To think to say wearing the hijab brings you 'respect' and 'security'.

[Eltonjohnssyrup]

Just to start off - this is not a 'ban the burka' thread. I respect the right of all women to wear exactly what they want be that a burka, a bivouac, a hijab, short shorts or a bikini.

It was World Hijab Day yesterday. An event which was promoted by government agencies including the Home Office.

The organisation promoting this event has claimed that the hijab brings you 'liberation'. I'm fine with that. I can see how it would feel liberating not to have to worry about bad hair days or styling every day. And feeling liberated is a personal thing. One woman might feel liberated wearing a full length skirt and long sleeves, one might feel liberated in a bodycon dress and bikini.

But then they went on to say that the hijab brings you 'respect and security'. I feel really uncomfortable about this. It implies that there is a type of respect which women who do not wear the hijab are unworthy of. That showing our hair makes us unworthy of automatic respect.

And 'security', security from what? Harassment? Rape? Terror attacks? This sort of language is moving the responsibility for women's security onto women by saying 'wear this and you'll be secure'. In other words, don't wear it and you're taking risks, asking for it, sending out a signal it is okay to grope or harrass you.

This makes me really uncomfortable, especially in the era of me too. AIBU to think that this campaign should be moderating it's language to avoid tarring those who don't wear it with negative associations? And that the government and Home Office shouldn't be endorsing an organisation that uses it? It's not sending a message of 'women are free to wear what they like' and instead is sending a message that if women want to safe and respected they must cover up.

World Hijab Day was a disgrace. In Iran women are taking big risks in resisting having to wear the thing, while the stupid West celebrates it. The only feeling of liberation that a muslim woman feels by wearing hijab is that she is no longer being pressured at home by the father and brother. In order to make peace, acquiesing removes a big pressure from her and smooths her relationship with family, but she also relinquishes a bit of her own free will. It’s the first step to never realising your own individuality. It’s easier – simple as that. If she had some morale support in the community, things could be different. Did you read that women are being sexually harassed at the Mecca pilgrimage – so No, nothing can produce respect in men from that part of the world.

Good posts, calledyoulastnightfromglasgow
We are being groomed for the future. Firstly, the "invitations" by local mosques to schools to have the children visit a mosque, and yet interestingly a muslim child or a mosque elder have always declined to enter a church or synagogue.

I remember that a junior school issued a letter to all parents that if they did not allow their child to attend mosque day, it would be written in the notes that that child was racist. It was withdrawn after the letter was made public, but can you see that our educators are infected with cultural Marxism or some other bullshit.

The stated purpose of World Hijab Day is to encourage women of all religions and backgrounds to wear and experience the hijab.

Feminist activist and Muslim reformer Asra Nomani says "as Muslim women, we actually ask you not to wear the hijab in the name of interfaith solidarity," going on to say, "This modern-day movement spreads an ideology of political Islam."

Muslim reformer Maajid Nawaz accuses the day as being a "well-financed effort by conservative Muslims to dominate modern Muslim societies," and says that the event spreads the "misleading interpretation" that the head covering is always worn voluntarily, and that "hijab" purely means headscarf.

This is not a politically neutral event.
Will racists use it for their own agenda? Yes they will.But that does not mean we should not recognise that this is about an increasingly conservative interpretation of Islam being pushed as the version of Islam that is right.

I find it interesting that young women in western countries say they choose to cover up, whereas women in other countries are forced to - see the taliban or the women in Syria burning their burkas after ISIS vacated the area.

Why would people want to be more conservative in a more free country? Is that something to do with men and attitudes here? Is it to do with parental/community/religious elders being pressurising, i.e. sending a message that you have to work harder at being purer in the impure west?

The bottom line is, no country where women are forced to cover up treats women well. There are extreme examples - see the more severe punishments for women having extra marital sex or the impossible requirements to prove rape, or the fact that a woman's testimony is worth only half that of a man, or how easy divorce is for a Muslim man - it's not the young men in these countries who are drinking bleach to avoid arranged marriages, is it?!

So, is the hijab a true fashion choice (and you see some truly beautiful ones around Knightsbridge!) or a wish to show religious belief as people claim? How do women who choose to wear it reconcile that choice with the oppression of women who have no choice in other parts of the world?

Perhaps it's my enormous ignorance, but from the outside, it does seem as if it's the first step towards covering up for men.

If a garment that’s forced on millions of women brings respect, then that’s not the respect I want.

I’d rather earn it myself.

Tapandgo, I think you really just used the term ‘black shroud’ to conjure up negative images though, didn’t you?

A bit like the poster who said that in Cairo in the 70s it was only ‘pathetic’ peasant women who covered up!

I totally agree op, it is totally misogenistic way of thinking. The burka by its very design, is restrictive to the woman, they cannot drive, run, they are hot and uncomfortable. I cannot imagine any woman wanting to wear one. Its a restriction put on Islamic women, by Islamic men. Funny how the men can wear what they want.

If women from all religions and backgrounds to wear and experience the hijab isn’t this cultural appropriation unless you actually ARE Muslim?

