International Women's Day-Stop Representing The Hijab As A Symbol Of Enpowerment

I cannot think of anything less empowering for women than the hijab. It is a symbol of male oppression in the extreme and we all need to stop normalising it.

I am sure that the feminists who are losing their lives and freedoms across the planet are not feeling any solidarity with the kind of Western masocshism that cosies up to Sharia pushing conmen and women.

http://thesatedire.com/news/world-news/feminists-stone-themselves-in-solidarity-with-muslim-ban/

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 1

whatfuture

16

Have you ever considered that some (I'm not saying ALL, but at least SOME) women wear the hijab because they actually... want to? Because they believe in it and in their religion and this is what they are comfortable with doing?
I live in a Muslim country, I DO know Muslim girls who wear the hijab because of their parents, but I also know many Muslims who love wearing the hijab.
Stop using the hijab as a symbol of ANYTHING. It isn't a symbol of empowerment, nor of oppression.
Women who wear it because they want to, for them it is simply a symbol of their beliefs and what they want to do. Hopefully people who are wearing it even if they don't want to, will get the chance to take it off one day.

Reply 2

SD2017

I'm literally done. I can't be bothered answering you so called hijab haters. I have one thing to say. It's not your head. You have NO right to tell women to stop covering up their HEADS. Who do you think you are?? I am a hijab wearer and I choose to wear it as well as cover my whole body out of my own free will and because those are MY beliefs. Not YOURS. It makes me laugh how much the media has brain washed you. Just stop. It has nothing to do with you. You can literally keep shouting and screaming about it until you go blue in the face. But guess what? None of those millions of women are going to take off their hijab's because YOU feel uncomfortable about their appearance. We literally don't spare any of your opinions a second thought. Why can a woman only be seen as 'empowered' and 'liberated' if she's half naked, but 'oppressed' if she's covering her head? You really need to stop feeding yourself lies told by the media you poor poor thing.

Reply 3

Jesus_

1

Surely telling free women celebrating international women's day to get rid of their hijab is worse...

Reply 4

Damien96

OP

7

Original post by whatfuture

Have you ever considered that some (I'm not saying ALL, but at least SOME) women wear the hijab because they actually... want to? Because they believe in it and in their religion and this is what they are comfortable with doing?
I live in a Muslim country, I DO know Muslim girls who wear the hijab because of their parents, but I also know many Muslims who love wearing the hijab.
Stop using the hijab as a symbol of ANYTHING. It isn't a symbol of empowerment, nor of oppression.
Women who wear it because they want to, for them it is simply a symbol of their beliefs and what they want to do. Hopefully people who are wearing it even if they don't want to, will get the chance to take it off one day.

I have yes, and I have also considered that a headscarf can be worn to keep rain off your hair, but none of that changes the fact that the purpose of the hijab is to cover the hair in order to not appear immodest.

No one needs permission to wear it, just don't paint it as a symbol of empowerment. It's a symbol of male sickness, a need to control women's sexuality and a compulsion to blame women for sexual feelings of men. It is a sickness of hysterical religious attitudes to sex.

*empower

OP

Original post by JamesN88

*empower

A typo.

My mouth does the same. I once ordered a round of shits.

Reply 7

Damien96

OP

7

Original post by SD2017

I'm literally done. I can't be bothered answering you so called hijab haters. I have one thing to say. It's not your head. You have NO right to tell women to stop covering up their HEADS. Who do you think you are?? I am a hijab wearer and I choose to wear it as well as cover my whole body out of my own free will and because those are MY beliefs. Not YOURS. It makes me laugh how much the media has brain washed you. Just stop. It has nothing to do with you. You can literally keep shouting and screaming about it until you go blue in the face. But guess what? None of those millions of women are going to take off their hijab's because YOU feel uncomfortable about their appearance. We literally don't spare any of your opinions a second thought. Why can a woman only be seen as 'empowered' and 'liberated' if she's half naked, but 'oppressed' if she's covering her head? You really need to stop feeding yourself lies told by the media you poor poor thing.

