Barbara Walters chats with Forward Syria
Swaying between art and seduction
Discussing monetary policy with the man in charge
Where the earth screams in horror
04/01/2009 - Issue 26
Taking a secret puff
Is there a smoking screen separating the genders in Damascus?by Rouba Shadoud
Young smokers speak to Forward Magazine about the hidden taboos of this common social ailment, a habit that has become a subtle and derisive way to distinguish the sexes. As the government recently passed a smoking ban draft that will prohibit smoking in public places throughout the country, special zones will be established for smokers, and advertising for tobacco in all its forms and accessories will be banned. Penalties for smoking in public will vary between financial fines and, at their most severe, prison. How does this affect the way men – and women – smoke?
As the country faces collective withdrawal, many have become introspective on the habit, and have discovered that many in Syria still see a sharp difference between men and women smokers. Men smokers are tolerated because of work pressure or merely as a bad habit that is mistaken for harmless. Women, however, are viewed with scrutiny.
Samer, a young Syrian who is surrounded by women who smoke, noted, “No, women are not entitled to the same ‘things’ as men. If smoking was right, young girls would not be doing it in secret, away from their parents. The fact that they smoke in secret is testimony that they are rude, and do not respect society and its traditions.” When asked if he would marry a smoker, the young man snapped, “Of course not! Even if I were to find a suitable partner, and only discover later that she smoked either cigarettes and shishas, I would call off the engagement without hesitation.”
Not everyone are as radical in their assessment as Samer, and many question why this stigma of “rudeness” did not apply to male smokers as well as women? One reason for the stereotyping is the attractive advertisements found on television and in women’s magazines for cigarettes. They show full spreads of elegant and beautiful women, holding a cigarette, although smoking is actually beauty’s number one enemy. Cigarettes are believed to mirror a strong sex appeal, projecting a woman smoker as someone who is trying to show off and seduce.
An interesting observation is that some men refuse to allow their wives to smoke in public, particularly because it projects a “sexy” image, although they are fine with them smoking at home, away from society’s watchful eye. Marwan, a resident of Damascus, notes, “Personally, a smoking woman turns me on, and that is why I refuse to let my wife smoke in public. Most men are attracted to a smoking woman, especially if she is wearing revealing clothes and smoking in a manner that they find seductive.” Should this be the case, it is an incredibly ill advised method for being sexy.
“Smoking in general is a bad habit, and can cause heart attacks, strokes, lung cancer, in addition to psychological problems,” reminds Fouad Mohammad Fouad, a researcher at the Syrian Smoking Research Center, which is run by the Syrian Association to Combat Cancer. “For women smokers, it leads to swelling of the eyes, roughness of the hair, wrinkling of the face, and bad breath. Teeth transform from white to yellow, then black. Smoking women have a higher risk of breast cancer, aging, and an increase in
blood pressure.”
A woman can smoke shisha but not a fag?
Even at the superficial level of “beauty,” smoking can have devastating effects, so why are women still trying to catch up with men in this disgusting manner? Psychologist Iyad Yanes believes young women smokers do it usually to prove that they can break established traditions and enter what were once, to them, restricted areas. “Smoking a Turkish pipe takes place in particular venues, and in particular times, whereas a cigarette travels the world with its holder, and can be smoked everywhere and at any time,” says Hiba, a young woman who grew up in a fairly liberal environment that did not suppress women smokers.
She argues however that a woman holding cigarette does not look good, “That is why I personally decided to smoke a shisha, because I enjoy it more. People don’t view it in similar light to a cigarette.”
This, however, is misguided. Those that think that smoking a Turkish pipe is not as bad as smoking a cigarette, and are more socially acceptable because it happens in public, should realize one shisha is equal to 55 cigarettes, and can eventually lead to a nicotine addiction, health experts believe.
Relationship with a cigarette...
Most of the women we spoke to claim that smoking first developed as a pastime; they had no intention of getting addicted to it. They did it “to relieve the psychological and social pressure in their lives. “My relationship with the cigarette began six years ago, under the influence of my neighbors, who said that I will not be attractive to boys, if I did not carry a cigarette,” says Nisreen. Eventually, this became a dependency that Nisreen could not overcome, using it as a coping mechanism to overcome what she felt was everyone in her social circle’s lack of concern for her or her problems.“It took strong will, and marriage to a non-smoker, for me to stop smoking.”
Sexualizing the smoke and religion’s take on it
On many levels, smoking is seen as wrong. Abdulsalam Rajeh, dean of the Faculty of Islamic Shariah at the Sheikh Ahmad Kaftaro Center, says that Islamic law calls for keeping healthy, and God prohibits anything that affects one’s health. As a health issue, 20% of women smokers are affected by midlife crises, compared to 5.1% of non-smokers, and a smoking woman’s fertility drops to 50%. Still, as long as we glamorize and sexualize smoking, as the Syrian drama Asmahan did when Sulaf Fawakharji was always seen smoking, or when Nicole Kidman puffed on a cigarette during a Cannes press conference, the image of the smoking seductress may never go away.
“A smoking woman arouses my curiosity, and I start to ask questions in my head what got her to pick up the cigarette and get addicted to it?” says Saleh. “Is it a desire to prove that she is equal to men, in a society that recognizes none of her desires or needs?”
