I’m currently standing outside of an i-Hop in Tijuana thinking what a damn shame Morocco is. I know. Random. This blazer is from Zara Morocco which has me thinking more about the place itself this week. It reminds me how classic & beautiful the prints are that come out of that region of the world. All I need to do is read the laws of the country and reviews of female travelers to know that Morocco is not a place I will go. Yet, it’s a place clearly rich with food, textiles, and gorgeous architecture. Even if I had the dough to make the trip abroad. I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t until they update their archaic laws against women and undergo a culture shift that’s more appropriate to 2019 not 900 B.C.

The only way we as citizens of the world have a way to truly vote is by putting our money where our mouth is. Even if that means sacrificing where we choose to travel. How can one be truly for equal rights if  you choose places to visit that still stone women in the street just for.. well.. being women? I’ve never been able to wrap my head around the concept of visiting a country that requires women to dress/act a certain way. This problem is worldwide of course but to varying degrees. Therefore, I just cannot ever see myself going to a place like Morocco until they change. Not making me change my state of dress to assimilate. They need to change their state of mind to assimilate to the new world. The modern world where people are free to exchange information with one click and everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

Here’s a little bit about Morocco from afar for you in case your not familiar with where it is and what it looks like.

One travel blog in particular I read on Morocco before writing this article states that expletives like “You’re a whore!” to “Suck My Dick Miley Cyrus” (the girl who wrote the blog is blonde) was commonplace for her. It’s something so common she as a female traveler had to learn how to “ignore” it in order for it to not ruin her trip. Yet, is this really the way to be dealing with sexual harassment in society? Just, ignore it because that’s the culture? That’s not culture. That’s hate. Why put your dollars into places that treat women this way? Doesn’t that just feed into that culture even more.

With that all being said, I’ll pull my fashion inspiration from Morocco this week because I really do dig this jacket. Here I can at least do it my way. Where skin is in. Where women have equal rights to men. Where I am free to express myself in any way I feel like because I live in the Wild West of Mexico. Tijuana has many of it’s own problems, don’t get me wrong. It’s listed as the most violent city in the world due to the drug trade on the border. However, walking down the street here, sure I get stares and glares (glares mostly from women) but at least I don’t have to deal with constantly being berated by men in such an explicit manner. Yes, I’ve endured street harassment here, I’ve endured street harassment everywhere I’ve lived from Canada, USA, to now Mexico. However, not the point of it being something I have to ignore to learn to ignore be able to enjoy my time in a place. I can nicely and intelligently express to whomever is harassing me to the point of making me feel uncomfortable that I don’t appreciate that type of approach and usually they move on.