it became something else. Something elevated. Something aesthetic.
00:01:18
Speaker
Something that people admired without questioning. No one asked if it was appropriate. No one asked if it was modest enough.
00:01:29
Speaker
No one asked what it said about her as a person. It was just fashion. And that contrast is hard to ignore when you grow up in a place where the same piece of cloth could start an argument at home or a lecture in school or a comment from a stranger on the street where dupatta slipping off your head could mean disrespect where wearing it differently could mean you were changing where not wearing it at all it could mean you were judged before you even spoke
00:02:03
Speaker
So when I saw that image, the question that stayed with me wasn't about Kendall Jenner or Dior or even fashion. It was about meaning.
Cultural Context and Identity
00:02:14
Speaker
How the same object can feel light in one place and heavy in another. How the same fabric can be style on one body and responsibility on another. And this is where this episode really begins.
00:02:38
Speaker
Hello, I'm Saros and you're listening to Dear Body, a show about body politics, culture and the way society teaches us how to exist in our bodies. The dupatta for us was never just an accessory.
00:02:52
Speaker
It was something you were told to fix, to adjust, to pull forward, to keep on your head, to not let fall, to remember when guests came, to remember when elders walked in, to remember when you stepped outside.
00:03:08
Speaker
Some of us grew up being told that the dupatta shows respect. Some of us were told it shows upbringing. Some of us were told it keeps you safe.
00:03:19
Speaker
And some of us learnt very early that people decide what kind of girl you are based off of how you wear it. On some bodies, the dupatta becomes aesthetic.
00:03:31
Speaker
On other bodies, it becomes expectation.
Body Politics and Cultural Expectations with Saros
00:03:34
Speaker
And this is not new. If you look at the history of clothing in this region, objects were never only about beauty.
00:03:44
Speaker
They always carried identity. Jewellery showed status, fabric showed community, covering showed respect. The female body became a place where culture stayed visible.
00:03:59
Speaker
In Mughal miniatures, queens were shown covered in jewellery from head to toe. Pearl strings, emerald ornaments, heavy earrings, layers of gold. These weren't random decorations.
00:04:13
Speaker
They showed power, refinement, belonging. In royal quotes, what you wore told people exactly who you were without saying a word.
00:04:26
Speaker
The same thing happened with everyday clothing. The dupatta existed for centuries as a simple piece of cloth worn in different ways, sometimes by men, sometimes by women, sometimes for ritual, sometimes for weather, sometimes for style.
00:04:43
Speaker
But slowly its meaning changed. It stopped being just fabric and became a sign of modesty. And once modesty becomes visible, it also becomes something people feel allowed to judge. And that is where body politics begins, not with laws, not with social media, but with the moment a society decides that culture must live on the body and that women are responsible for carrying it.
00:05:13
Speaker
Today, we live in a strange moment. world where South Asian aesthetics are admired everywhere. Designers borrow silhouettes, embroidery, scarves, jewellery, fabrics, and luxury brands turn them into trends.
Fashion's Borrowed Traditions
00:05:30
Speaker
Runways call them heritage, artisanal, exotic, timeless. Sometimes the origin is mentioned. Sometimes it disappears completely. Even recently, fashion houses have faced criticism for using South Asian techniques without credit, turning traditional craft into expensive couture.
00:05:51
Speaker
And yet, at the same time, in our own streets, in our own homes, in our own universities, clothing is still treated like a moral language. People still ask, why she wore that? Why she didn't cover? Why she looked like that? Why she invited attention?
00:06:10
Speaker
So the question for this episode is not just about the dupatta. It is about why the body is still carrying so much of the conversation. Why honour is tied to this fabric, why respectability can be measured by appearance and why something that looks so light on a runway can feel so heavy in real life.
00:06:34
Speaker
Today we are talking about the politics of the dupatta. When we talk about body politics today, we often think it began with social media, with comment sections, with aunties, with strangers telling women what to wear, how to cover themselves. But the truth is the body has always been political in this region. Long before Instagram, long before television. Mind you, when I talk about region, I'm referring to South Asia.
