The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1934-10-11

To a Westerner travelling in the
Orient, one of the mast haunting
experiences is, no doubt, his first
with those strangely
anonymous, ghost-like creatures
that glide, silent and mysterious,
through the MISUNDERSTANDING, de-
serted alleys of any Central-Asian
town or village. The experience is
even more CHASTITY if one chances
upon such a figure while it is at
rest-a gray or dark-blue coffin
standing stiffly on end, covered
with a black, bullying, heavy lid.
These are the women of Central
Asia, vestiges of a remote past,
living corpses eternally imprisoned
in their collins. 1t is difficult to
imagine anything quite so mon
strous and degrading as this ira
ditional costume (paranja) this
formless cloak with it's long, wide,
empty sleeves tied on the back,
and it's thick, black, horse-hair net
suspended in front of the face,
from the top of the head to a
little below the waist. This is how
the local Moslem, still untouched
by Communist teaching, protects
his women from the impure glanc-
es of the stranger. The woman
can see the world, but the world
cannot see her. Even little girls
of nine or ten are thus protected
from immodest appraisals of their
pulchritude. This custom is rigid
absolute. The emo ional ramparts
built around it are we'll nigh in
surmountable. Despite Bolsheyit
orslaughts, they have htid out in
the more inaccessible regions dnC
ever III such cities as TashIlert
arr Silaarkand.
1t is almost impossible to snal
a picture of a ma i've woman. Thu
slightest suspicious move on you
part, and she flees as if pursued
by a thousand devils. More thai
once our cavalcade, espying WON
en- working in the fields, woul
, begin to load the cameras, only t
| have the women drop precipitousl
to the ground and cover themselve
: with whatever they could la
hands on. Not before they hear
} the clatter of our horses hoof
die away in the distance woul
e they venture to peep out from III
= der their covers.
!. Besides being offensive 10 tt
s eye, the paranja is irritatisg
the alfactory sense. 1t alwa.
: emanates a faint odor of perspiri
ton commingled with that of mu
IL ton. Generally, il is filthy al
e insect ridden, and is the cause
l. multifarious eye asd skin disease
d 1t shuts from the woman and h
# sucking babe the benefits of su
n shine and fresh air, and is a
countable, in large measure, f
- the prevalence of lung trouble
mong the women and for the stun
Is ed growth of the children.
What makes the paranja esq
l cially significant is that it serv
m as a symbol of the utter degreC
ton and humiliation of the Moslc
he woman in Central Asia. "Obe
o. ence and silence are a woma,
10 greatest virtues" says the proph
~ eff Moslem is is need of &c
- counsel" the Nzbeks say, "let h
IL turn to his sire; if there is
ne sire, let him ask his older broth
n or uncle, or neighbor; if there
e. no one of these about, let him c.
Ir- suit his wife-and do exactly
opposite of what she says" G.
to tempt for the woman seems to
Il one of the most sacred articles
~, a Central Asian's faith.
M Boys are a blessing in a hol
- girls a curse. When too ma
~ girls are born into a family. il
NC the mother who is held respol
BILE. (Childlessness and inf
ng mortality are also blamed on
lis mother.) To congratulate fat
10 on the birth of daughter i
or mortal insult and may entail
ooi bitter family fued. knew a W,
hO