Istanbul - the Blue Mosque
early June 2026 - transcendental glory and feminist rage
The first time we went to the Blue Mosque, we went at the wrong time of day, it was closed for prayer, plus V was wearing shorts (a no-no). We'd actually half-joked prior to going on this trip to convert to Islam just for the experience of praying in all these amazing buildings. Then I looked up the entire prayer process and it was extremely complicated and all in Arabic plus the ritual cleaning process prior and I completely backed out. I'm glad I did.
The entrance meant for actual Muslims, not casual visitors. This didn't stop casual visitor influencers from boldly going through with their selfie sticks taking videos.
In the public courtyard they have the Islam equivalent of chick tracts. Maybe less severe than that, but still.. they go on about how they don't see racism and everyone is equal and it's peaceful and about self improvement and finding inner tranquility and community and it sounded awesome.
There were some weird people in the courtyard. The ones that stand out the most were a couple dripping in Gucci and designer everything he was very uh greasy with the woman in a sheer see-through dress. They got some selfies in the courtyard involving lots of tongues and then left.
Then we came back another day, properly dressed, and in the morning before it was blazing hot (there's no AC). And we wandered into the most beautiful and glorious building either of us had ever been in.
Tumblr rips out all the details of this building where YOU COULD FEEL THE DIVINE THE DIVINE WAS HERE
YOU COULD FEEL IT EVERYWHERE
Oh yes I was definitely having a serious experience of the transcendental divine in this space. It was beautiful, life changing... I floated on this high for quite a while. I'm not certain how long we stayed, jaws on the floor. We eventually sat down on the carpeted floor and just stared. V started to point out the absolute genius of how the building was constructed. We were amazed. This was such an amazing building.
And then it all came crashing down, back to reality. Those shelves on the left? Are for shoes, they were filled with stinky shoes of visitors. See the two women in the left-middle of the picture, one with a blue cloth covering her hair? To the left of her, BEHIND THE STINKY SHOE SHELVES IS WHERE THE WOMEN PRAY. All those gorgeous soaring arches? No, they don't get to pray there! That's where the men pray! And that's when I remembered all the stuff in the courtyard just talked about not seeing wealth and class.. there was nothing in there about your sex.
It was the horrible chasm between theory and practice, as it was presented.
This pissed me off so unbelievably I cannot say. I don't have words. I found this whole experience to be incredibly painful. Every time I travel, I learn about myself. This trip let me know that I am a feminist and I would never join a religion that had me praying behind the stinking fucking coat closet equivalent while the men were under the glorious arches and beauty, even if it was for my "own protection", which is usually the reasoning used for this sort of thing. Men didn't have to cover their hair, or so much of their bodies, it was only the women. Yeah I'm not hiding in any fucking closet I'm not playing this game I'll go have my transcendental experiences in the woods with nature who doesn't pull this kind of sexist bullshit.
If men can't handle themselves around women, that's not the fault of women, and there's no reason for women to be punished or to otherwise have extra rules when, again, it's not their fault. It's on the men to behave properly and if they can't, then they're the ones who need extra rules and restrictions. When I first walked in, my mind somehow naively imagined the women on one side and the men on the other, and I don't know where it came up with that. But hey it was also my first time in a mosque (we went to the Hagia Sophia afterwards).
Women aren't allowed to pray here. In the lower right of this picture is a man in black praying.
Same view, but vertical. Men can pray here. Children can be here (there were even some girls allowed as some special thing we saw?). But no women.
Women are allowed to be the cleaning staff though, I did see that.
So women can clean the entire space, they can clean up after men, other women, and children, but they get to pray only behind the stinky shoes in the coat closet equivalent.
That's a bird flying up top.
They were also doing some minor construction/rehab on this building, but only on the exterior that we saw.
As visitors, we were only allowed on the first floor. But after I saw where the women were relegated to, the spell was broken, I WAS PISSED and over it and just wanted to leave. So we did. Also it was super hot and it was time for a break.
I still absolutely LOVE this building and would still highly recommend visiting this if you ever get the chance to. It is still easily the most beautiful and awe-inspiring building I've ever been in.
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