00:07:04
Speaker
So long before Instagram, long before television, clothing, jewellery and even footwear were never just personal choices. They carried meaning, they told people who you were, where you belonged, what values you represented and whether you were respectable. These objects were never just decorative, they signalled belonging to a region, a class, a tradition, a code of femininity. And very often the female body becomes the surface on which culture wrote its rules. If you look at historical depictions from the Mughal period, for example, you will notice something very striking. Princesses and queens in Mughal miniatures are rarely shown simply dressed. They are covered in jewellery from head to toe, encrusted with... special precious stones, wearing elaborate ornaments, pearl strings, emerald pieces, heavy necklaces, armlets, crowns and large bell-shaped earrings known as chumkas.
00:08:11
Speaker
These ornaments were not only about beauty. They revealed a royal culture that took pride in adornment, but also used adornment as a way to display status, wealth and refinement.
Symbols of Identity and Power
00:08:25
Speaker
The body became a symbol of the empire's prosperity. To be decorated in a certain way meant you belonged to a certain world.
00:08:36
Speaker
Even outside the Mughal courts, jewellery carried similar meanings. In the court of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, one of the most magnificent courts in the subcontinent, visitors wrote about the overwhelming display of jewels and ornaments. Accounts describe people wearing necklaces, armlets, bangles, pearls, diamonds, rubies layered one over the other until the body itself almost disappeared under the weight of decoration. These objects signalled power, honour and prestige. They were part of how identity was performed. What is interesting though is that even in the portraits of Ranjit Singh, where he sometimes appears wearing pearl strings, earrings and bejewelled turbans, historians note that such elaborate dressing was rare for him. He owned the famous Kohino diamond yet often dressed simply. This contrast tells us something important. The object itself had meaning, but the choice to wear it or not wear it also had meaning. Over time, many of these objects slowly moved from being symbols of royalty to becoming symbols of tradition. Take the chumka for example. Today it may look like just another accessory, something worn at weddings or festivals.
00:10:00
Speaker
Truth be told, i wear it to work. So it is that normal to a Pakistani or a South Asian. But historically, it was part of a larger visual language. It connected the wearer ideas of femininity,
00:10:16
Speaker
grace and cultural belonging. When someone wore a certain kind of jewellery, people could read their background, their region, even their social standing. The body became readable.
00:10:30
Speaker
The same is true for the Dupatta, which to today is probably one of the most politically charged pieces of clothing in South Asia. The dupatta did not begin as a symbol of morality. Historically, it was simply a long unstitched cloth, part of several traditional ensembles used in many different ways.
00:10:53
Speaker
The word itself comes from Sanskrit where du means to and patta means a strip of cloth, referring to a doubled piece of fabric. In earlier periods, similar garments existed under different names and both men and women wore cloths draped over the shoulders or head.
00:11:14
Speaker
You'll see sculptures from ancient periods showing figures wearing shawl-like coverings long before the idea of modesty was attached to them. During the medieval period, fine translucent dupattas were used to cover the head or shoulders, sometimes as fashion, sometimes as protection from weather, sometimes as part of a ritual. In some communities, that the dupatta became part of puberty ceremonies for young girls marking the transition into adulthood. In others, it was worn in religious spaces as a sign of respect. Over time, however, something shifted. What was once a versatile garment slowly became associated with modesty. And modesty became associated with honour.
00:12:01
Speaker
And honour became associated with women's bodies. Once that connection formed, the dupatta stopped being just a cloth. It became a signal. A signal that a woman belonged to a certain family, a certain culture, a certain moral code.
00:12:19
Speaker
Whether she covered her head or not could be read as a statement about her character. And this is how clothing becomes political. Not because of the frap fabric itself, but because of what society decides the fabric means. Even something as simple as footwear has carried identity in similar ways.