That's a very long response for someone who is done. What you mean is you are done listening, which is a shame because there are many women who need you to listen.

I didn't tell you what to wear, I said stop making it a symbol of empowerment. You are right, my opinion matters little to anyone (apart from you apparently) but I can say the same for yours so let's not get so personal.

Now as I take your words out of my mouth, I would very much like you to respond to the statement I actually made. Whatever the hijab is, it is not a symbol of female empowerment.

Reply 8

Damien96

OP

7

Original post by Jesus_

Surely telling free women celebrating international women's day to get rid of their hijab is worse...

Maybe, but as I didn't say that I'm not sure what your point is.

Reply 9

SD2017

Original post by Damien96

That's a very long response for someone who is done. What you mean is you are done listening, which is a shame because there are many women who need you to listen.

I didn't tell you what to wear, I said stop making it a symbol of empowerment. You are right, my opinion matters little to anyone (apart from you apparently) but I can say the same for yours so let's not get so personal.

Now as I take your words out of my mouth, I would very much like you to respond to the statement I actually made. Whatever the hijab is, it is not a symbol of female empowerment.

I know it's difficult for you to understand, why a Muslim woman would see it as empowerment. I could start ranting about the many reasons but if you even bothered to do some research you'd find the answer right in front of your eyes. I'll provide you with a quote from one particular website that is able to summarise what I and many Muslim women believe in, in regards to the hijab.I hope this sheds some light on why women choose to wear the hijab.

''The western discourse has consistently argued that the hijab is not a symbol of freedom, but one of oppression. It believes that that women in Islam are second class citizens and that this status is encoded in both sacred text and tradition, enforced by culture and law.
Prophet Muhammad said, "Every religion has a chief characteristic and the chief characteristic of Islam is modesty."
In Islam, modesty is a virtue for both men and women. In fact, the Prophet himself was described as being the epitome of modesty in his behaviour with people.
A woman's attire has never been about perception, it is solely a matter of interpretation. What gets lost in the midst of such interpretive crossfire is the core message that women should not be objectified.
Modesty is not uniquely an Islamic requirement. It's also expressed in other monotheistic religions. For example, ultra orthodox Jewish women wear wigs to cover their hair. Nuns wear apostolniks as a sign of their religious consecration.

For women who observe hijab, it is not merely a piece of cloth, nor a symbol of defiance. Rather, it is a path that aids in self-purification and nearness to their creator. It is a means to inculcate modesty. A veil is seen as a genuine expression of a woman's religiosity.

Paradoxically, it is the women who are engaging with the modern world who appear to rely on the veil to signal to others that they will express their freedom.

National policies and media discourses aside, there are endless millions of Muslim women who believe that covering their hair is religiously mandated, so, for them, it is inextricably tied to Islam and to their own personal relationship to God.

To insist otherwise is to deny the agency, autonomy, and choice of these Muslim women.

We can't cast the choices of the hundreds of millions of women who have worn the headscarf as somehow invalid, irrational, wrong, or backwards. Just as women should be free and empowered to choose not to wear the hijab, they must also be free and empowered to wear it, if that's what they want.''

Reply 10

username471863

19

I don't think that they are presenting it as a symbol of empowerment (correct me if I'm wrong), just trying to make sure that all women are represented. How will excluding Muslim women empower them?

Also, many of those women in some of the heavily patriarchal countries who are fighting for their rights wear headscarves. I don't think they would appreciate being dismissed because of their attire. Women like Malala Yusufzai before she came here and Tawakkul Karman.

I don't like the hijab, but it's not a problem if the woman wearing it supports my right to wear what I want as much as I support hers.

