GI Janes Flaunt Their Sports Bras (Afghan)

The Independent (UK) ^ | 12-14-2002 | Jan McGirk

[blam]

In Foreign Parts: GI Janes flaunt their sports bras as body search arrives in cultural minefield of Afghan frontier

By Jan McGirk in Peshawar
14 December 2002

I idly mention to my translator in Peshawar how a war photo published in all the Pakistani dailies has outraged everyone who has seen it.

Janula Hashim Khan is usually rather bored by my attempts to make polite conversation, but he suddenly comes to life, eyes ablaze. "Yes, I know the photo. It's a disgrace to see our sisters and mothers mauled like that," he says. To my amazement, he pulls a carefully folded newspaper clipping out of his wallet. "Is this the one you mean?"

The picture shows an Afghan woman being subjected to a body search by an American soldier.

The photo had provoked weeks of venomous letters to the editor condemning this practice. The same shot had been blown up and used for the Yank-bashing election campaign that swept the clerics into unprecedented power in the provinces closest to the Afghan border. To most Pakistanis and Afghans, this photo is hyper-offensive, showing a demure Islamic beauty disrespected by an American brute.

The latent feminist in me cannot be stifled. There is some potent propaganda to be countered. "Look a little closer," I said. "That is a woman soldier who is patting the Afghan lady down."

"Impossible," all the Muslim men in the room say in unison. The masculine ambience of this frontier city near the Khyber Pass is so pervasive that, at least in a warlord's antechamber, a female soldier is utterly inconceivable, even if you have a picture of her in front of you.

"Look again," I insist. "Under the helmet, her hair is bunched at the neck. The US army has plenty of women soldiers, just like this one."

In fact, I later learnt that the original caption, never used in Pakistan, identified her as Sergeant Nicola Hall. The bearded men are unconvinced.

"Well, then look at her childbearing hips," I continue. "Broad. Like mine." Khan blanches and hesitates before he translates my words. The men scowl.

Again, the photo is passed around. Culturally, this is a minefield. In the Northwest Frontier provinces no one is prepared to check out a person's bum in public, certainly not in mixed company, not even in a photo. Men and women customarily cover their backsides with long tunics.

Could they not know what to look for? "Most men are narrower in the loins ..." I am stating the obvious and stop abruptly.

They shrug, unable to sex the fighter in the photo and unwilling to admit they might be mistaken. But one young lieutenant persists. "That is not a female. That is a soldier manhandling an Afghan woman," he declares with finality.

A Western military attaché told me how grenades and rockets were often retrieved from beneath the odd burqa. Women must be checked during routine arms inspections and this presents a quandary: how to be culturally sensitive conquerors and not offend the folks you liberated last year and now want to disarm.

Some etiquette is evolving. Now American female soldiers start gun raids in Afghanistan by bounding out of helicopters and stripping down to their sports bras. Only then do they take village women aside to be searched. It is a quick way to prove their femininity to Afghan elders unaccustomed to seeing women in trousers. I reckon it must leave quite a few of the old boys slack-jawed and goggle-eyed.

[My2Cents]

How can we reason with people who still live in the Sixth Century?

[2timothy3.16]

Women must be checked during routine arms inspections and this presents a quandary: how to be culturally sensitive conquerors and not offend the folks you liberated last year and now want to disarm.

And there is the problem, first you liberate them and then you want to disarm them.

Some liberation.

[areafiftyone]

That must be some sight!! I am so sick of these Muslim dweebs. The women in our army are always being subjected to some crap in any of their countries. I swear that I think Muslim men are really gay and hate women but just use them for breeding purposes. Sorry about the way it sounds but this is unnecessary. They show too much contempt for women.

[BullDog108]

Pictures! I demand pictures....

[2timothy3.16]

Now American female soldiers start gun raids in Afghanistan by bounding out of helicopters and stripping down to their sports bras.

No, I don't think I want to go there.

But, on second thought, let me just say I hope none of their dads read about this practice.

[bigfootbob]

This is a joke. You had me until the last paragraph. I'd pay money to see it happen.

[Petronski]

Now American female soldiers start gun raids in Afghanistan by bounding out of helicopters and stripping down to their sports bras. Only then do they take village women aside to be searched. It is a quick way to prove their femininity to Afghan elders unaccustomed to seeing women in trousers. I reckon it must leave quite a few of the old boys slack-jawed and goggle-eyed.

I'm not Afghani, and I am not a woman, but I might be carrying a grenade.

When can I expect the female soldiers to bound from choppers, strip to their sports bras and conduct a much needed search?

[ReaganCowboy]

First you obtain unconditional surrender, then your disarm, then you re-build their society. Didn't we learn anything from the post WWII era?

[Argus]

Thanks. When my daughter flunks out of college, at least I know there's a job waiting for her.

[Guillermo]

Yeah, it would have been wise to arm every German citizen after their surrender.

Moron.

[Saturnalia]

You post about female soldiers in sports bras without any PICTURES?

For SHAME man!

[APBaer]

"and conduct a much needed search?"

You mean you admit that it just might be a gun in your pocket?

[PokeyJoe]

Uhm . . . I once heard an old salt say "women should be issued, not enlisted." =)

[usmcobra]

Shame, shame, shame There must be pictures somewhere.

[BenLurkin]

Is this close enough?

You know, it really is unimaginable that anybody would find this "arousing."

[xm177e2]

We didn't liberate Germany, we kicked its ass. We liberated Afghanistan. And tribals living out in the boonies can't wait 2 weeks for 911 to get there.

[rabidralph]

I'm not Afghani, and I am not a woman, but I might be carrying a grenade. When can I expect the female soldiers to bound from choppers, strip to their sports bras and conduct a much needed search?

I am not an Afgani, but I am a woman. I would be happy to conduct the search. I will use the barrel of the nearest .50 cal and start with your a$$. Aroused?

[Hermann the Cherusker]

Bingo!

[crystalk]

I really wonder if those Muslim men have ever seen a woman with the lights on, and few or no clothes, do we need to distribute medical or Playboy literature so they can tell the difference?