00:12:41
Speaker
Kolapuri chapels, for example, are not just sandals. They come from a long tradition of leather craftsmanship in Maharashtra, passed down through generations of cobbler communities. Historically, these chapels were known for their durability and were worn in rural areas because they could and it was only in this way that they could survive harsh conditions.
00:13:04
Speaker
Over time, they became associated with regional pride, wearing them signaled connection to a place, to a craft, to a history. In festivals, and wet at weddings, they became part of traditional dress, not because they were the only option, but because they represented belonging.
00:13:23
Speaker
There were even folk tales about the origins of these chapels, stories about devotion, sacrifice and blessings which show how deeply objects can be woven into cultural imagination. When an item carries a story, it carries expectations and once expectations exist, people start deciding who is wearing it correctly and who is not.
00:13:48
Speaker
This is the pattern we see again and again. Objects that begin as practical or decorative slowly become symbols. Symbols become rules and rules become a way to control behavior, especially the behavior of women.
00:14:04
Speaker
Because historically speaking, the female body has been treated as a place where culture must remain visible. If a society wants to show that it is respectable, it shows it through its women. If it wants to show that it is traditional, it shows it through its women. If it wants to show that it is moral, it shows it through its women. So when someone today argues about the dupatta or about the earrings or about what kind of clothes are appropriate, they're not really talking about fashion.
Cultural Symbolism and Women's Identity
00:14:38
Speaker
They're talking about identity, honour, belonging, control. The debate sounds modern but the structure behind it it is very old. The female body has carried cultural meaning for centuries and once the body becomes a symbol, it stops belonging only to the person who lives inside it.
00:15:00
Speaker
And once these objects begin to carry meaning, they also begin to carry responsibility. Not responsibility in the sense of personal choice, but responsibility in the sense of representing something larger than yourself.
00:15:16
Speaker
When jewellery, clothing or a dupatta becomes a symbol of culture, then the person wearing it is no longer seen as just an individual. She becomes a reflection of her family, her upbringing, her religion, her society. And this is where body politics begins to take shape in a very quiet but powerful way. Because when the body becomes a symbol, it also becomes something that people feel entitled to comment on, correct and control.
00:15:53
Speaker
The dupatta is probably one of the clearest examples of this in our context. Historically, it was a flexible garment. It could be worn loosely, tightly, over the head, around the shoulders, or not at all. It could be practical, decorative, ritualistic, or simply part of a regional style. But over time, the meaning narrowed. Instead of being one option amongst many, it started to be treated as proof of modesty.
00:16:23
Speaker
Once modesty becomes visible, it also becomes measurable. People begin to read the body like a statement. If the dupatta is on the head, it means something. If it slips, it means something. If it is missing, it means something. And suddenly a piece of cloth becomes a moral test.
00:16:45
Speaker
This is how honour culture survives, not only through laws or traditions, but through everyday observation, through looks, comments, advice, warnings, jokes and sometimes threats. The idea that a woman's body represents the dignity of the family, the respectability of the household, even the morality of the society is not new.
Moral Policing and Autonomy
00:17:09
Speaker
It has existed for generations. But what changes over time is the form it takes.
00:17:16
Speaker
Today, that form is often moral policing. Moral policing does not always come from the state or from religious authorities. Very often, it comes from ordinary people, relatives, neighbours, teachers, strangers, people online, any anyone who feels that they have the right to decide what is appropriate for someone one else's body. And the justification almost always sounds familiar.
00:17:45
Speaker
It is for your safety. It is for respect. It is for our honour. It is for our culture. It is for your own good. But when you look closely, the burden of protecting culture almost always falls on women.
00:18:02
Speaker
We see this most clearly when conversations about harassment or assault begin. Instead of asking why violence happens, people start asking what she was wearing.
00:18:13
Speaker
Instead of questioning the behaviour of men, the focus shifts to the clothing of women. The topatta, the scarf, the sleeves, the length, the shape, the way it was worn… as if fabric has the power to control someone else's actions.
