"Who Owns the Right to the Narrative?"

"The problem is not a single image, nor a single series, nor a specific era. It is deeper than that: it is about who holds the power to manifest these stories and tales—reminiscent of 'One Thousand and One Nights'—and who is permitted to narrate their own self, versus who has their beginning and end written for them, from the opening credits to the final crawl."

الدكتورة سارة قصير - ممثلة ومدربة تمثيل

رسالة إلى كلّ إمرأة محجّبة

"In Lebanese drama, the veiled woman has not been entirely excluded, but she has been trapped within a single mold and a single narrative that serves only the writer’s script. This script redefines her from the outside, linking her presence to restriction and transforming her personal choice into a narrative burden and a heavy symbol that haunts the character from start to finish. With this repetition, the image shifts from being a mere possibility until it becomes a complete 'truth' that requires neither questioning nor verification.

In the other story—the one carved by the veiled woman herself as she weaves her own diverse tales—she raises her voice, presents her own role, and decides the timeline from which she begins or ends. Unlike the drama that has turned into a vortex of repetition, social media platforms have provided the alternative space. Here, she shows herself not as a reaction or an exceptional case, but as a natural part of a culturally and religiously diverse society like Lebanon."

إسراء دعموش - صانعة محتوى على منصات التواصل الاجتماعي

رسالة إلى كلّ إمرأة محجّبة

On these platforms, neither veiled nor non-veiled women are erased or excluded; everyone has their own space for appearance and self-expression. There, voices are not cancelled or silenced; rather, they are raised to be seen and to perform the role they find suitable for themselves. In that space, the hijab is not presented as an "obstacle," but is understood as an integral part of the identity of Lebanese society.

From this standpoint, the question poses itself to the creators of the image—from scriptwriters to directors and producers: Is this the absolute reality of the veiled woman? And what kind of society are you contributing to shaping?

Based on the points discussed above, it can be said that drama is not an innocent mirror, but an arena of decision-making that builds and destroys. it seeps into the consciousness and affects society’s view of the woman—and the woman’s view of herself.Fair representation does not merely mean her appearance or presence; it means seeing her as a "complete character" and an actress possessing distinct and diverse tools. It means refusing to employ her as a commercial or marketing product to serve a producer or to promote ideas intended for societal broadcast.

Between the screen and the platform, the vision differs and the gap is clearly revealed. It is measured not by the number of roles, but by their quality; not by the frequency of appearance, but by its meaning.Perhaps the time has come for the veiled woman not to be asked to change her image, but for drama to be asked to expand its imagination beyond the line of the hijab—to move from ready-made narratives to stories that are more honest, resembling people as they truly are, not as others wish them to be understood.