“On the blue summer evenings, I will go along the paths,And walk over the short grass, as I am pricked by the wheat:Daydreaming I will feel the coolness on my feet.I will let the wind bathe my bare head.” Arthur Rimbaud I had a lost…
I don’t know where to start. Let me tell you from the beginning. It all started when I was in the 8th grade. My mother talked about a religious channel and told me to watch it. So I started watching it, and then I started…
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…
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…
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 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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
I tried to write my feelings down many times, but then I just burst into tears. I tore all the pages out so that my mother couldn’t read it secretly. This way, she would continue to love me. Then I’ve met this platform. Even though…
Hello everyone. When I was 11 years old, I was influenced by my friends to wear hijab, and I’ve kept doing it for years. I never thought that I could think differently way back then. Now, I’m studying at university. During a couple of years,…
I don’t remember at what age it began. Since 4th grade, my father would call me, my big sister, and my small sister by his side, and he would tell us the material and spiritual benefits we would get if we became a hafiz. When…
Hello. My hijab story began when I had my first period. I started wearing a hijab with the push of my mother. It didn’t matter if I wanted it or not. If she said, “Wear a hijab,” then I would wear a hijab. Eventually, I…
I was born in a religious family in the mid 90’s. Because of our traditions, I was performing my prayer and fasting worship without question. I was 15. Back then, my father was a truck driver. He would be gone for weeks. He was sending…
Hi, I am one of the many women who wanted to fly, but her wings got broken. My family is very religious and full of people who didn’t even read their holy book in a language that they can understand, all they believe is hearsays.…
This is not a success story. But I will succeed. I am 15 years old, yet I cannot believe how I could live for 15 years. First, I want to talk about my family. My mother wants me to live my life according to her…
Sometimes I tell myself that I wish I had started to wear hijab at 16. This way, at least I could remember the feeling of wind blowing on my hair. Although I believed that it was my decision, it was nothing but my parents’ manipulation.…
Hello everyone. To be honest, I don’t even know where to begin. I am deeply exhausted and hurt. I am scared to be one of them while trying to become who I am meant to be. Anyways, long story short… I remember I had begun…
I tried to tell my story before, but it was left unfinished. I feel ready to complete it now. My story might be more straightforward comparing to others,’ but it’s a tough challenge for me. My struggle was within me. I’m 16 years old. I…
I’ve grown up in a conservative family, but I will never be the girl they ask me to be. I had been forced to study in an Islamic secondary school. My GPA was always really low because I failed most of my religion-related courses. On…
Hello, most of the time, my heart cannot bear reading the things written here. I am 24, and I see girls who are passing through a similar situation that I went through at the age of 18, so I want to be a glimmer of…
Hello. I’m writing this as a person who has read all the letters written here. I got my period in 5th grade when I was 11. Even when I was not wearing a headscarf, I still used to dress like a modest woman. Until my…
Hello. I’m not writing this to help someone. I’m writing this because I need help and I have nobody to talk about this situation. I have anxiety about my future. After a few days, I will be 18. I started wearing a headscarf when I…
I unconsciously started to wear a hijab at the age of 12-13. My family did not literally force me, but I was raised with fears like “gossiping is the same as eating human flesh,” “you will burn if you put on makeup” or “you should…
Hello, I was born as a child of an extremely religious family. They always told me I will be a hijabi someday. They made me go to the Quran summer schools, and in the end, they made me go to a religion based school and…
Actually, this is the third time I am writing on this blog. I hope my dream will have a happy ending. I am not different than you, all of us, at least the majority, have the same goals but different lives. I wish we could…
Now, you will read my life story. I am the second child out of three. I can’t remember how or what I have been thinking about. It was 8 years ago, I hadn’t had my period then. I think I did it because of the…
I didn’t grow up in a radical Islamist family. I’m the daughter of a father who performs the worships of Islam while living his life, even sometimes makes me think about whether he supports the left-wing. And I’m the daughter of a mother who is…
For exactly one month and eight days, I am the person I want to be. I became free. I didn’t forget the burden I had on my shoulders one month ago, sitting and crying every night, pacing up and down in my room, coming to…
Hello. I’m a 17-year-old senior student at high school. I wrapped this strangling rope around my neck at the age of 12. I wouldn’t even be able to answer if they asked me, “What’s religion?” back then. My mother, my big sisters, we’re all in…
I started wearing a hijab the summer, just before I start high school. I wasn’t conscious of my decision; my family deceived me. I started questioning religion around the same time. I wasn’t a Muslim anymore. I always tried to take off my hijab, but…
I can’t quite guess how or where to start my story. It branches and snags as I think, I think it’s best to start with introducing myself. I am a 20-year-old university student who grew up in a rural village with a crowded radical Islamist…
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…
I am 19 years old. At the age of 9, I decided to start wearing a headscarf by being deceived by my family with gifts, heaven, and many other blessings. At the age of 9, a person cannot think about the future consequences of this,…