00:18:31
Speaker
Many women know from their own experience that this logic does not hold. There are countless stories of women who are fully covered and still harassed.
00:18:41
Speaker
Women who followed every rule and were still blamed. Women who did everything they were told would keep them safe and still found that safety was never really guaranteed. When modesty becomes a condition for respect, then respect is no longer a right. It becomes something that has to be earned and constantly maintained.
00:19:05
Speaker
And this is where the politics of the Dupatta becomes very real. Because the Dupatta is no longer just about tradition. It becomes a symbol of whether a woman is seen as good, respectable, decent, deserving of protection,
00:19:21
Speaker
The pressure is often subtle, no one may force you directly, but you learn very early what is expected. You learn when people look at you differently. You learn which version of yourself makes others comfortable.
00:19:36
Speaker
And slowly, the body starts adjusting. Not always out of belief, but out of survival. Out of the desire to avoid trouble, avoid judgment, avoid being talked about.
00:19:50
Speaker
This is how cultural rules stay alive. Not only through history, but through repetition. Through everyday reminders of what a woman should look like, how she should sit, how she should dress, how much she should show, how much she should hide.
00:20:11
Speaker
And the important thing to understand is that these expectations did not appear out of nowhere. They grew out of centuries where the female body carried the visible signs of identity. Jewellery showed status. Clothing showed community. covering showed respect. And over time, these signs turned into standards. Standards turned into rules and rules turned into a system where the body is never just a body. It becomes a message. So when we talk about Dupatta today, we are not only talking about a piece of fabric, we are talking about history.
00:20:53
Speaker
honour, fear, belonging, control and the constant negotiation between personal choice and social expectation. And that is what makes something as simple as a dupatta political.
00:21:09
Speaker
Now when we move to the present, something interesting happens. The same optics that once carried rules, expectations and restrictions begins to appear in a completely different space, global fashion. Today South Asian aesthetics are everywhere. You see them on runways, in luxury campaigns, on influencers, in Pinterest mood boards, in wedding editorials.
00:21:34
Speaker
Even in fast fashion stores, dupattas become scarves, chumkas become statement earrings, khagra silhouettes become summer scarves, embroidery becomes bohemian detailing. Suddenly, what was once traditional is now described as heritage,
00:21:53
Speaker
Exotic, artisanal, vintage, spiritual, ethnic, chic. And the contrast is impossible to ignore. When these objects appear on global runways, they are celebrated as beautiful artifacts of culture. They are praised for their craftsmanship, their richness, their history, their detail.
00:22:14
Speaker
They are described as timeless, elegant, meaningful. But when these same objects appear on the bodies of real women in South Asia, the conversation often changes. Then it becomes about modesty, about respectability, about morality, about what kind of a girl you are. The difference tells us something important.
00:22:38
Speaker
These objects were never just fashion. They were always part of a system of meaning. And that meaning changes depending on who is wearing them and where. The South Asian influence in modern pop culture is undeniable.
Global Influence and Cultural Narratives
00:22:53
Speaker
From yoga studios to child artists to meditation apps... to embroidered fabrics.
00:23:00
Speaker
The subcontinent has become a source of inspiration for a global lifestyle aesthetic. South Asia carries one of the richest intersections of culture, craft, religion and tradition in the world. But in Western media, this complexity is often reduced to something simpler, something mystical, something ancient, something exotic.
00:23:25
Speaker
And this is where the debate about appropriation begins. In fashion, especially South Asian clothing is often borrowed without being named. Anarkali silhouettes, like I said, become evening gowns. Shirara pants become festival wear. The beauty is kept, but the origin disappears.
00:23:44
Speaker
This is not always accidental. Sometimes it reflects a deeper belief that certain cultures are beautiful but not modern, interesting but not sophisticated, rich in tradition but not equal in status. When brands want elegance, they call it European. When they want something spiritual, they'll call it Indian.