Sorry, if the purpose of the day is to encourage women from different backgrounds etc, I meant,

Dreamy mcdreamy, the burka is actually an all in one piece with a mesh covering for the eyes, you know, like the blue garment worn in Afghanistan, hence why I say I don’t believe anyone in the uk wears it.

The niqab is an extra peice of material worn with the headscarf to cover the face,sometimes you can buy it as an all in one hair/face covering and sometimes people just add another piece over their face secured with Velcro or ribbon. Mostly black but not always. You will see the Arabs from the gulf in London in the summer and some will have niqab made of metal to show their wealth. You will see people from Malaysia and Indonesia wearing niqab in a variety of pretty colours with embroidery on actually.

The headscarf is mostly referred to as hijab but all cultures will have their own words too. It can be all types of colour and may even be covered in sequins and gems.

I also wonder how many people (Muslim especially) have even heard about world hijab day. It seems to have been invented a few years ago and yet I never heard about it until I read this thread.

This is an ad that was produced in Egypt which demonstrates the difference betwen wearing a hijab and not wearing one

Op I agere with you

*agree

“So, is the hijab a true fashion choice (and you see some truly beautiful ones around Knightsbridge!) or a wish to show religious belief as people claim?”

Different reasons, such as wanting to be seen as different, wanting to show that you do not fully approve of the Western way of life and don't want to participate, the younger women feel (wrongly) they have found their true identity and have become politicised, and of course there are those whose husbands simply want it.

Some of the UK-born ones have mothers who never wore the hijab, but they do (how ridiculous is that?). In that first section I’ve noticed that some of the women get a real narcisstic ‘rush’ in being mildly intimidating to others, looking to provoke a confrontation at work or elsewhere so that they can take the matter further and make an issue.

I’ve seen them too, in gorgeous colours. Those are women who are allowed to experiment with colour and the actual style of the head covering so that the hijab does not hang down onto the shoulders, but covers just the head. I live in London and work in Knightsbridge, and these ladies tend to be visitors to the UK (so feel freer), they are fairly wealthy and possibly better educated. Temporary visitors from that part of the world to the UK, especially London, do behave very differently to how they behave back home. As soon as they arrive, they discard their modesty clothing and put on Western dress, especially if they are travelling with a sympathetic male family member.

Yea the men and women do pray separately. I think belief in wearing the hijab as a mark of liberation shows sexism is alive and doing very well

You will see the Arabs from the gulf in London in the summer and some will have niqab made of metal to show their wealth.

You're talking about a "batoola", and it's a traditional covering for elderly women from the UAE and Oman. It's usually not actually metal, it's just made of metallic material and it's got nothing to do with wealth.

Dreamy mcdreamy, the burka is actually an all in one piece with a mesh covering for the eyes, you know, like the blue garment worn in Afghanistan, hence why I say I don’t believe anyone in the uk wears it

Someone hasn't been down the Edgeware Road

hmmwhsttodo
Actually - no. My command of English is quite good thank you. As for the person referring to pathetic peasant women. Not putting words in anyone’s mouth - but it actually was and is in many places the garb of uneducated, subservient and poor women. ~not liberated educated and well to do women. That is fact. It is and was sad to see.
It’s introduction to certain areas of the UK is an attempt to recreate medieval values in the West and to resist westernism.
You clearly have an axe to grind - more productive to look at the evidence before your eyes (go to Savile Park for instance) and then pop back and tell us you haven’t seen a burka worn in the UK!
I think people should be able to wear what they want within the grounds of decency and security - but calling shrouding garments bringing a sense of respect and security to women is ridiculous and dangerous.

I remember that a junior school issued a letter to all parents that if they did not allow their child to attend mosque day, it would be written in the notes that that child was racist.

Where did you remember that from? The Daily Mail?

So can some women choose not to wear any head covering at all? Or are they indeed forced to wear some form when out and about?
Genuinely interested.

@DreamyMcDreamy Loads of women here chose not to. Now I can't speak for each and every individual family, but the conversations I have with my students generally are generally along the same vein. Even those from the more conservative families will tell you that the choice to wear hijab just like any other observation of their faith is a personal choice between an individual and their relationship with Allah. They will actively tell you that nobody has the right to tell you what to wear whether it be your family or your husband. Some of the girls choose to wear it simply because its an expression of their culture as it's part of their national dress. This is why I take massive issue with the sweeping generalisations of oppression etc on this thread. Some people won't see past their own noses to accept that their perception isn't necessarily some women reality. The girls that do wear it are friends with the girls that don't. The grown women that wear it socialise with the grown women that don't.
It seems that the element of choice doesn't fit the narrative that so many want to be true.
I'm not even in resounding support of World Hijab Day tbh. I think some PP's have made very valid point about celebrating world wide a day that isn't a choice for so many. I just don't think it was rooted in some sinister agenda to force anything on the west and it bothers me that we can't have conversations about things without prejudice and misconceptions immediately coming to the forefront.

Friend works in a Catholic High school in Oldham - huge percentage of Muslim kids. None have refused to attend services like Mass - always very respectful. Something odd going on with that primary school example (interested to know where it was). Children well integrated in school hours - few socialise outside of school.

Yes I know what a burka is and it is worn rarely in UK.

Geronimoleapinglizards- the image sums up how some men think about woman in that society.