In addition to being aware of these feelings that made me feel like something is wrong and think “It shouldn’t be this way” since my earliest recollections, I realized that I am bisexual just this year. People around me always complained about my masculinity, and…
I was so suppressed that I finally put a hijab on my head and got rid of oppression in a way. A deep voice inside me always said that I should be the earnest person, but I wanted to be crazy. I had two different…
It is the purest form of self-expression of a person what they wear. I couldn’t express myself for years. Being a lesbian woman wearing a headscarf was very heavy. I was hiding my real identity from everyone. Being gay from those who know the hijab;…
Like most women here, I was wearing the hijab with the belief that it is my own decision. I was 11 years old. Since I was made to gradually veil until that age, this was not that hard of a decision to make for me.…
Hello, I want to share my story too. Maybe it will be a hope for some others. I had covered my hair in the summer of 2005. That summer, when I passed from my sophomore year to my junior year, I received the news that…
As I read the articles here, I felt that I was not alone. I took off the hijab at this time last year. I grew up in a family where the hijab was a tradition before religion. When all the daughters of my relatives veiled,…
I willingly veiled the day it became fardh1 for me. I was 13 years old, and the year was 2004. With the effects of February 281, between wearing a headscarf and learning science, you became a mujahid2. After the days when I took off the…
I’m not struggling with anything on the surface. However, I have my struggle on the inside, which has caused constant unhappiness, and it still does. Perhaps I should start telling from the beginning. I’m a 26 years old woman with a promising career who lives…
I am not alone, I know. There are some families, the fates of their children are written before they’re born. My life was just like that; the path I was going to walk was set with invisible stones before I was born. When I was…
Hi. I know we’re all by ourselves here. It is because others can’t stand hearing our voices. They never wanted to listen to us, and they never will. It’s because they’re afraid of questioning and understanding things deeply. A story I can call ‘mine’ is…
I knew what was expected from me; I’d already learned what’s right; I knew it was time, but it was my decision in the end. There were no women around me with a different look, but it was my decision. I was only 13, but…
Hello. I’d like to tell you what I’ve been through just so maybe my story touches someone. It is because if I had a platform like this when I was alone, I’m sure that I’d read all of the stories. The day I decided I…
Hi, First of all, let me introduce myself. I’m a 34-year-old woman with a highly respected profession in the community (and I have achieved this on my own). I stopped wearing a headscarf at 33, that is, last year. I was 15 when I wore…
Hello, I’d like to talk about my story, too. I was born in a conservative family. My mother had always been infusing religion since I was a child. I lived with these infusions until I reached puberty. But when I entered adolescence, things had changed.…
“Nothing but our faith in the fallacy of the life imposed upon us is the truth. Everything is possible since Nothing is true.” I am reaching out whilst enclosed from all corners, through bars and underneath the veil covering my hair. I exist, I am…
Even when I was a 7-year-old little girl, my father kept saying to me, “Be earnest, behave properly, don’t forget that you’re my daughter!” he says. At that time, I would not understand, but later I realized that this was both a stance I had…
Have you worn bikinis when you were a child? Or swimsuits? Played in the sea until you were fulfilled? I have not. It was forbidden to wear anything that did not reach my knees from the age of 5-6 for me. I could not wear…
Mine is a story that I never thought I’d share until yesterday. For those who might get bored, this will be a long one. Since I’m the subject of the matter, I think I should introduce myself: I’m a 36-year-old, educated, and working woman. And…
I didn’t want to go out, and I didn’t want to meet new people. I was always nuddling along. This was not me. I wasn’t just the veil on my head; I didn’t believe anything it represents. Yes, I wore it willingly, but why couldn’t…
I was born as an imam daughter, I took this burden throughout my life, and it was cumbersome. I’m a daughter of an Imam, but I never wanted to wear a headscarf, never.My father is ashamed of me; he doesn’t even want to walk close…
I am a 23 years old woman, and I have been pressured to wear headscarf until this age. There has been some violence too. Although I am very calm and quiet around my family, I act like I am the most powerful woman on earth…
My story is a little bit complicated. After my father passed away, we had returned to our hometown. We grew up under the patronage of my mother’s family, who is very conservative. When we had returned, I was only 11 years old. Somebody was continually…
In the world of conservative people, the adulthood of a young girl begins when she has her first period. When I was in the sixth grade, I had my period for the first time, and thanks to my radical Islamist parents, they allowed me one…
If it helps you imagine, I have shoulder-length, dark brown, thick, and puffy hair. I have hair that I started associating with freedom over time. I have hair that I dream of, with the salty seawater touching its ends. I have hair that I dream…
Hi ladies. First of all, I want to start off by telling you a little bit about me. I’m 20 years old, I’m a university student and where I study is far away from my family. My introduction to freedom starts precisely from the point…
I’m a woman who has spent more than half of her life wearing a headscarf, had many dilemmas about it, and finally found her own real self at the age of 31. I’m the oldest daughter in a not-so-religious family that’s always on its toes…