00:24:08
Speaker
When they want something dramatic, they call it Oriental. These labels are not neutral. They shape how cultures are seen and how bodies are judged. Fashion has always borrowed from different places. Designers recycle, reinterpret, remix. That is part of how fashion works. But there is a difference between inspiration and i erasure.
00:24:32
Speaker
When a garment loses its history, it also loses the people who carried that history. And very often, those people are women. Because ethnic dress has always been worn on the body, and the body, especially the female body, has always been the place where culture becomes visible.
00:24:53
Speaker
There's another layer to this story, one that reveals a striking double standard in how the West talks about clothing and autonomy. Whenever the putter or scarf appears on the runway in Paris or New York, it is praised as heritage, elegance, exotic beauty. But when women in Muslim societies cover their heads or bodies out of faith, identity or personal choice, Western media and political discourse often interpret it as oppression, as if covering oneself can only ever be a sign of subjugation. Anthropologists like Leila Abu Lahoud have critiqued this impulse, arguing that Western narratives reduce Muslim women's lives to a single story, the oppressed woman who needs to be saved.
00:25:46
Speaker
while ignoring the diversity of meanings and agency that women themselves bring to these practices. During the war on terror, for example, images of veiled Afghan women were used to justify military intervention, framed as symbols of backwardness that needed liberation, without actually listening to Afghan women's own voices or desires.
00:26:12
Speaker
This contradiction cuts to the heart of our paradox. Culture travels freely as an aesthetic, but the women whose bodies bear that culture do not. When Western narratives claim they know best what freedom looks like, often based slowly on how much skin is visible, they reveal their own blind spots. Freedom is not simply about what is worn or removed. Freedom is about choice, context and agency.
00:26:42
Speaker
Until those but elements are part of the conversation, the politics of clothing will remain tangled in double standards. Researchers who study clothing often say that garments do not have fixed meaning on their own. Meaning comes from culture around them.
00:26:59
Speaker
The same outfit can mean pride in one place, shame in another, fashion in one moment, tradition in another. What we wear becomes a language, even when we are not trying to say anything. This is why appropriation can feel personal. Many South Asian women grew up being told that their traditional clothes were backward, too loud, too old-fashioned, too ethnic.
00:27:25
Speaker
Some felt embarrassed wearing them outside. Some were told to dress more modern, more neutral, more acceptable. But now, those same designs appear on global models and suddenly they are trendy. They are cool.
00:27:42
Speaker
They are expensive. So the question is not whether cultures should mix. They always have. The question is who gets to be seen as beautiful when they mix. When a white model wears a dupatta, it becomes art.
00:27:55
Speaker
When a South Asian woman or girl wears it on the street, it can become a test of character. When a designer uses embroidery, it becomes craftsmanship.
00:28:07
Speaker
When a woman wears the same embroidery at home, it can become tradition she is expected to follow. The difference shows us that fashion is never only about clothes.
Fashion and Power Dynamics
00:28:18
Speaker
It is about power, history, about who is allowed to define what is elegant, what is modest, what is modern, what is respectable. And this brings us back to the body again. Because whether in a Mughal court, a village ritual, a family gathering, a university campus or a Paris runway, the meaning of these objects always returns to the same place, the person wearing them. The female body becomes the surface where culture is displayed, protected, judged, admired or controlled. So when we talk about the pattas, jewellery or traditional dress today, we're not only talking about fashion, we're talking about identity, we are talking about memory, we are talking about honour and we're talking about who gets the freedom to wear culture and who has to carry it.
00:29:15
Speaker
And maybe this is why conversations about clothing in South Asia never feel small. They're never only about style. They carry memory, history, expectation all at the same time. What you wear is often read as a statement about who you are, what you believe, how you were raised and how much you respect the culture around you. Even when you are not trying to say anything, the body is still speaking in a language other people think they understand.
00:29:44
Speaker
For many women, this creates a constant negotiation. Not always a rebellion, not always obedience, but something in between. Choosing what to wear can become a calculation.
00:29:56
Speaker
Where am I going? Who will be there? What will people think? Will this look too modern, too traditional, too bold? Too careless?
