I once heard a Somali woman on the radio talk about her youth in Mogadishu, before the war. She said she missed going to Italian restaurants there, which baffled me a bit - that's definitely *not* what I've usually associated with that place. But it's been ruled by Italy, so I guess it makes sense. I assume this means it was relatively European at some point
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev/home)* seemly outgoing narrow society shocking longing thumb spark fall payment
Bear in mind that a *lot* of these “look how modern X country was before Y event” photo posts are generally very much based on the upper middle class (or higher), specifically in a major (usually capital) city. I’m not a Somalia expert, but I’m reasonably sure that in the 1970s that peasant women in villages dressed very modestly, didn’t drink alcohol, and never tried Italian food. I know Iran and Afghanistan far better, and a very large share of “look how things were before Y event” photos only portray like 3% of the nation, within the urban elite, and not the average woman’s experience in that country.
你得记住,很多这种“快看 Y 事件发生前 X 国家有多现代化”的照片帖子,基本上都是基于中产阶级上层(或更高阶层)的,而且特指在主要大城市(通常是首都)。
我不是索马里问题专家,但我基本能确定,在 20 世纪 70 年代,乡村里的农妇们穿得非常保守,不喝酒,也从没尝过意大利菜。
我对伊朗和阿富汗了解得多一些,这种“快看 Y 事件前是什么样”的照片,很大一部分描绘的只是全国大概 3% 的城市精英,根本不是那个国家普通女性的生活体验。
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I think youre broadly right. However, my colleague, who is Somali, told me that women generally wore modest clothing but did not cover their hair until the Saudi funded religious schools innthe 70s and 80s made a big deal of it.
I am North African, and Wahabism absolutely changed us culturally, especially with how far « geographically » and « culturally » we are from the Middle East.
My mom and aunts grew up in the late 70’s listening to music, wearing makeup, bikinis, short dresses and having male friends. Hijab, by the standards of today WAS NOT COMMON. Older women did dress modestly but It was never mandatory nor offensive if they didn’t.
This is an important point that I only alluded to above, so good to bring up: transnational changes in Sunni Islam, largely driven by the Saudis but with lots of conflating issues, are a factor.
Somali woman here. People in rural areas dressed less "modestly" than you imagine, before the increased cultural influence from Saudi Arabia after the civil war. The typical garment for women was a long dress with a strap on only one shoulder. Or a long dress with short sleeves. The hair was always exposed unless married then women wore a silky headwrap, usually shaped similarly to the headrests of ancient Egyptians. Before, the aristocratic women of Somalia wore either those garments, silk or similar materials, and more ornate clothing and jewellery. But they were not any more or less covered than other women. Here's an example of how Somali women dressed outside of major cities back then:
* https://imgur.com/a/HhtqhKU
This is true but was also true of other countries. IIRC in the US, JFK took a lot of measures to promote development and eradicate rural poverty because on the campaign trail, he was seeing people in the rural US without proper clothing, shoes, indoor plumbing, etc. This isn’t to say “nuh uh the US was also poor” or poverty olympics or whatever, just that the world in general was a lot less developed and rural poverty (and everything that comes with that, like less advancement for women) was the norm in a lot of places.
Mogadishu was bustling though. Lots of great music from that era to. Yeah it wouldn't have bean so exciting in the provincial areas but you could say the same about provinsial anywhere in the west
That does not excuse taking away the freedom these women enjoyed, just because they were a small percentage of the population. A better option would be to extend these freedoms to everyone else.
I didn’t remotely say that. My point was that the entire nation wasn’t culturally similar to Long Beach, and then someone came along and made it oppressive overnight. It’s a shifting of factions and trends within a nation, affected by changing international developments, etc. And further my point is a lot of (very upvoted) posts of photos like these never get into the larger context, and may leave some readers with misguided impressions.
Wow instead of the picture of the women live in Iran before the revolution?
哇,又发这种“革命前伊朗女性”的照片?
TapTheForwardAssist39 赞2026/1/2
See my above reply about how the “women in Iran before the Revolution” photos are a *very* narrow facet of Iranian society, and not remotely what life was like for the average Iranian woman in the 1960s-1970s. Iran in the mid-1900s was going through a *tumultuous* period of cultural change as it was suddenly transitioning from being a very conservative society.
“Before hijab adoption” is a really nice, sanitized way to put this.
“戴头巾之前”这种说法,美化得还挺顺耳的哈。
Puzzleheaded_Draw63754 赞2026/1/2
Pray for secularism.
为世俗化祈祷。
FluffyMycologist830819 赞2026/1/2
Considering its Somalia I doubt it
考虑到那是索马里,我对此表示怀疑。
JohnSmithCANDo23 赞2026/1/2
Two distinguished ladies. Daughters of Africa.
两位气质不凡的女士。非洲的女儿们。
Secret_Asparagus_78322 赞2026/1/2
Are Somali women required to cover-up or is it still a choice?
索马里女性必须捂起来,还是依然是自己选择?
Finnegan-05164 赞2026/1/2
It is never a choice
从来都不是选择
WuTang4thechildrn20 赞2026/1/2
Beautiful
真漂亮
Sofa_Driftstar12 赞2026/1/2
Fuck Islamism (jihadism, islamic fundamentalism, etc. I have nothing against non-radical Islam).
去他妈的伊斯兰主义(圣战主义、伊斯兰原教旨主义等等,我对非极端派的伊斯兰没意见)。
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Why did Somali women decide to switch to the Hijab?
索马里女性为什么决定改信戴头巾?
BotherTight61844 赞2026/1/2
When the socialist government collapsed in the 1990s, the country was taken over by warlords. Then foreign Saudi backed maddrassa created a faction of Islamist that took over most of the country not unlike afghanistan.
I wonder what effect that had on their female genital mutilation practices. From what I read there was some effort to stop it in the 70’s but the revolution in the early 90’s stoped that. Today about 99% of women in Somalia have underwent the procedure. :(
Wish the political ideology of peace would stop ruining cultures.
希望和平的政治意识形态别再糟蹋文化了。
nychearts8128 赞2026/1/2
Lovely looking women🥰
可爱的美女们🥰
Ecstatic-Art-62365 赞2026/1/4
Before Islam spread and ruined everything
伊斯兰教传开并毁掉一切之前
Fr_champi5 赞2026/1/2
"adoption"
“收养”
Superb_Beyond_34444 赞2026/1/2
Amazing. That’s not Somali representative nowadays. Same for Iran.
绝了。现在这都不是索马里的代表了。伊朗也是一样。
tuckertucker4 赞2026/1/2
I grew up in a city with a sizeable Somali population. Somali women are hilarious.
我在一个索马里人很多的城市长大。索马里女人巨搞笑。
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ExploringLifeTX783 赞2026/1/2
Beautiful women.
美女。
bong-jabbar3 赞2026/1/2
That floral baati is so cute.
那件碎花长袍太可爱了。
Nocturnal7893 赞2026/1/2
The hijab is a invention that was made long ago, to give woman privat space and protect from the weather. Over time the hijab came and went, its when they force it that a community looks misogynistic. Its like saying we will protect woman wether they want it or not. The more free will the women have the bettet they look.