World Hijab Day

[Marzipanface]

AIBU to feel uncomfortable with this day and also really irritated at the lack of discussion over this event from a feminist perspective. There seems to be a wholesale silence from the Feminist blogs and papers I subscribe to, and I can't find any discussion on here. No-one wants to talk to about it.

Just that really.

evilcherub I totally agree. It makes me very uneasy seeing really young girls, some of them practically toddlers, all veiled up. The implicit message it conveys is quite disturbing.

you may be in the West, but your decision to wear a hijab indicates that you are not of the West

Fuck sake! Talk about divisive. All the women on this thread know all about what hijab is about don't you..when a woman who wears it comes to give her view she's othered and basically told to stfu

Nice

Ipity, part of your culture is not British or Western. Or else what does British mean, does it mean everything that happens in Britain?

In the modern era, Western culture has been heavily influenced by the traditions of the Renaissance, Protestant Reformation, Age of Enlightenment

The term "Western culture" is used very broadly to refer to a heritage of social norms, ethical values, traditional customs, religious beliefs, political systems, and specific artifacts and technologies.

Specifically, Western culture may imply:

a Biblical Christian cultural influence in spiritual thinking, customs and either ethic or moral traditions, around the Post-Classical Era and after.
European cultural influences concerning artistic, musical, folkloric, ethic and oral traditions, whose themes have been further developed by Romanticism.
a Graeco-Roman Classical and Renaissance cultural influence, concerning artistic, philosophic, literary, and legal themes and traditions, the cultural social effects of migration period and the heritages of Celtic, Germanic, Slavic and other ethnic groups, as well as a tradition of rationalism in various spheres of life, developed by Hellenistic philosophy, Scholasticism, Humanisms, the Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment.
thanks wiki

assumptions and condescension

Do enlighten us as to how a hijab is an empowering item because women (and little girls) have "chosen" to wear it.

FaFoutis - Culture is not preserved in aspic. It changes and adapts, as you can see from the substantial impact Muslims have made on British cuisine.

Btw, is there a Grand High Decider of what Britishness is? Shall I go and plead my case?

I am profoundly grateful for my Western cultural heritage and for the freedoms the British suffragettes fought for.

my favourite colours at the moment

This makes me a bit sad. I get it, but I have a friend at work who wears a hijab. They're pretty, usually have little gems on them and I often say how pretty I think they are. She's quite excited about hijab day and has promised to bring me a pretty one to try on.

She is the nicest woman I know, she makes no judgement about me, she was just sharing a bit of her culture with me. She brings sweets and stuff quite a lot as well for Eid and things. She wears one because she believes in dressing modestly (her husband wears the shapeless white knee length thing and trousers so he dresses "modestly" too) although she has a little girl she has said that is down to the girl whether she wears one or not when she is bigger.

I think the niqab is different, but the hijab doesn't really worry me. It's more like covering your shoulders up in church.

I'm more irritated by the fact that people are independently starting "World whatever Days" - every bloody day now is world this or national that day: enough already!

Except it was today and I just realised I was working out of a different office! Will have to make my apologies and hope she forgot too.

I do like world talk like a pirate day.

I think it can be empowering to wear a jijab if you have been bullied, assaulted, "othered" or abused because of this choice. It's saying I don't care what you think of me, "I will dress how I like and I will keep my identity even in the face of hostility."

I know a lawyer who has been involved in some of the court actions about girls being allowed to wear the hijab in schools. Her first reaction was that she didn't particularly want to enable it, but she changed her mind when she spoke to the girls involved and their mothers. She said that, to a woman, they were feisty, independent people who simply wanted to be entitled to wear the hijab, and she decided to get involved because the schools' attitude in itself was pretty awful.

But there remained a question mark in my mind about why these girls and women wanted to wear it so much and why they apparently felt uncomfortable about not wearing it. From what the lawyer said, it did in part have to do with the fact that it meant that men were less likely to view them as sex objects; and my feeling was that the best way to deal with that is to demonstrate through the way we live our lives, work, deal with other people etc, that that is not what we are.

DioneTheDiabolist

'I think it can be empowering to wear a jijab if you have been bullied, assaulted, "othered" or abused because of this choice. It's saying I don't care what you think of me, "I will dress how I like and I will keep my identity even in the face of hostility."'

What an excellent argument. Now what possible reason could there be for a woman who hasn't been abused or bullied for her choice to wear it?

Completely agree Enthusiasm. I have even seen nursery age girls wearing hijab. Its a very worrying message

I think there needs to be a few hundred years before you could say British culture has changed and adapted that far.

There's a lot of Turkish food in Germany. Does that make it German?

I'd be very happy to go along with a World Hijab Day if there was also a World Non-Hijab Day.
How about it, Muslim ladies?

YANBU I find this disgusting for a lot of reasons, no way in heck would I ever take part in this.

Some women wear it as an expression of their identity: not everyone wears it for purely religious reasons. I know a fair few women in this country who wear hijab, and not one of them wears it because their father or husband asks them to - in fact, in three cases off the top of my head, they wear it despite the men in their lives asking them not to (I also know a niqab wearer whose husband is mortified - she says it's the biggest cause of arguments between them).

What an excellent argument. Now what possible reason could there be for a woman who hasn't been abused or bullied for her choice to wear it?

She thinks they look pretty.

She wants to have a small taste of someone else's culture to better understand it.

She would prefer people to only see the parts of her body that she chooses to display, in exactly the same way that some women choose not to wear tight fitting clothes, or low cut tops or short skirts.

She believes in a certain aspect of the faith and religion that she was brought up in, just the same as women of other faiths or none do.

Women who wear hijab don't have to justify it with reasons anyway. I know women who are single who choose to wear it, who have fathers that aren't bothered whether they wear it or not, who have mothers that choose not to. I agree that it's not something a woman should ever feel pressured to wear, but it is incredibly small minded to assume that every women who is wearing hijab would prefer not to.

"I'd be very happy to go along with a World Hijab Day if there was also a World Non-Hijab Day.

This is a really good idea . I think this way we could all make an efforts to be open minded about and tolerant of other people's cultures and maybe even learn from each other. There is no right or wrong culture but open mindedness needs to go both ways. Sorry, probably ignorant question, would Muslim women who normally do wear the Hijab be allowed or willing not to wear it for one day?

I don't feel conflicted at all. World Hijab Day can fuck right off. If any woman wishes to wear one and it's her personal choice then fine, but many people don't have a choice.

Never heard of it - but I don't see the problem as long as a women chooses to wear it. Completely her choice and EVERY women should be free to wear it or not, if that is what they feel- it's really not mine or anyone else's business
(regardless whether you, me or anyone else likes it).
There are so many things that women choose to wear that men don't so that argument really doesn't make sense.

I don't think it's very feminist to speak so patronisingly about women who choose to wear a hijab for many different reasons.

Fact is that hijab wearers are most vulnerable to islamophobia hate crime so putting one on just to see what it feels like, or to demonstrate solidarity actually doesn't strike me as a ridiculous idea.

Are people who are so offended by the hijab actually equally offended by nuns wearing veils?