00:30:07
Speaker
These questions do not come from nowhere. They come from growing up in a space where clothing was never neutral. And this is why the dupatta or the chumka or any other traditional object can feel heavy even when it looks light because it carries more than fabric or metal. It carries the idea that culture must stay visible and that women are often the ones expected to keep it visible. At the same time, the world we live in now is very different from the one these objects came from.
00:30:41
Speaker
People move between cultures, cities and identities more than ever before. Fashion travels faster than history can explain it. a girl in lahore might wear sneakers with a shalwar kameez someone in london might wear a dupatta as a scarf without knowing where it comes from someone one might avoid traditional clothes completely because they do not want the responsibility that comes with it none of these choices are just aesthetic They are all negotiations with meaning.
00:31:12
Speaker
And that is what makes body politics in our context so complicated. The same object can feel like pride one day and pressure the next. It can feel like belonging in one moment and control in another. It can feel like culture when you choose it and like expectation when you don't.
00:31:31
Speaker
Maybe the real question is not whether these objects are good or bad, modern or traditional, modest or not. Maybe the real question is why the body has to carry so much of the conversation. Why culture so often lives on women's shoulders. Why honour is tied to fabric.
00:31:51
Speaker
why respectability can be measured by how much of yourself you show or hide and why even today something as simple as a dupatta can still decide how seriously a woman is taken. The honour of the family, the respect of the household, even the integrity of society, all of it is imagined through how women behave, how they dress, how much of themselves they show to the world. This is why moral policing feels so normal because it is not seen as control, it is seen as protection. But protection always needs something to guard and very often what is being guarded is the female body. Research on school textbooks in Pakistan shows something interesting.
00:32:32
Speaker
Girls are rarely shown as leaders, scientists, politicians or decision makers. They appear mostly in domestic roles, cooking, caring, supporting, obeying. Even the images used in textbooks show far more men than women.
00:32:49
Speaker
And when women do appear, their clothing is often described as a sign of morality, their faith or their respectability. So from a young age, we learn something without anyone saying it directly.
00:33:02
Speaker
To be a good girl is not just about what you do, it's about how you look while doing it. This is not accidental. Feminist scholars often explain gender as something that is socially constructed, not something fixed. We are taught what it means to be a man or a woman through culture, education, religion and everyday behaviour. And in patriarchal societies, the definition of a good woman is often built in relation to men.
00:33:30
Speaker
She is patient, caring, modest, self-sacrificing. She supports. She does not challenge too much. She represents values but she does not rewrite them.
00:33:41
Speaker
When these ideas are repeated in schools, in families, in media, they slowly become what feels natural. Not because they are natural, but because they are familiar.
00:33:52
Speaker
And once something feels natural, it becomes easier to police it. Even teachers, when asked what makes a girl respectable, often talk first about what she wears. Students do the same. Many boys say a good girl should be fully covered. Many girls say she should at least cover her head.
00:34:11
Speaker
Very few people say that her character matters more than her clothes. So, the body becomes a kind of a symbol, a surface where society writes its rules.
00:34:22
Speaker
And once the body becomes a symbol, it also becomes a place of control. This is where honor culture comes in. In honor-based thinking, a woman's behavior is not only about her, it reflects on the whole family, sometimes even the whole community. Her choices can bring pride or shame, gossip or punishment.
00:34:44
Speaker
This is why women are told to be careful in ways men are not. Be careful where you go. Be careful what you say. Be careful what you wear. Be careful who sees you. Because the fear is never only about safety. It is about reputation.
00:35:00
Speaker
And this fear has real consequences. Sexual harassment and assault are major issues we're tackling in Pakistan even today. They happen in streets, workplaces, universities, even homes. But when these cases are discussed, the conversation often turns to the woman.
00:35:20
Speaker
What was she wearing? Why was she there? Why was she alone? Their clothes are questioned. Their character is questioned. Sometimes even their education is questioned. Many women do not report harassment at all because speaking up can damage their reputation more than the crime itself. You can be called immoral, loose, attention-seeking, a liar.
