Unveiling

On a boat excursion up the Bosphorus ... a beautiful young woman, fully veiled, wearing the long cloth coat Muslim women often wear here. But she was hanging out with her boyfriend, hand in hand. And she was smoking.

Why doesn't she take off the scarf, too, I wondered. Then I realized that for someone who has covered her hair in public since she was twelve, that would feel as naked as if I bared my breasts on the boat.

Imagine the many textures of eroticism she might be capable of. How exciting to let your lover see your hair for the first time.

--Istanbul