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It is known that women were not considered subordinate to men in Turkic nomadic culture and they freely rode horses and commanded armies alongside men as opposed to what would be seen in sedentary peoples. This recounting of an Arab traveller from the 10th century reveals a huge gap in mentality. I'm not really sure btw if this really went as he narrated or there's a touch of hyperbole. Devout people generally tend to exaggerate things; like claiming that a couple literally has sex at a park when in fact they were just kissing. But you get the point here. Too bad our women had subsequently been confined into houses and forced into black veils up until a heroic savior like Ataturk emerged.
For people claiming that I'm a slave to the modernism of our age; maybe this is where I derive my inspiration from. Maybe this is in my blood, and I'm proud of it. Well-said, the Turkic chief! And I vow to maintain this heritage, forever!
Oguz women never veil themselves in the presence of their own men or others. Nor does the woman cover any of her bodily parts in the presence of any person. One day we stopped off with a Turk and were seated in his tent. The man’s wife was present. As we conversed, the woman uncovered her pudendum and scratched it, and we saw her doing so. We veiled our faces and said, “I beg God’s pardon.” At this her husband laughed and said to the interpreter, “Tell them we uncover it in your presence so that you may see it and be abashed, but it is not to be attained. This is better than when you cover it up and yet it is attainable.”
"The Manuscript of Ibn Fadlan,
Relating His Experiences
with the Northmen in A.D. 922"
pudendum i.e. vagina
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