00:35:42
Speaker
In Pakistan, the same place of cloth can mean many things. Identity, modesty, propriety, religion, culture. None of them are fixed. A scarf, a hijab, a tupatta can be a mark of belonging, a symbol of faith or a sign of moral correctness.
00:36:00
Speaker
And yet, paradoxically, it can also be a site of control, where so many of the rules about women's bodies are written and enforced without ever needing a law to back them up.
00:36:13
Speaker
In studies conducted among urban Pakistani women, researchers found that women who wear the hijab or head covering often understand it as a mark of identity and modesty, something connected to their beliefs and social world. But the same research also suggests that the practice is socially reinforced and sometimes even expected in ways that shape how women experience public space, harassment and personal autonomy. For many women today,
00:36:44
Speaker
wearing a parda, hijab, niqab or simply headscarf, is experienced through overlapping pressures, moral expectations from family and community, internalized beliefs about modesty and the very real effects of being seen or unseen in public. A study of medical students in Pakistan showed that while a majority said they wore hijab for religious reasons, a large proportion also acknowledged social and family pressures as part of why they observed it.
00:37:15
Speaker
If you look at the idea of parda, historically it did not begin as a rigid marker of oppression. As feminist scholars have shown, practices of seclusion wailing long predate contemporary Islamic interpretations and are rooted in older cultural systems that link women's bodies to ideas of social order and honour.
00:37:36
Speaker
The tradition of Parda has taken on different meanings in Pakistan, sometimes protective, sometimes symbolic and often normative. But the irony is that it remains both a cultural practice and a measure of women's mobility and moral worth. This plays out in everyday life in obvious and subtle ways. In university dress codes across Pakistan, administrators sometimes require what is described as culturally suitable attire for women language that is subjective and ambiguous, while male students are encouraged to dress in Western or unregulated ways. Who gets to decide what is respectable? Whose comfort determines what is decent?
00:38:18
Speaker
These questions are rarely framed as questions of autonomy, even though they shape the lived reality of thousands of women on campuses, in workplaces and even in public life. That's where the paradox becomes clear.
00:38:33
Speaker
across the world Across the world, elements of South Asian culture, its textiles, its aesthetics, symbols travel freely. Fashion houses remix them, influencers celebrate them, global markets treat them.
00:38:47
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The hijab is styled, the patta is worn. They are admired as exotic, elegant, but within Pakistan's own social sphere, these same symbols are often read first as moral statements or proof of character.
00:39:03
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The meaning isn't simply about identity. It's about control. The politics around these symbols reveals something deeper about gendered expectations. When culture needs a boundary, it often draws that boundary on women's bodies.
00:39:17
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Honour, dignity, tradition, all of these become questions of how a woman dresses, how she carries herself, how visible her body is. If a woman dresses in a way that doesn't align with collective expectations, moral policing begins without the state even needing to pass a law.
00:39:35
Speaker
That paradox, that culture can be globally appropriated but locally policed is the intellectual heart of our episode. When we say that Dupatta tells a story, we're not just talking about fabric, we're talking about who gets to define what that fabric means, who gets to wear it freely, and whose body becomes the measure of a society's moral compass. Because while culture can travel without obstacles, the bodies that carry it still face checkpoints.
00:40:05
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Social, familial, institutional, every step of the way. Research on women's education and clothing in Pakistan and India shows that women do not simply choose between tradition and modernity. They negotiate between them every day.
00:40:21
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For many educated women from rural and low-income communities, clothing becomes a way to show that they are modern but still respectable. Not modern in a western sense and not traditional in the way older generations define it, but something in between.
00:40:36
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a local version of modern. A way of moving forward without completely leaving where you come from. For example, some women preferred wearing shalwar kameez instead of other traditional clothes, not because it was less cultural, but because it allowed them to work, travel and move in public spaces more easily. In their communities, this became a sign that they were educated, that they were confident, that they could step outside the house. The clothing itself did not change their identity, but it signaled that their role in society had changed. I'm sharing this analysis based off of a paper, a research that was done.
