White woman In a headscarf, would you stare?

[Tooshyshyhushhushidoi]

And conservative/ ‘modest’ clothing. Would you stare? Would you look twice?

context to follow :)

Not at all. I live in a town with a fairly large muslim community and it's not unusual to see white women in headscarves and to see white people going in and out of the mosques.

Depends on where, I may do a quick double take, but I would not stare

Surely people are still taught that it's rude to stare?

No. Even if I was surprised or shocked by this (which I'm not) staring would make me a rude arsehole.

Yikes at some of these responses. It is not the same as wearing a top hat indoors or sparkly fishnet trousers!

Lots of people convert, but also there are countries like Albania where many Muslim women will have pale skin.

No, if I even noticed I wouldn't consider it something to take special interest in.

No, I know some Muslims are white.

Context is I’ve recently started wearing it and despite there being lots of Muslims where I live, people just stare. I feel so uncomfortable, I didn’t think I’d be that much of a spectacle. Even other Muslims stare, it’s better when I’m in very Muslim areas and it’s common to see a lot of converts but generally speaking it’s hard, so I wasn’t sure how common it was to look twice or whatnot.

erm, no? There could be many reasons; religious or other. I often wear turbans, scarves and hair wraps with my 30s/40s/50s gear. My best friend is currently wearing headscarves and very conservative clothes as she's going through chemo and has to protect her skin from the bloody amazing warm weather.

Mind you I couldn't give a shit damn about how other people dress so could just be me. 😉

No I wouldn’t. My sisters neighbour was a white British woman married to a Muslim man and this is how she dressed, never crossed my mind to stare or find it odd.

Are you sure it's not you feeling subconscious? Sorry to hear you are experiencing this.

Fwiw, if other Muslims are staring at you, it's likely they are wondering where you are from and would like to say salaam to you but not sure if they should.

Depends where you are, it'd catch my eye. I wouldn't stare but it'd be curious here. There'd be a potentially interesting back story. But I'm in Ireland and it is a bit surprising to me to see an Irish woman with a hijab. But you do see it occasionally. We have only just emerged from a society steeped in religion, ''tradition'', patriarchy, misogyny and even, worst of all, a legislation that supported that diminishment of women (for example, a woman's pension was until recently calculated by dividing her total number of insurable contributions divided by the number of years since she first entered the work place and her retirement age. Only recently has it changed so that the number of years out of the work place raising children can be subtracted from the figure (number of years used to find an average), and yet, here these young women are, married to a muslim wearing a veil and raising a slew of kids and not contributing to their own future.? Abuse me as you like but it's a mystery to me. I'd love if somebody who's gone down this path could explain it honestly. Fear of expectations in the workplace? Parents who set a template of subservience?

White people have been Muslims since 700 AD so I’m surprised people are taking about “converts”. Goes to show how racial stereotyping is wrong.

Potentially would do a small involuntary double take as it's unusual where I am, but would not care or look again.

I'd probably notice it and give it a very quick "oh" type thought but only in the same way as I would as someone with, say an unusual hairstyle or outfit. Certainly wouldn't think oh why are they wearing that. Hope that makes sense.

No can’t say I ever have

No but we have a weird evangelical church round here where the women and girls look like they're from the 18th Century and wear head coverings along with ugly Little House on the Prairie dresses. Also Jewish women in plain black long clothing wearing wigs etc.

If you know people are staring at you then you don't need to ask here if you're being stared at. Your lived experience is more relevant than what any of us here say.

Nope.

No

Near us is an Asian shop run by a mixed-heritage couple - the wife is white Bristolian and the man Asian (Pakistan). She dresses modestly and covers her hair. So what?

Well, I braved Tesco’s as one of my first outings and I had people shake their heads at me, I guess it’s because I’m so fair it’s obvious I’m a convert, ive had some more overt staring. I’m more Muslim areas I’ve had some unwanted male attention (but I’m married so it’s easy to dismiss) but now I’m wondering if it’s made me a bit paro

Would you prefer it to be a Hermes one?