You know, as women especially, I think we're kind of the guardians of our family honor.

Our behavior is reflective of how our parents raised us. If we come from a good family, you know, all of these kind of things.

So I think it means that we're sort of a lot of the time going around the world with a shield,

where we're pretending to be one thing, but inside we are all of these other things. But I definitely

noticed that a lot of my friends growing up, and even me to a certain extent, I was living a double

life. We were one thing with our family, with our friends that we were supposed to kind of have an

image for. And then we were another thing entirely in like our

private lives. And I think that that dichotomy can be really dangerous. It means that we don't

really have anyone to talk to about, you know, things that really matter. And we can end up in

quite dangerous situations because we're kind of left to fend for ourselves and

not feel like we have an older person or someone that we can turn to for advice.

Growing up, I can't tell you how many times I used to hear the words,

Ib, haram, or the most triggering of all, which is what will people say.

But in today's episode, you're going to hear why Aili Amaro, my special guest, has to say

about navigating the many facets of her identity as an Arab woman.

You're listening to Unsween and Unfiltered

the podcast, episode 19 of season three. It was just last year when I picked up Alia's book,

The Greater Freedom, Life as the Middle Eastern Women, Outside the Stereotypes, and I found myself

devouring every word of hers. In her book, I had seen myself, my struggles, my identity

crisis, and the many obstacles I faced

trying to figure out who I truly am. And as soon as I put the book down, I turned on the mic

and I started recording with Alia. If you're a longtime listener of the pod, then you already

...