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 11

Asiangirl_18

16

I think the hijab can be seen as a symbol of empowerment because in an age where the media and everything around us from our peers to our own social media networks as well as what we see online and on tv, covering up isn't seen as the norm and to cover your head and choose to wear modest clothing is quite a nerve wracking thing to do. There is already so much bullying if u don't look a certain way and this also applies to women and clothing. If u decide to clothe urself in a modest way people laugh and make fun ad this is because it isn't seen as the norm and people are becoming too ashamed of covering up so they are all stripping down. However, the hijab does free women in a sense as they know they can wear the hijab and escape some of the sleazy or simply uncomfortable stares or glances from males outside. It's a protection net and I genuinely feel that way as I have both not worn and worn a scarf and I felt the difference immensely. It also makes u feel closer to ur religion and this is great as then u are more aware or interested in doing as ur religion tells u. So yes the hijab may be seen as oppressive just because a small population if the work are forced into wearing it yet for those who have worn it from choice, they will feel the same way.

Reply 12

username2944572

14

Whats empowering to you love?
Going out stripped naked and flaunting your nipples? Is that empowering to you? Or arent you just a victim of oppression?

Reply 13

SinsNotTragedies

3

I agree that it shouldn't be represented as a symbol of empowerment, because it really is not. Yes, it is mostly a voluntary choice in the West, but it is anything but empowering to cover up your hair just because a religion dictates that females should do so. The mandatory nature of it in countries outside of the Western World taints any argument that states the hijab empowers women.

But we also shouldn't assume that every woman wearing a hijab is oppressed and act like it's our duty to inform them that they are being subjugated.

#hijabiandproud

There is NOTHING more empowering than going against social standards pushed down everyone's throat. I refuse to be a slave to society. The pressure they put on people to act and look a certain way is disgusting and degrading and that is the real slavery. I am so much more than the way I look, people should be judged on their intelligence and who they are as a person and that's what women who wear the hijab want and get.

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 16

Josb

6

Original post by SD2017

For women who observe hijab, it is not merely a piece of cloth, nor a symbol of defiance. Rather, it is a path that aids in self-purification and nearness to their creator. It is a means to inculcate modesty. A veil is seen as a genuine expression of a woman's religiosity.

So you're saying that women who don't wear a hijab are immodest?

You're speaking of the hijab as if it is a magical cloth. It's strange that you still have to wash it.

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 17

Josb

6

Original post by SannahIqbal

There is NOTHING more empowering than going against social standards pushed down everyone's throat. I refuse to be a slave to society. The pressure they put on people to act and look a certain way is disgusting and degrading and that is the real slavery. I am so much more than the way I look, people should be judged on their intelligence and who they are as a person and that's what women who wear the hijab want and get.

You're speaking of people who leave their religion?

Reply 18

yudothis

20

Original post by WBZ144

I don't think that they are presenting it as a symbol of empowerment (correct me if I'm wrong), just trying to make sure that all women are represented. How will excluding Muslim women empower them?

Also, many of those women in some of the heavily patriarchal countries who are fighting for their rights wear headscarves. I don't think they would appreciate being dismissed because of their attire. Women like Malala Yusufzai before she came here and Tawakkul Karman.

I don't like the hijab, but it's not a problem if the woman wearing it supports my right to wear what I want as much as I support hers.

You can fight for women's rights, or other rights for that matter, and still be brainwashed by Islam. Just like there are Americans, who I am sure are good people, have disgusting of views of gays for example.

Reply 19

yudothis

20

Original post by SannahIqbal

There is NOTHING more empowering than going against social standards pushed down everyone's throat. I refuse to be a slave to society. The pressure they put on people to act and look a certain way is disgusting and degrading and that is the real slavery. I am so much more than the way I look, people should be judged on their intelligence and who they are as a person and that's what women who wear the hijab want and get.

The irony.

The social standard in your culture is the hijab. So for you to be empowered you should not wear it.

Western women are the ones who should wear it according to your logic.

The last part is just a sad testament to the massive underlying misogyny that you have been brainwashed into - you regard women as merely a sex object that needs to cover up in order to be seen as more than that.

International Women's Day-Stop Representing The Hijab As A Symbol Of Enpowerment

Quick Reply

Related discussions

Latest

Trending

Trending

Articles for you