Sunday, September 26, 2010

Even with a Full Face Veil, You Can See Her Emotion

A Muslim woman takes part in a demonstration by the Islamic political party Hizb ut-Tahrir against France's banning of full face veils from public spaces, outside the French Embassy in London September 25, 2010. France is on a course to become the first European country to outlaw the burqa after the measure passed its final legislative hurdle last week. REUTERS/Luke MacGregor (BRITAIN - Tags: RELIGION SOCIETY)

A Muslim woman takes part in a demonstration by the Islamic political party Hizb ut-Tahrir against France's banning of full face veils from public spaces, outside the French Embassy in London September 25, 2010. France is on a course to become the first European country to outlaw the burqa after the measure passed its final legislative hurdle last week.

See how you can see the whites of her eyes on both sides of her pupils; this is a clear sign she is engaged. Since there is no widening of her eyelids we can be sure that she is neither surprised or showing fear. While we do not see the lines forming on the outside of her eyes that normally show us a true smile, I would call this a subtle expression of happiness/joy- there is something in the shape of the inner corners of her eyes that lead me to believe this; while I do not know the neutral shape of her face- knowing that a smile widens the face and can bring the cheek bones up- there is nothing that suggests she is not smiling underneath the veil.◦
Share/Bookmark

4 comments:

Kyzmich said...

Could this also be a look of sadness? We see the droopy upper eyelid which can be a sign of sadness.
After looking at other photos of the protest, I see that most of the people were showing sadness, so her showing slight happiness or joy would be different.

Dopeboy said...

I'm also getting sadness from her eyes rather than happiness..

Unknown said...

She looks pleased to me, not neccessarily "joyful" but relaxed, content and satisfied.

Unknown said...

I don't get sadness, her upper eyelids are heavy, but it seems that her eye shape and perhaps hooded eyes are a racial trait.The slight bulge of her lower eyelid looks to me as if she is smiling very slightly and there doesnt seem to be any tension in her forehead or between her eyes, her face looks relaxed not drawn at all.