Hijab and Women
Why do we normalize a hyper-sexualized body, but it’s the covered body that jars us?
The news:
The French Senate is to introduce an “anti-separatism” bill aiming to strengthen the country’s secular system. The bill would ban mothers from wearing hijabs while accompanying their children on school trips, prohibit the wearing of coverup burkinis (full-body swimwear) in public pools, and prevent minor girls from wearing hijabs in the public space.
The debate:
Hijab: The perception that it oppresses women but isn’t banning it, taking away agency?
Problem 1: Orientalist gaze and the idea of liberation in western feminism.
To begin with, the motion of the debate is leading. Why/ how does the hijab connote oppression? Who set the rules? Think!
Hijab, the head covering worn in public or in the presence of non-familial males by several Muslim women, is now seen from the post-09/11 lens of western media, disregarding the socio-cultural, religious perspectives, and lived experiences of the hijabi women. The ‘visibility’ of the veil is not necessarily endemic to the veil itself but made visible through particular cultural filters or gaze portraying it as ‘oppressive’. Every discussion on cultural differences or minorities seems to be hijacked by powerful right-wing rhetoric or comparatively more privileged white feminists.
The debate around the hijab has been critical since the beginning of the century, which is symptomatic of a deeper problem of the orientalist/western gaze. The idea of orientalism goes back to 1978 when the Palestinian-American researcher Edward introduced the concept. Following his view, the West continues to uphold the perception of the East as backwards. The propagation of orientalism can easily be found in the representation of Islamic women in Western media limited solely to the ideological implications of the hijab. The concept of hijab as a sign of oppression in most of the West- liberal literature is also a product of the hypersexualized white-female body referencing a woman’s right over her own body and sexuality. Often white feminists reduce women’s liberation to the amount of skin they show and their consumption of sex.
My oppositions are not to sex or sexual pleasures but to its construction as the unproblematic, focal point of agency and the full measure of liberation. The understanding that some issues are perceived differently within other cultural backgrounds is completely left out. While dressing the way one wants would be a gesture of smashing patriarchy for some, intentional withdrawal from a culture where people are appraised by their looks and curbing the gaze can be a source of individualized freedom and agency for others.
The politics of headlines thus demonizing Muslim women as inferior and victims need to be called out.
Problem 2: Infringement of right to privacy and right to freedom of religion
A facade for the victory for democracy and a setback for human rights!
Once again, whether covered or not, women’s bodies remain a battleground for ‘more significant’ societal claims around morality, choice, etiquette, and politics. This time it has gone too far. A ban on the burqa will not resolve the identity crisis many European countries are going through, nor will it help towards the integration of European citizens. Dictating a woman not to wear a hijab and telling her how she should practice her personal choices is as revolting as forcing someone to wear one. How is France trying to embody itself as ‘elite’ and ‘progressive’ with such regressive action? In fact, it only goes on to deepen the ‘othering’ of 1.9 billion Muslims. Instead of taking measures against the growing Islamophobia, banning hijab is a hateful rhetoric and will go down as an enormous failure of religious values and equality.
This definition of modern and liberation needs to be revisited lest this notion would keep on feeding the mono-dimensionality of the hijab as being an oppressive tool and propagating binary questions of the non-veiled icon? Or the veiled victim? I reject the premise that sexual pleasure — instead of equality and bodily autonomy — is the only centrepiece for feminist agitation. I want to advocate for a feminism that is not unconnected to women who wish to shatter gender roles by dressing modestly; for feminism to remain relevant to cultural and religious diversities, be inclusive and be open to interpretations.
We must decolonize beauty standards!
Written by — Tabish Nabi, a proud Kashmiri Muslim who loves wearing the hijab, not because she was told to, but because she chose to.
