On the bus this morning, I helped a student from Toronto navigate the buses to the Old City. He had just arrived yesterday and it was his only day off since his intense conflict-resolution classes were starting tomorrow. Thus, he wanted to see as much as he could, including the Old City. He asked me some questions, I told him good bus routes to take and tried to explain the different feels of each quarter of the Old City.
As he got off the bus with a polite wave and a thank you, I realized that by his questions and my answers we already had such different views and would have different experiences based on our genders. I had no idea his political or religious affiliation, so I was trying to be even-handed and PC when explaining things. I told him to take a certain bus next time through Sheikh Jarrah so he could at least glimpse it from the bus. I mentioned that Jaffa Gate is stereotypically the safest gate to go through but pointed out Damascus Gate which is the stereotypically Muslim entrance. He asked if I had been to the “really, really Orthodox” neighborhood and if he would be OK in his clothes (baggy tan shorts and preppy maroon polo). I told him that I honestly couldn’t remember what male foreigners were OK wearing but he might be ok in the shorts – but that he would realize very quickly if he wasn’t welcome. He wasn’t carrying anything – I assume a wallet and maybe a phone in his pockets. He didn’t seem at all worried that he had absolutely no idea of navigating the old city, the stereotypes of the entrances or the pathways within or the surrounding neighborhoods of greater Jerusalem.
Since the group of us as young women have planned appropriate outfits, discussed the safety of various pathways or times of the day to go somewhere or where is OK to walk through alone, I’ve almost taken for granted that it’s an essential and honestly perpetual concern for me and most of the others on the group. Especially since Justin wore the same thing every day, I wasn’t particularly aware of male’s outfits or male tourists’ level of safety in this area. But today it was so obvious to me that my male counterpart did not necessarily have to worry about going into or getting lost in the Old City or necessarily having as strict penalties/staring for dressing inappropriately.
I am not worried about safety here and there is a certain sense of awareness that is needed as a woman when traveling anywhere in the world – whether or not that’s exaggerated by American rape culture is not the point of this post. But I do feel a different awareness here than I have in Europe. Perhaps it’s because there are strict dress codes for different areas in Jerusalem – Muslim and Jewish neighborhoods and holy places alike. And I do feel a consciousness of dressing appropriately, going in groups when necessary, taking the longer way that’s more lighted when necessary more than other places I’ve traveled. Of course I’ve noticed gender differences and, along with most Smithies, we’re trained to acknowledge differences within and gender privilege around the world. But today clarified for me more than it did already the notion that one’s experience in this complicated city is even more diverse and frustrating based on ones sex or gender expression.
-Julia