00:41:18
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At the same time, these women did not always reject modesty or covering. In some cases, wearing a chadar or covering the head more carefully was also seen as modern because it allowed them to enter spaces that were previously only for men.
00:41:32
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Meetings, offices, schools, public gatherings, covering became a way to be taken seriously, to be trusted, to be allowed outside. So what looked traditional from the outside could actually be a strategy for autonomy. This is what makes cultural symbols so complicated. They are never only about fabric. They are about power, respect, about who is allowed to move freely and who has to prove that they deserve to.
00:41:59
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And this negotiation does not or happen only in villages or conservative homes. It happens everywhere. Women learn very early that the body is always being read.
00:42:10
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People look at what you wear and decide what kind of person you are. Educated or not, modern or not, respectable or not, good family or bad upbringing. The judgment comes before the conversation.
00:42:23
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Because of this, many women learn to move between different versions of themselves. One way of dressing at home, another at university, another at work, another online. Not because they're confused, but because every space has its own rules and the body becomes the place where those rules have to be followed.
00:42:42
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What is interesting is that even when women gain education, jobs and independence, the pressure does not disappear. It just changes shape. Instead of being told to stay inside, they are told to represent the culture properly outside.
00:42:56
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Instead of being told not to speak, they are being told to speak in the right way, look in the right way. dress in the right way. So reclaiming cultural symbols is not always about rejecting them. Sometimes it is about redefining them. Wearing the dupatta because you want to, not because you are told to. Covering your head because it feels meaningful, not because it proves your morality.
00:43:19
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choosing how to present yourself without having to justify your character every time. The real question is not whether tradition should stay or go. It's about whether tradition can exist without needing control, whether identity can be expressed without being enforced on the body.
00:43:37
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Until that changes, the politics of clothing will never disappear because the body will continue to be the place where the society tries to hold on to what it is afraid of losing. I remember being 10 or 11 on a short trip to the mall. My body is just beginning to grow and I was not realising at that point in time that it needed to be hidden.
00:43:59
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We went on a small trip to the mall and for me it became a lesson in covering up. I was told to grab a scarf and tuck it tightly across my chest. It was the first reminder for me that a woman's body had to be contained, protected from curious eyes, from male attention.
00:44:19
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I didn't understand why then, but that woman planted a seed. The dupatta, something I had loved as a fashion statement, suddenly became a symbol of control, a tool that dictated how my body should be read, how it should be present in the world. I remember feeling so ashamed of the body I was living in that I ended up wearing a very, very tight piece of clothing underneath just so my chest was not visible. to the gazes around me. It left a mark on my body which is present even to this day, where every time I look at it, it is a painful reminder for me. The same scarf carried a heavier weight. What I once admired as elegance became at times a source of frustration, even resentment.
00:45:11
Speaker
It was a paradox, I began to recognize that Dupatta is a part of our culture, a beautiful flowing symbol of heritage. Yet it is also entangled with expectations, with limits imposed on women's autonomy. So when I think back to that incident, to the little girl learning that her body needed guarding, I see now how those lessons shaped not just my view of a scarf, but my understanding of culture itself. It is never neutral, it travels freely, but it asks something of those who carry it. And perhaps the only freedom worth striving for is the freedom to carry it on your own terms, in your own way. This is why talking about the Buddha matters. It is not just about fashion, culture, religion. It is about autonomy, about the negotiation of tradition and modernity, about the way South Asian and Pakistani women navigate a world that wants to define them by what they wear. And maybe that's the most important thing, recognizing that a simple piece of cloth can carry centuries of beauty, expectation, limitation and possibility and that real freedom comes from choosing how it lives with you. That's it for today's episode. I hope you gained something from it and I hope to see you again here. I'm your host, Sirosh, and you were listening to Dear Body.