Wearing the hijab doesn't have to be about religious dedication. For me, it is political, feminist and empowering
When you think of the hijab, you probably don't think "political". Or "independent". Or "empowered". Feminist? Certainly not – feminism is far better known for burnt bras and slut-walks than headscarves.
There is much misunderstanding about how women relate to their hijab. Some, of course, choose the headcover for religious reasons, others for culture or even fashion.
But in a society where a woman's value seems focused on her sexual charms, some wear it explicitly as a feminist statement asserting an alternative mode of female empowerment. Politics, not religion, is the motivator here. I am one of these women.
Wearing the hijab was not something I deliberately set out to do. It was something I unexpectedly stumbled upon as a twentysomething undergraduate, reading feminist literature and researching stories of women's lives in the sex industry. From perfume and clothes ads to children's dolls and X Factor finals, you don't need to go far to see that the woman/sex combination is everywhere.
It makes many of us feel like a pawn in society's beauty game – ensuring that gloss in my hair, the glow in my face and trying to attain that (non-existent) perfect figure.
Subconsciously, I tried to avoid these demands – wearing a hat to fix a bad-hair day, sunglasses and specs to disguise a lack of makeup, baggy clothes to disguise my figure. It was an endless and tiresome effort to please everyone else.
Sure the hijab was not the only way to express my feelings and frustrations; but knowing that our interpretation of liberal culture embraces, if not encourages, uncovering, I decided to reject what society expected me to do, and cover up.
It was not a decision I made overnight. It took several months of agonising over the pros and cons – will it change the way others treat me? Will I get hot in a headscarf? Is it possible, at all costs to avoid the all-black look?
I rarely discussed the decision with others – I wanted it to be mine and mine alone. Like so many women, my main reservation was the discrimination I might face. Things like looking for a job, or socialising and being judged by others based on prejudices about Muslim women (because now I would look like one) before they even got a chance to know me. And not just the prejudices of non-Muslims, but also the simplistic assumptions of Muslims who think that a veiled woman is a holier woman.
The first day I stepped out in a hijab, I took a deep breath and decided my attitude would be "I don't give a damn about what you think". The reaction was mixed. One friend joked that I was officially a "fundamentalist". Extended family showered me with graces of "mashallah", perhaps under the impression that I was now more devout. Some, to my surprise (and joy), didn't bat an eyelid. I was grateful because, ultimately, I firmly believe that a woman's dress should not determine how others treat, judge or respect her.
I do not believe that the hair in itself is that important; this is not about protection from men's lusts. It is me telling the world that my femininity is not available for public consumption. I am taking control of it, and I don't want to be part of a system that reduces and demeans women. Behind this exterior I am a person – and it is this person for which I want to be known.
Wearing the hijab has given me a new consciousness of this. Though my mode of expression may appear Islamic, and my experiences carry a spiritual dimension, there is no theological monopoly on women's empowerment; I really believe that a non-Muslim woman could do this if she chose to. My motivations have been explicitly political, and my experiences human.
The result has been refreshing. In a world as diverse and changing as our own, the hijab means a multitude of things to the many women who choose to wear it. I speak as a woman who just happens to come from the Islamic faith, and for me the hijab is political, feminist and empowering. This dimension is increasingly important for many women who choose to wear it; it's a shame it is understood by so few.
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/may/28/hijab-society-women-religious-political
Groulxsmith posted:what if you hijab because men fetishize it
then in that case its probably not liberating you from their expectations. next question
It was not a decision I made overnight. It took several months of agonising over the pros and cons
lol
discipline posted:
I guess icas didn't read the rest. Modesty is cool, imo.
- Bernard Henri Levy, makes u think
it's a sad myopia when a bright young woman can only bring herself to wax lyrical about how cool her hat is like some ed hardy wearing frat boy
Ironicwarcriminal posted:"the veil is an invitation to rape"
- Bernard Henri Levy, makes u think
"to a man with a hammer, everything looks like an invitation to rape"
- Mark Twain
People "expressing themselves" and their values through their clothing choice is nothing new and has been going on in the West on a mass scale since at least the 60s. It's 2012 now, is there really anything to be gleaned from someone bragging about what an individual their dress style makes them? She could learn a thing or two from the islamic or Asian world's where people still have some shared common values and aren't engaged in this constant battle of self-promotion.
