[Author’s Name]
[Institution’s Name]
Essay on Conformity
I live in a deeply conservative Islamic country, where I have to conform to many several things. For example, I have to dress in the local dress that covers my body completely and sometimes my head as well; otherwise I am subjected to obscene remarks by men on the road. Unlike the Western world I cannot sit on the sidewalk while waiting for a public bus but men can do so, so I conform by standing or else I would be subjected to leering staring by men. Women are also not encouraged to leave their house much.
This is evident in the fact that whether a woman who is covered from head to toe or another who prefers not to cover her head both have degrading gestures directed at them such as leery stares, obscene remarks passed or sometimes the posterior pinched or hands brushed across breasts. So I conform and rarely leave the house unless it is absolutely necessary to do so. Women are also not supposed to ride bicycles or motorbikes so I do not ride my bicycle outside the house like I did in Turkey.
In buses in my country, men and women sit in segregated partitions so I conform to that as well. Men and women also have to stand in segregated queues while paying utility bills at a bank or even while buying milk at a local milk shop, so I conform to that. Women are not supposed to smoke in public so my mother conforms to that. During the holy month of Ramadan people are not supposed to eat or drink in public so most people avoid that. People in most cyber cafes are not allowed to access pornographic sites so people try to conform. The sale and drinking of alcohol is strictly prohibited in public so Canadian husband had to bring the liquor home to conform with socity’s rules......
