For a woman from Lebanon now living in the US, a symbol of her freedom is "I have a key". She is free to choose so much more in her life than she had been under Lebanese Muslim rules. This is a beautiful piece. It is compelling and revealing about so many things we read about. And yet I somehow fail to comprehend the enormity of the lack of freedom until I read first-hand accounts like this one. I highly recommend reading it (via Steve Horwitz).
This piece is reminiscent of the work by Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Other links about Ayaan Hirsi Ali are here.... I have keys to my front door, now, and I can open my front door and walk down the street whenever I want to.
In the first weeks when I was in the United States, I had so much fear and trembling at this freedom. I stayed in my apartment alone during my first two days in my new home, and when I did finally venture out, I checked to make sure my keys and ID and wallet were in my purse a thousand times. I wore long, flowing dresses and tied my hair up in a scarf even though it was August and very hot, even though I am an atheist who happens to find no personal value in modesty, even though I was not going out to meet anybody and knew not a single man in town, even though I tried to convince myself that in this land it wouldn’t matter if I was. I looked around every corner and checked over my shoulder in case my father was somehow watching, lurking.