The Challenge of Gender Segregation in Islamic Javanese Wedding and the Emergence of Male Wedding Makeup Artists

Abstrack:

In Java, a wedding makeup artist or paes is both as a beautician and a ritual specialist. As regulated by the Kraton of Yogyakarta, weddings are gender segregated: brides are taken care by female paes and bridegrooms are by male paes. However, the Javanese segregation intertwines with Islamic tradition of gender segregation. Gender segregation in Islam may refer to the notion of muhrim (close relatives of opposite sex) and non-muhrim, lawful for marriage but forbidden for opposite sexual mixture in gathering before marriage. The current practices of Islamic Javanese wedding have, however, challenged the Javanese and Islamic traditions. The emergence of male paes, who, with their own ways, observe Javanese and Islamic symbolism, has transformed Javanese and Islamic tradition of gender segregation. The tradition of gender segregation is challenged, but other elements of both sources such as the wearing of jilbab and Javanese ritual of paes remain intact. To elaborate such Islamic Javanese practices, this chapter works on Reinhold Loeffler?s observation that religions must be understood as modes of praxis through which individuals and communities interact with their social and natural environments as much as they are sets of doctrines, norms and precepts.

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