Ironicwarcriminal posted:Actually I figured out what annoyed me about this piece. She’s wallowing in the worst kind of western individualist liberalism, this myopic obsessions with “me” and how “I” feel and the statement “I’m” making and how “My” individual sartorial choices are somehow noble or uncompromising or meaningful. It’s exactly the same as Snooki from the jersey shore and all her trite “this is the way I am! Accept me I don’t care” posturing and self-indulgence.
People "expressing themselves" and their values through their clothing choice is nothing new and has been going on in the West on a mass scale since at least the 60s. It's 2012 now, is there really anything to be gleaned from someone bragging about what an individual their dress style makes them? She could learn a thing or two from the islamic or Asian world's where people still have some shared common values and aren't engaged in this constant battle of self-promotion.
i thought this too, until i got a hijab
Ironicwarcriminal posted:Actually I figured out what annoyed me about this piece. She’s wallowing in the worst kind of western individualist liberalism, this myopic obsessions with “me” and how “I” feel and the statement “I’m” making and how “My” individual sartorial choices are somehow noble or uncompromising or meaningful. It’s exactly the same as Snooki from the jersey shore and all her trite “this is the way I am! Accept me I don’t care” posturing and self-indulgence.
People "expressing themselves" and their values through their clothing choice is nothing new and has been going on in the West on a mass scale since at least the 60s. It's 2012 now, is there really anything to be gleaned from someone bragging about what an individual their dress style makes them? She could learn a thing or two from the islamic or Asian world's where people still have some shared common values and aren't engaged in this constant battle of self-promotion.
All that said, western liberalism obviously has a massive glass-jaw on the issue of the veil which is amply illustrated by the snideness and projection in those Guardian comments.
getfiscal posted:"but then i got hijab" to the tune of "but then i got high"
I won't pay, I won't pay ya, no way
na-na, Why don't you get hijab?
Say no way, say no way ya, no way
na-na, why don't you get hijab?
GoldenLionTamarin posted:i thought this too, until i got a hijab
Get a hijab, hippies!
Ironicwarcriminal posted:Actually I figured out what annoyed me about this piece. She’s wallowing in the worst kind of western individualist liberalism, this myopic obsessions with “me” and how “I” feel and the statement “I’m” making and how “My” individual sartorial choices are somehow noble or uncompromising or meaningful. It’s exactly the same as Snooki from the jersey shore and all her trite “this is the way I am! Accept me I don’t care” posturing and self-indulgence.
People "expressing themselves" and their values through their clothing choice is nothing new and has been going on in the West on a mass scale since at least the 60s. It's 2012 now, is there really anything to be gleaned from someone bragging about what an individual their dress style makes them? She could learn a thing or two from the islamic or Asian world's where people still have some shared common values and aren't engaged in this constant battle of self-promotion.
Whenever someone posts pictures of a teenage girl in hijab from lookbook.nu or whatever it's always with this super condescending sort of liberal tone like "Look at her, she's really walking around with a hijab! so beautiful, her shirt is green, that shows she loves life! Thats a colorful hijab, which shows she thinks life is beautiful, and so is she! what a free spirit !"
getfiscal posted:It was not a decision I made overnight. It took several months of agonising over the pros and cons
lol
Breaking News: Woman Takes Literally Forever To Choose An Outfit
28 May 2012 11:06AM
Why choose the hijab for rejecting society's "requirements"? Why not become a goth? Or ... how about wearing the hijab plus some sort of steam-punk getup? That would be cool.
babyfinland posted:for muslim women, it is the confrontation with the political barrier constructed around modernity, the hijab adopts an oppressive mode due to its value ascribed by western governmentality as the part of no-part, the stamp of the included-through-exclusion.
i dunno dude, are chicks in Tehran, Amman or Indonesia really caring that much about western political wrangling and liberal questions of exclusion/inclusion when they don a scarf in the morning? I think you're overplaying the meaningfulness of the western "veil-debate" to the rest of the world here
Ironicwarcriminal posted:babyfinland posted:for muslim women, it is the confrontation with the political barrier constructed around modernity, the hijab adopts an oppressive mode due to its value ascribed by western governmentality as the part of no-part, the stamp of the included-through-exclusion.
i dunno dude, are chicks in Tehran, Amman or Indonesia really caring that much about western political wrangling and liberal questions of exclusion/inclusion when they don a scarf in the morning? I think you're overplaying the meaningfulness of the western "veil-debate" to the rest of the world here
I have a few malaysian and indonesian friends with rich parents, so they've gone to expensive schools and know english and about western culture and buy hermes bags and stuff. And there's always a sort of twitch when hijab comes up, like they know that there's stuff going on, it's not just default cultural setting