At the age of 13, my twin sister and I were forcibly veiled by a stepmother wearing the hijab.
As we went out to play with our friends and our little brothers to the street, a hijab was suddenly thrown in front of us, and it was said, “You will be wearing this from now on.” Of course, there is no objection, there is only obedience; otherwise, we knew that we would be beaten. We were going to secondary school; our school was so close that we could hear the ringing tone from home; nevertheless, even when we were going to school, we were asked to wear the headscarf and take them off at the door of the school.
It was so embarrassing for us that we were making jokes to make each other laugh. My twin went to the Justice Vocational High School; her school was far from home and could travel without a headscarf as she wished. I did not dare to object as a slave, a submissive slave. My sister always hated the veil, because we had to wear it by force. My sister graduated from high school and took off the hijab by saying that she had to it for her career.
I had married the person I loved that year. My husband was not against the headscarf. When I was at my house, I didn’t wear the hijab and put on makeup. Due to our financial situation, we had to live with my husband’s family for a while, my husband’s aunt was also at home. Whenever I put on makeup, she humiliated me; “What kind of veiled person are you; you do makeup, you walk around without your hijab. My psychology was broken; I couldn’t look at myself in the mirror. I couldn’t wear the scarf I love, and I hated it when I got it, I disgusted it. One day I decided to take off the headscarf; my husband respected and supported me.
When my husband’s aunt heard, she asked, “When your child sees your pictures where you were veiled, he will ask why you took off the headscarf. Will you not ashamed?” I took it off 2 days later, although I felt strange at first, I got used to it.
If they ask me to veil, I would definitely say no because I know everything starts from the heart, not the hijab.
(Image: Denis Sarazhin)