Pakinam Amer, an intrepid Egyptian journalist who has worked with several international media outlets, just wrote a brave and candid blog post called: "To veil or not to veil, that is the goddamn question."

She has worn the headscarf for seven years, though her posting takes the reader through the prying questions, outright rudeness, stereotypes, pressure from Islamists and other daily hassles that have forced her to rethink the scrap of fabric that shields her hair from public view.

Pakinam is a go-getter who recently joined the Associated Press bureau in Cairo. I know her through mutual frends in the Egyptian journalism world, and we once discussed the veil over lunch. One of my favorite anecdotes she recounted at that meeting was how she posed for a photo, in her veil, amid beer bottles during a trip to Germany. She doesn't drink, but wanted to poke fun at the stereotypes Westerners have about uptight Muslims. Instead, the backlash came from her Muslim friends, to the point where Pakinam no longer felt comfortable having the photo posted on her Facebook page.

Now, Pakinam tackles all the intensely personal questions she fields every day about her decision to wear the veil. Here's an excerpt:

In short, I often find myself having to explain my personal choices in life to people that I meet for the first or second time.

But just to humor them, I do answer every single question.

Yes, I wore the headscarf by choice.

No, my parents didn’t make me. My dad actually hated it at first. And my mom is supportive of my decisions in general so she never pushes me in any direction.

No, it wasn’t peer-pressure. Most, if not all, my friends at AUC were not veiled at the time. Some did not support it. Some kept their distance when I took it on because they simply didn’t understand it.

Yes, it is in line with the wave of religiosity – however true or hypocritical that is- that has been engulfing Egypt during the past few years. So what?

Yes, it’s very convenient in a culture like mine. Does this make it bad?

No, it doesn’t affect how I work. I cover any and every story that I’m assigned to, often forgetting that I’m Muslim or Arab or veiled.