to stop shopping at M and S for selling hijabs for young girls

[worstmotherintheworld]

So M and S have started to sell hijabs as part of their school uniform range...aimed at primary school children. One reviewer helpfully suggests getting the small one for a 4 year old.

I have been shopping at Marks all my adult life and have remained a faithful customer despite some dodgy clothes of late and the uninspirational Sparks card, but I think this is going to be the last straw for me.

Who said young girls wear hijab to protect their modesty?

That is what you think. You clearly haven't spoken to any Muslims and are passing judgement. Yes, some Muslim women may be wearing hijab to protect their modesty, but when children wear it, they do NOT wear it for that reason. Please speak to Muslim children and parents before passing such judgments and vilifying the parents.

On a practical level, to give you an example, my friend wore a hijab every now and then from a young hijab and found the transition to hijab much easier in her teens (the transition is a big deal given how much judgement people pass when you wear one). My other Muslim friend did not wear in childhood and found the transition much more difficult in her teens. I can therefore understand why some Muslim parents may let or encourage their young girls to wear hijab - as it is to make their life easier IF they do decide to wear the hijab full time when they are in their teens.

I also have a friend whose 4 year old wants to wear the hijab (yes because she wants to copy her mum - why is that so hard to believe?). It is quite funny because the mum wont let her, and she throws tantrums.

So OP, yes YADBU on this point, but of course there may be plenty of other valid reasons to boycott M&S

@Racecardriver thank you that is very informative.

I agree with you OP, it just seems very money grabbing as well

Not sure about the whole boycotting thing though

I thought hijabs etc were for girls from puberty onwards?

I agree that little girls and pre pubescent teens don't 'need' one on the basis of what we are told their wear is.

But I wouldn't go as far as refusing to shop somewhere that sold something religious I didn't understand.

As PP posters pointed out. They see christening gowns and holy communion dresses and bridesmaids dresses etc. Many non religious people wouldn't understand the 'need' for those.

I am not comfortable with this. In the same way that I am not comfortable with young Jewish girls wearing tights/long dresses and long sleeved tops at the height of summer in the name of modesty during the height of a boiling hot summer. And I am Jewish. Saying one isn't comfortable with young girls wearing the hijab isn't Islamaphobic in the slightest. They are all children and we should not be pandering to this misplaced need for modesty.

I know someone who puts their daughter in a headscarf to stop her catching headlice, which is quite a good idea if you think about it

Do marks and spencers sell skullcaps then?

Its just i keep seeing it mentioned

Yanbu at all. I agree with you.

I have lived in two Muslim countries in the last decade and seeing parents put their 4 / 5 year olds in head scarves made me sad, against the backdrop of people claiming it is the girls ‘free choice ‘ to cover their hair, it is a religious requirement (it is not).

But a female having to cover themselves for modesty at any age is ridiculous SadEgg so you saying it's to help them transition to wearing it later just makes me feel we should all be a bit more outraged by this.

I don’t think anyone should wear a hijab to be honest, even if they wanted to, it’s a symbol of subjugation in my opinion.

@cansu

Little girls obliged to cover themselves in this way

Who said anything about little girls are being 'obliged'? Just because you and I may have saw a girl wearing it for our 30 minutes trip to Tesco, doesn't mean she wears it all the time or is in any way obliged to wear it! Honestly, the anti-Islam and Muslim sentiments are getting more and more ridiculous on MN.

My daughters best friend wants to wear a hijab and actually her parents have asked her to wait until a natural change of school as they feel it will be better for her. Whether you agree with it or not is is not always the parents choice and it should be a choice, from both sides, females should be able to choose to wear or not chose to wear stop shopping at MandS because its generally dreadful by all means but not because you don't agree with someone else's choice.

evie

I have not once said I agree with any of it.

But between period poverty, sexual harassment/assult, unisex toilets, being married off etc I just think girls have enough of a barrier to education. I don't think we should provide any more that's all.

I don’t expect every M and S will stock them anyway.
You boycotting M and S won’t change nowt, it seems bizarre to even consider it (you do know a lot of their clothes are probably also made by young teens in poor countries in less than ideal conditions too, does that also stop you shopping there).

MN is rampant about parents' right to make decisions for their children - but only apparently when they agree with those decisions. All of you clutching your pearls who aren't Muslim - mind your own business.

Orthodix Jewish women wear wigs dont they but little girls dont ( someone will correct me if Im wrong Im sure) m and s is a Jewish run company. Looks like its just been welcoming to all faiths.

They probably sell those bloody Pineapple high heels for 4 year olds too. There's definitely a market for young kids who want to copy grown ups. And how other people dress their kids is really no ones concern but theirs

Look at pictures of MARY Jesus’s mother she is covering her head in all of them, how many of you can give a quote from the Quran that young girl covering her head is sexualised, or if it says it is to be forced on these young girls, how many Christian children do you see going to church on Sundays following the religion of Christianity and covering their heads? I hardly seen any. Don’t knock those that want to follow a religion and have respect for it. Some people on here bash others for having a religion, but have no religion of their own nor know anything about what they may have been born into it. You go to the Vatican and you have to cover yourself before you entered the church no flesh showing is that not being respectful of a religion.

maddie its online only so OP couldnt have seen them instore but just came across them by accident?

who at the pineapple heels!

Ffs the sheer quantity of tolerant British folks on this thread. Its great that you guys are getting an opportunity to virtue signal how accepting you are of other cultures but if you have zero understanding of these cultures and their practices and the theological and sociological roots of their customs maybe you should look it up before announcing what a great person you are for you willingness to blindly accept what anyone who is different to you chooses to do because they are different and you are totally OK with them being different. It's almost overkill isn't it?

We should not be encouraging very young girls to wear a hijab at school. They will become psycologically attached to wearing it and when they are at the age when they should have the free choice to either wear or not wear, in effect any real free choice will not exist. I am sure any teenage girl who has been wearing a hijab since the age of 5 would feel naked without it. I am sure that is well known to those who encourage parents to dress very young children in hijabs.

I think teenage schoolgirls should be allowed to freely choose to wear Hijab and it can be included neatly in the school uniform. The emphasis has to be on Free Choice. Girls should not be cheated out of their free choice.

Insisting 4 year olds wear a hijab to schoolroom be modest is on the same spectrum of thinking as FGM

I'm absolutely speechless that posters are trying to defend it. It's misogynistic bullshit, and the majority of the Muslim community doesn't like it or the unpleasant messages it sends about Islam

Stop trying to be so woke and see this for the sexism it really is