Diaries of an Arab Nomad: The ongoing conversation on Hijab in the west

Since humans existed clothes have had social implications no matter where you are, the way we end up dressing up is never entirely a free choice. Cultures, religions, legal regulations, peer-pressure, fashion industry, movie industry, and now social media influencers, and the list goes all contribute to the final choice you make about how you leave your house looking like.

Truth to be said, some societies and cultures have more room for people to make certain choices, and this room can be wide and narrow. I remember that growing up in the big city of Cairo, Egypt I had room to continue to wear shorts and T-shirts and dress up like a tomboy until almost high school while some of my relatives wore only black cloaks and just showed their eyes. I knew I couldn't continue to do that for a long time because of peer-pressure and being from a low-middle class economic background.

That however wasn't my main motivation for choosing to cover my hair eventually. I was always taking the different direction and I could've easily found ways around something I'm not fully convinced with.

That being said, it's worth mentioning that middle and upper middle class Egyptians have the space to dress up as they wish, in fact, if you choose to dress up modestly while belonging to this particular class in Egypt it will have a major significance on how you're perceived as they generally consider dressing up modestly as a sign of backwardness and poverty. There are religious and culturally conservative elements of upper-classes in Egypt and everywhere but I'm just pointing out to how this is very different from places where a dress code is required and mandated by the state: This is not the case in Egypt.

Traveling and experiencing the western world as a Muslim woman wearing a headscarf requires a book. I get a wide range of active responses from shocked looks, to dirty looks, to hand gestures threatening with death, to passive responses like being passed and ignored at check outs in grocery stores, and no response to greeting strangers etc etc etc. Not to mention the social and professional implications in the US: Nobody wants to hire women with Hijabs. Nobody trusts women with Hijabs to be intellectually competent. People are mostly and generally terrified and pitiful towards me.

I'm a woman so I don't really care too much or obsess about how other women dress up, I connect with fellow women on so many other levels besides looks.

While I choose to dress up the way I do for religious reasons and also to send a certain type of social message, I think it's purely nonsensical to impose the way I dress up on all women.

The way headscarves have been politicized in the west and the east is so disheartening for Muslim women who choose to either wear it or choose not to, it's sickening to have to put ALL women through all of this b.s regardless of their decisions or lack of it. What's even more infuriating is that women are seldomly asked to share their very own reasons or experiences.

Now, does any of this nuance make any sense to the ignorant westerners who're so excited about headscarves being burned and hairs being shaved?

In the light of the ongoing conversation on countries the United States has business with (Iran and Afghanistan), why do you assume that you have any superiority because you think you can show more hair and skin?

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Some educational links:

Politicizing The Hijab: How The Hijab Became A Political Symbol

Muslim Women and the Politics of the Headscarf: For many women, wearing the hijab was—and is—an element of piety, but it’s been coopted into a political symbol.

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