Stockholm Hijabism: Non-Muslims Wearing A Hijab In "Solidarity"
Former WSJ reporter Asra Q. Nomani and Hala Arafa, a broadcaster, write in The New York Times that non-Muslims wearing the hijab in "solidarity" perpetuates oppression:
As mainstream Muslim women, we see the girl's headscarf not as a signal of "choice," but as a symbol of a dangerous purity culture, obsessed with honor and virginity, that has divided Muslim communities in our own civil war, or fitna, since the Saudi and Iranian regimes promulgated puritanical interpretations of Sunni and Shia Islam, after the 1970s Saudi oil boom and the 1979 Iranian Revolution.In the eight times the word hijab, or a derivative, appears in the Koran, it means a "barrier" or "curtain," with spiritual, not sartorial, meaning.
Today, well-intentioned women are wearing headscarves in interfaith "solidarity." But, to us, they stand on the wrong side of a lethal war of ideas that sexually objectifies women as vessels for honor and temptation, absolving men of personal responsibility.
This purity culture covers, segregates, subordinates, silences, jails and kills women and girls around the world. Recently, in Bareilly, India, a father killed his daughter, 4, smashing her head against the floor when her scarf slipped from her head during dinner. In Ontario, a few years ago, a man strangled his 16-year-old sister when she defied their father, including by refusing to cover her hair. In November, a former University of Missouri instructor dragged a female relative, 14, out of school "by the hair" when he discovered she hadn't covered her hair.
In the 1990s, journalist Arshia Malik escaped acid attacks and gunshots from men enforcing "hijab" in Kashmir. Today, in Iran, friends of the journalist Masih Alinejad dodge batons as they shoot photos of themselves, hair bare, in a campaign Alinejad started, #MyStealthyFreedom, to protest Iran's mandatory headscarf law.
Last month, after writing an essay arguing the headscarf isn't Islamically mandated, we received verbal abuse from American Muslim leaders and academics, calling us "despicable," "clinically delusional," "Satan" and "dajjal," the Muslim equivalent of anti-Christ.
But we believe women have a right to wear - or not wear - the headscarf. To that end, we heard from Muslims from Malaysia to Minnesota who told us again and again: "Thank you."
A Muslim girl, Shafiqah Othman, blogs about the hijab:
Non-hijabi women like myself have received countless condescending comparisons, like associating us with unwrapped candies, giving non-hijabis the perception that we're dirty.
She also offers a lot of references and a good explanation.
via @DJGrothe
I disagree, I think turning the hijab into just another article of ethnic clothing strips away its power.
Consider the sari, it's not a symbol of horrific oppression, it's just a nice draped dress that Indian people sometimes where.
Turning the hijab into a nice scarf that Arab people wear is the way to go.
Objectively, a lot of these head coverings are beautiful and graceful garments.
I think that non-Muslim girls wearing it sometimes and then not wearing it most of the time takes a lot of the magic out of it.
Some countries ban it, but I think that just adds to the mystique of it.
It's a piece of cloth. Treat it like one, and it will become one.
NicoleK at January 7, 2016 1:20 AM
The media could sexualize the hijab... make a movie where the sluttiest ones wear it or something. Make it a kink.
But then the producers would be murdered.
NicoleK at January 7, 2016 1:51 AM
NicoleK makes some good points.
I see the day coming sooner than later it will be a requirement, not a "choice". If you didn't provoke those good Muslim boys with your naked hair, they wouldn't have raped you which might be something the mayor of Cologne might say.
Also: isn't that cultural appropriation and must be banned?
And: this is one reason why feminists don't go after these puritans, they both agree that men are drooling, slathering rape machines. They just disagree on the cure.
I R A Darth Aggie at January 7, 2016 6:50 AM
Guess I'll have to go out and pick up another wife or two. Solidarity, you know.
Steamer at January 7, 2016 9:07 AM
Sooo . . . we need more hijab porn? This sounds like a job for 4chan.
Ben at January 7, 2016 3:33 PM
For what it's worth, Katha Pollitt (I think it was she) once said that the law in France banning headscarves in schools was likely a boon to many teen Muslim girls, who didn't want to wear it but didn't dare go against their parents. (Don't know what the law is these days, but from what I heard, France is/was more about freedom from religion than freedom of religion.)
lenona at January 7, 2016 5:31 PM
Not if their parents then do not allow them to go to school
Nicolek at January 8, 2016 10:43 AM
NicoleK: "I disagree, I think turning the hijab into just another article of ethnic clothing strips away its power."
I agree with that point; but, only partly. The problem is that it isn't just another choice and most likely won't be until it becomes very clear that ALL women, including Muslim/Arab women have the choice to NOT wear it. (and all the other nonsensical "modest" clothing - especially those damned tents)
Before it just becomes another fashion choice, what will happen is that Muslims fanatics will decide to throw acid in the faces of non-Muslims who also choose to not wear it. This is what is happening in some parts where the Muslims are the majority - they are forcing their perverted beliefs on non-believers.
Non-Muslims, by choosing to wear the hijab, are showing the fanatics that their perverted beliefs are correct - "See, even non-Muslims follow our beliefs." The fanatics will never see it the same way the well meaning, but, oh so misguided, first world women are thinking. Non-Muslims, by wearing the hijab, are encouraging more and more of that women are just sexual chattel way of thinking.
In order to understand a non-Muslim's choice of wearing the hijab as a show of solidarity the Muslim must have been educated to think critically - not just emotionally and fanatically. I don't see that light turning on in their dark, medieval minds any time soon.
And the folks who claim to show support for Muslim culture are committing suicide; and, they are trying to take the rest of the first world down with them.
charles at January 8, 2016 9:21 PM
@NicoleK You speak so positively of hijab, but you forgot one crucial point: In many Middle Eastern communities, these and related types of coverings are COMPULSORY or 'effectively compulsory' for women. And this is wrong. It is not something you can sugarcoat, or sprinkle with PC glitter - it is a massive violation of the rights of hundreds of millions of women, and it's evil and unethical. If one has any sense of principles, one must denounce it clearly, there just is no way to defend it.
If a woman chooses to wear hijab voluntarily (many do), of course that should be allowed. But that is NOT the issue.
It is a worrying trend that Western feminists have begun to advocate the covering of women. I see this trend beginning to gather momentum in the mainstream now, even among secular women (with motivations like avoiding the apparently dreaded and evil 'male gaze' - you know, wouldn't want to give any man the pleasure of seeing the natural form of a woman). I would not be surprised if the West adopted compulsory covering for women in the near future. This is a dangerous trend, and must be fought, before Western women too end up being forced to cover themselves from head to toe (and no, it's not unthinkable, it 'could happen here' ... this battle is only beginning).
Feminists are supposed to be the ones speaking out against the violation of the rights of women, and yet in the West many have become primary advocates of the compulsory covering of women.
Lobster at January 9, 2016 8:42 AM
@Ben "Sooo . . . we need more hijab porn?"
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/376332112585815671/
Lobster at January 9, 2016 10:01 AM
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