
I realized that fear was the primary emotion of all of us, and I thought you needed this letter.
Hello! I had been able to write a letter here before, and I have been waiting to write the second letter since the first was published. It was meant to be today. I have read many what different people wrote and understood that our primary

One day, my teacher asked the boys in the class, “When you are married, what do you prefer, a woman in hijab or not?”
After I took off my hijab, I was treated like I was irreligious. I studied high school in a district of the city that I live in. My family was in the center. Even though my school was an Anatolian High School, the administration was

If you ask, they say, “We did not pressure.”
I am following you every day, reading the posts. There are so many parallel lives, ruined dreams. Yes, I am one of them. I am 26 years old. Six years before, I veiled on my own will. Thinking they will force me to veil, I

I am interested in music, but my family is against it too.
I veiled in the 6th grade; now I am in the 9th grade. All of my cousins were going to religious vocational school, and by saying, “the only one who does not go is you,” they were trying to humiliate me. I decided to go

My mother prays that I don’t get into university.
Hello, I’m a 17-years-old young girl. But I’m still a child, according to my family. I think I worked very hard to make them accept that I have grown up. Like many of those who write to this website, my family is a religious one

I can define myself as an atheist bisexual.
Hello, I am 17. There were a lot of problems that have been on my mind for a long time. Now, I can define myself as an atheist bisexual. My family is Muslim, and they put their noses into what I wear. Maybe I wasn’t

I wanted to become a vegetarian. Why did Qurban have to be a compulsory religious duty?
In the 8th grade, I willingly started performing salat. I wanted to be a better Muslim, and fulfilling my religious duties made me happy. My looks were unfitting when I started high school. People didn’t believe that I was a Muslim. This bothered me a

This was the environment I was raised in: a cruel dad and a mother who didn’t say anything.
I am tired, I am drained, but giving up is not a thing for me. I can’t decide what I should start with; my dad walking over my mother just because of a meal, pulling her hair hard, grabbing her arm, and trying to throw

I felt isolated.
Hello everyone. My story is neither a success nor failure story; it is in purgatory. I am a 23-year-old college student. After graduating from the 8th grade, I made my own decision to wear a hijab. I always went to summer Quran courses when I

I realized that the world doesn’t have only an Islamic basis.
Hello everyone. I read most of your stories, and mostly I saw myself in these stories. My story is just like yours. Let’s talk about it, and I will talk about my story about taking off my headscarf, which has been a big problem that

My hair finally met the wind.
I did it, guys. My hair finally met the wind. I did it, yes. I am the 11 years old little girl who covered her hair with a headscarf with a blue hair clip, without knowing what it means. When I first wrote here, I

When I’m in my hometown, I walk in the streets as if I’m a criminal because I’m afraid that a friend from college will see me.
Hello. As it was the case for most of you, “family” used to mean to me people whose every opinion I had to accept and who I was sure were right. I was 13 when I got in the hijab. Then, I was going to

I am 14, and I regret everything.
It is probably a little too long, I am sorry, but I would be happy if it gets shared either way. My father is religious and oppressive. Every time we argue, he threatens me with taking away my phone or making me drop out of

On every visit to my relatives, they only ask me, “Are you going to study Theology?”
I am Nazlı. I am 18. My journey of Imam-Hatip, a religious school, started because of my father’s stubbornness and my headscarf journey started with enthusiasm at the age of 11. Already at the age of 5, my math teacher emphasized the necessity of a

They said, “You’ll wear a headscarf before someone hears you don’t.”
I have been following this site for a while, which has been the most encouraging thing for me. I hope I can encourage people who need it. My story has begun in the 7th grade. I was studying in an Imam Hatip secondary school. My

They said that someone put a spell on me.
My family is entirely religious. They have been forcing me to worship since I was seven, and I have been pretending as I do. When I was 10, even my period didn’t start, they prohibited me from wearing t-shirts and pants. They wanted me to

I haven’t intentionally worn the hijab for nine years, even for a moment.
Nine years… I don’t know where to start. Let me put it this way. I began to wear the hijab when I was eight years old because my older sister and my mother were with the hijab, then I regretted it. When I brought up

I was going downstairs for the first time without the hijab and I was happier than ever.
Hello. Earlier, I sent another letter here before, and when I sent that letter, I thought that there is no way out; I was torturing myself with my thoughts. But I understood that it is not hard to achieve that if I believe in myself,

While I was wearing a hijab, I realized that it did not prevent harassment or social segregation.
Hello. Whoever you are, I want to tell you about myself today because I have many things that are not disclosed. If you feel close to me, I will be happy to have a heart-to-heart talk with you, so please mention it in the comments.

I have no fear anymore!
Hello, I have studied at university as being non-hijab. In the last year of university, I turned to religiosity, and as a result, I found it appropriate to wear a hijab. I never forget the following words my father said when I decided to wear

The image I was in certainly did not reflect my values!
I wanted to do it, and I did it. I grew up in a conservative family. My sister and mother wear headscarves in my family. I decided to wear headscarves in the summer that I graduated from high school because I thought I should do

I want to play the violin, but my father broke the violin that I bought with the money I secretly saved.
Hi, I also want to tell my story. I’m 15 years old. Where I live, people are extremely conservative and homophobic. When I was six, my sister reacted to the cartoon I watched as “this is a boys cartoon.” I was always mature for my

For us, not wearing a hijab was never an option.
I have a very religious family. They are not traditional Muslims. My sister and I grew up with Islamic traditions. In middle school, I went to a religious school. In the 5th grade, almost everyone was open, but my friends became hijabi one by one

I can’t wait to turn 18.
First, I’d like to clarify this; it might take some time to tell my story that I’ve been keeping to myself for a long time, so; pardon me. My family is conservative, too, just like the rest of the families in the other letters. They

Islam is not responsible for this pressure on women.
Hello. I thought I was the only one with my problems, but it seems that I have so many sisters sharing the same issues as me. I have a long story to tell. I don’t know if anyone reads but, please share your comments with

What’s harder than carrying the burden of a religion you don’t believe in?
Hello. I need to pour my heart out. It’s 5 in the morning, and I can’t sleep because of thinking. This is the second letter I’m writing here. Like most of you, I’m in the hijab because of family pressure. I can’t convince my family

I should wear my headscarf for God, but I am doing it for my father. Isn’t it a sin?
Hi! I am 17, and I am wearing my headscarf because of my family’s insistence. After I finished the 8th grade, they started to tell me that I should wear a headscarf. Since there was too much pressure on me, I said that I would

My mom said, “You know the best. It’s your life eventually.”
I wanted to veil willingly in the 8th grade, without family pressure. When I opened it up to my mom, she said I was too young, and I shouldn’t veil now if I’m going to take it off in the future. But I said I

I got awful reactions when I was a hijabi, and when I took it off; but I never stopped being myself.
I haven’t opened this subject to anyone before; I lived whatever I wanted, without consulting anyone, but now I intend to convey something to the people here. My father’s family was very oppressive and all the girls in his family are wearing a headscarf. I