I wish this was a joke, but, hey, it’s at the far, far left UK Guardian
My hijab has nothing to do with oppression. It’s a feminist statement – video
Hanna Yusuf asks why a simple piece of clothing is seen as the very epitome of oppression. She says many women find empowerment in rejecting the idea that women can be reduced to their sexual allure – and we should not assume that every women who wears the hijab has been forced into it
Sure, not every woman has been “forced” into it. However, most are, even if it is just strongly suggested.
Even the notoriously Progressive readers of the Guardian aren’t buying this explanation
- …wearing a hijab means using the material manifestation of slut-shaming and victim-blaming (the hijab), quite the opposite of feminism. It is like running aroung with a swastika on your shirt insisting this is a hindu symbol of luck and happiness. It’s deluded.
- The hijab is a symbol of female repression where it is forced on women and young girls. It may be true that some women in some countries have the choice whether or not to wear it. (leaving aside the more complex question of indoctrination and religious pressure) But if they want to make a feminist statement they should reject it in solidarity with their sisters who have it forced on them.
- I don’t know any reasonable person who has an issue with somebody covering their head. However to argue that it is part of women’s liberation is a complete falsity and actually rather dangerous. The sexism that exists in islamic societies is a different type to the sexism in the west. The reason given for covering up in islamic tradition is because men cannot help themselves but to sexually violate women unless they are covered up. One cleric even used the outrageous metaphor ‘if a piece of meat is left out in the sun the cats will devour it. Who’s fault is that? The meat’s’. So essentially it justifys rape. The person who made this is conflating very different cultural attitudes to women, both of which are sexist, but in different ways.
- Hanna Yusuf has the right to wear whatever she likes, and she may well have freely chosen to wear the hijab (at least in her own terms) – but none of that alters the fact that the hijab was introduced as a symbol of oppression, and remains that for most Muslim women, who do not have the choice that Hanna Yusuf claims she has.
- BTW if Hanna wore that coloured hijab fully displaying her face and that dress, where she’s displaying her arms, in a public place in Saudi she’d last about two minutes tops before she was hauled off by the mutaween (religious police) and possibly end up being soundly thrashed in public for her immodesty after being heavily fined. Feminism is a punishable offence in the Sunni heartland, so have a clear think about that, Hanna.
All good points.
