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Weiner's heightened visibility in the media these past few days reminded me that he recently married Hillary Clinton's right-hand woman Huma Abedin. Laura Wood at The Thinking Housewife writes about Huma's reaction to these embarrassing incidents, which of course are a betrayal of her and of their marriage, saying that Huma is avoiding reality by continuing with her global travels to immerse herself in work that is as far away from her husband as possible, and that this avoidance of reality is a feminist's way of warding off pain and intimacy.
I see Huma's behavior another way. She got married in an admittedly lovely embroidered dress, which earned her a spot in Vogue magazine (see above photo), but which is not the traditional white (in all its variations) that Western modern brides wear. I though her dress was decidedly non-Western, and looked like the glittery Middle Eastern and Indian dresses where, after all, Huma's family is from.
And here is what she says in Vogue about her dress:
"I wanted to look like an Indian bride... And I wanted it to complement a jeweled chocker that belonged to my grandmother, an heirloom which my mother and her sisters have worn at their weddings."Oscar de la Renta, the designer who created her dress says (in the same Vogue issue):
"I made her a dress that reflected her history... It was like dressing Scheherazade, the beautiful Queen from One Thousand and One Nights."Abedin continues in Vogue:
Being a political power couple comes with just one drawback: "Our schedules are so busy" Abedin says, "that we don't have time for a honeymoon!"I wonder where I've seen that word "power couple" before?
Other commentators have speculated that her marriage was a way to avoid scandalous links between her and Hillary Clinton, with whom she spends much of her time as an aide. This might have some grain of truth.
But by marrying Weiner, Huma, who is described as a practicing Muslim, appears to have gone against her family and her background, in effect cutting herself off from her Muslim roots. Still, even the infamous Hirsi Ali didn't totally abandon her Muslim "culture" (and religion, since one doesn't exist without the other) and is trying to make it a reality within her Western life.
Perhaps that's what Huma was hoping to do. After all, she chose the Indian brocade dress as her wedding gown.
Weiner marrying Huma is less of a puzzle, since many liberal Christian and Jewish white men are attracted to non-Christian, non-Western and non-white women, and make concessions for those cultural and religious differences in their marriages. I've written about this here. Practicing Muslims, on the other hand, are very unlikely to allow their religion to be altered. When this does happen, it is almost always the Muslim woman who makes those changes, and this usually means abandoning her religion.
Perhaps Hillary Clinton, Huma's obvious mentor, suggested Weiner's eligibility to her. From the amount of time she spends with Clinton, it looks like she's taken on the role of Huma's family, and Huma's marriage with Weiner would indeed be the kind of arranged affair that is in keeping with the traditions of her Eastern background.
I think Huma went on these lengthy trips so soon after her marriage to avoid the reality of a Muslim woman married to a Jewish man. Perhaps there is a sense of disappointment at the lost opportunity at love, as Laura suggests, since Huma still lives in a Western society and is imbued with its culture. She may be trying to reconcile Muslim and Western traditions to the best of her confused ability.
There is no excusing Weiner's awful conduct in his marriage, although the media report that this is somewhat of a long-term habit of his. But a globe-trotting wife, and so soon after their wedding, would put a strain on any marriage, and any groom, "sexting" or not.
And back to the strange liaison between a "practicing" Muslim and a Jew. Sam Solomon, a Muslim convert to Christianity, explains in his book El-Yahud: Eternal Islamic Enmity and the Jews that the biggest animosity Muslim have towards other non-Muslims is for the Jews. How did Huma reconcile this with her Jewish husband?
Another odd thing: Hillary Clinton's husband was also caught in a strange, ambiguous sex scandal - his narcissistic fantasy was a young intern who was more an object of his fantasy rather than a real sexual partner. How strange is it that Huma should find a husband who would cheat on her in a similar way?
Since this blog is partly concerned with beauty [see here, here, here, here, and here for my recent commentary on beauty], why do people keep calling her stunning? She is tall and slim, and has long hair, and wears expensive-looking clothes, but there is nothing beautiful about her looks. Her face is gaunt, with exaggerated features. She does, admittedly, look like the fashion models of our time, but I've never found them beautiful, and they're not chosen for their beauty, but for their unique (odd, strange, alien?) looks. But perhaps people want public figures to look beautiful (in the classic sense), and the stodgy Hillary doesn't fit that bill, so instead they turn to Huma, Hillary's aide, like some kind of displaced loyalty, who is closer to that expectation.
I had set aside the September 2010 Vogue issue, where she is photographed in her wedding dress, to write about these very thoughts and especially to critique her Eastern-inspired wedding dress. But I guess I wasn't anticipating this type of scandal, just something simpler, like a divorce down the years due to irreconcilable differences.