Reference no: EM133416644
Case Study: I often wonder whether people see me as a radical, fundamentalist Muslim 1 terrorist packing an AK-47 assault rifle inside my jean jacket. Or maybe they see me as the poster girl for oppressed womanhood everywhere. I'm not sure which it is.
I get the whole gamut of strange looks, stares and covert glances. You 2 see, I wear the hijab, a scarf that covers my head, neck and throat. I did this because I am a Muslim woman who believes her body is her own private concern.
Young Muslim women are reclaiming the hijab, reinterpreting it in light of its original purpose to give back to nude tunterpecung ot o 3 their own bodies.
The Koran teaches us that men and women are equal, that individuals 4 should not be judged according to gender, beauty, wealth or privilege. The only thing that makes one person better than another is her or his character.
Nonetheless, people have a difficult time relating to me. After all, I'm 5 young, Canadian born and raised, university-educated -why would I did this to myself, they ask.
Strangers speak to me in loud, slow English and often appear to be 6 playing charades. They politely inquire how I like living in Canada and whether or not the cold bothers me. If I'm in the right mood, it can be very amusing.
But why would I, a woman with all the advantages of a North American 7 upbringing, suddenly, at 21, want to cover myself so that with the hijab and the other clothes I choose to wear, only my face and hands show? Because it gives me freedom.
Women are taught from early childhood that their worth is proportional to their attractiveness. We feel compelled to pursue abstract notions of beauty, half realizing that such a pursuit is futile.
When women reject this form of oppression, they face ridicule and contempt. Whether it's women who refuse to wear makeup or to shave their legs or to expose their bodies, society, both men and women, have trouble dealing with them.
In the Western world, the hijab has come to symbolize either forced 11 silence or radical, unconscionable militancy. Actually, its neither. Id silly a woman's assertion that judement of her physical person is to play no role whatsoever in social interaction.
Wearing the hijab has given me freedom from constant attention to my physical self: Because my appearance is not subjected to public scrutiny. my beauty, or perhaps lack of it, has been removed from the realm of what can legitimately be discussed.
13 n Ge one knows whether my hair looks as in just stepped out of a salon, whether of not I can pinch an inch, or even if I have unsightly stretch marks. And because no one knows, no one cares.
14 Feeling that one has to meet the impossible male standards of beauty is tiring and often humiliating. I should know, I spent my entire teenage years trying to do it. I was a borderline bulimic and spent a lot of money I didn't have on potions and lotions in hopes of becoming the next Cindy Crawford.
15 The definition of beauty is ever-changing, waifish is good, waifish is bad, athletic is good sorry, athletic is bad. Narrow hips? Great. Narrow hips? Too bad.
16 Women are not going to achieve equality with the right to bare their breasts in public, as some people would like to have you believe. That would only make us party to our own objectification. True equality will be had only when women don't need to display themselves to get attention and won't need to defend their decision to keep their bodies to themselves.
NOTES AND DEFINITIONS
This article was first published in 1993. Although the issue is still relevant, the hijab has become a common sight in metropolitan areas in Canada.
It is important to distinguish the different types of coverings that are at issue here. While the hijab covers the head but not the face, the niqab is the veil that covers the lower part of the face. The nigab is more of an issue in Western countries because of identification issues. For example, one court debated the right of the witness to wear a niqab while testifying. The term burka refers to the garment imposed by the Taliban in Afghanistan- it is one piece of folded cloth that covers the woman completely, leaving only her hands visible and netting over the eyes.
STRUCTURE AND TECHNIQUE
This is a personal essay. Note how Mustafa moves from her own opinions to make some general arguments.
Note how Mustafa uses a sentence fragment for paragraph 8 to emphasize her main point.
Questions: TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION AND WRITING
1. Is the title appropriate and effective? Discuss why.
2. Do you agree with Mustafa's view of the hijab? Explain why or why not.
3. Discuss this statement: "Feeling that one has to meet the impossible male standards of beauty is tiring and often humiliating?"
4. Should Canadian women dress more modestly? What do you consider acceptable standards of clothing?
5. How far should countries go in making laws about clothing? Consider that some European countries have banned the hijab. What is a reasonable approach to the identification of hijab-wearing women? For example, should these women be required to show their faces only to female customs agents?
6. How are women objectified in our society? Do you think this will ever change? Explain why or why not. (Consider how women are currently dominating in higher education and have a higher rate of employment than men.)