I wrote my senior thesis on a very similar topic, why young American Muslim women decide to put on and take off the Hijab. This subject was compared with the Victorian Corset and how social expectations of femininity have influences western standards of beauty and sexuality from the Industrial age to the present. My research for the Hijab portion of my thesis consisted of interviewing 15 young Muslim women who attended my University. As the 9/11 generation, I was not surprised to find that many of the young women had decided to wear Hijab because they wanted display their sense of solidarity for their fellow Muslims at the time. It was an effort on many of their parts to try to break stereotypes that existed in the Western world about how Muslim women were supposed to behave. Some, after a few years of wearing the Hijab felt stronger than every in their mission and their faith, others felt that after a few years with the Hijab they no longer felt compelled to wear it.

While the above examples made up the majority of the group, there were a few Muslim women who had not yet made the decision to wear the Hijab. These ladies were torn, their families did not expect it of them, many of their parents discouraged it, rather the pressure was coming from their peers in the close knit Muslim community that existed at our University. As a minority religion, the Islamic groups that existed at our school could often be demanding of their female members because of the visible nature of the Hijab. Some young women wore the Hijab because they felt comforted that they did not have to be viewed in a sexual nature in Western society. They were removing the option of being viewed as a sex object, thus making themselves creatures of a purely intellectual nature.

The parallel of the two parts of the thesis was interesting, as Western women attempted to become liberated by removed the restrictive corset, lessening their clothing and declaring their sexuality to the public world, Muslim counterparts found it more liberating both religiously and sexually to cover themselves and remove that factor from the equation. I think it's a great subject and I loved your article. Thanks for making me think about my thesis again!

WHAT A CONCEPT. JUST STICK A RAG ON YOUR HEAD AND MAGICALLY STOP BEING VIEWED AS A SEX OBJECT.

They were removing the option of being viewed as a sex object, thus making themselves creatures of a purely intellectual nature.

IF I HADN'T ALREADY LOST MY DENTURES I'D HAVE SPIT THEM ACROSS THE ROOM WHEN I READ THAT. HEY, THE OTHER DAY I WAS STANDING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD AND THIS CAR WAS HURTLING TOWARDS ME SO I JUST TIED THIS MAGICAL RAG OVER MY EYES AND SUDDENLY THE CAR DISAPPEARED. PROBLEM SOLVED.

Dear Kingrose,

Thanks for telling us about your research. Is your thesis available online? I know others who are interested in collecting data on this topic. You can reach me through my website, www.ReligionWriter.com

thanks

Andrea Useem

I was not surprised to find that many of the young women had decided to wear Hijab because they wanted display their sense of solidarity for their fellow Muslims at the time.

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We get a large number of Medical students from the middle-east, and some from Pakistan and India as well, in our graduate programs. A number of them wear hijabs, which range from a fluffy chiffony piece draped around head with lots of tendrils of hair escaping, to formal ones that almost look regal.....and from the few conversations I've had, many of them with an Indian Muslim who said she never wore this in India -- it is as much about identity and pride as anything else, declaring to the world that one is a Muslim and proud of it.

Why would someone be "proud" of being a Muslim? Or a Christian or an animist or even an atheist? What is there about a religious belief that could make someone proud?

At O'hare airport in Chicago, I remember seeing a young woman with her husband and two small children. She was wearing a head scarf, which was securely covering all of her hair. However, she was also wearing tight bluejeans, high heeled sandals, and a tight sheer white frilly blouse. She looked pretty damned sexy to me! I seriously doubt she left the house thinking she was dressed modestly.

A corset is an undergarment, not seen by anyone on the street. The corset was also worn by women in conjunction with the fashion of the day, having nothing to do with religion.

A hijab, however, is visible to all who pass by. I don't see the correlation between the two. Headscarves have been worn by women in past decades in this country, for various reasons, but wearing hijab is a specific issue of Muslim women.

In one sense...

A lot of people decided to be openly Anti- anyone with brown skin after 9/11- especially if they were seen to be middle eastern, arabic, or muslim. If such people weren't feeling persecuted before, now they were. When a people are bein persecuted, often one feels the need to show solidarity if you identify with the cause.

Now the thing is that sometimes it's more a perceived persecution than an actual one. Or perhaps a manufactured persecution hoping to manipulate people for a specific agenda. There are a lot of people who want to foment tensions in the Middle East in order to further their own agendas.

I've been thinking about this subject and came to a conclusion. If one of the functions of religion is to define "us" vs. "them" (and it is), the emotion of "pride" is used as a reinforcer.

But does religion aim to create an us v. them mentality or is it just a by-product? Or does it vary depending on the religion? Or actually couldn't you take that argument and apply it to any group of like minded thinkers? People definitely have pride in their political beliefs as well...

Absolutely!

Pride in being a member of a group is a form of reinforcement for group membership but what can you do? The division between us and them is an important biological distinction and shows up in many ways. Of course, most of the ways it show up in the present when societies are larger than the family group tend to be destructive but what can you do?

I think that even individual pride has its drawbacks. Somewhere I read that many tribal groups are quite down on individual pride because it tends to foster individualism and be destructive to group cooperative efforts. After all, in any group, some members will contribute more than others and pride in one's accomplishments might lead to resentment of the lack of accomplishments in others.

Emotions are our genes way of enforcing their will. So to speak.

pride in one's accomplishments might lead to resentment of the lack of accomplishments in others

The operational word being might. It does not have to lead to such. We need a humanity wide reprogramming of thought, I believe. But I don't think pride has to be a bad thing. We should aim to do things well. We should be happy in ourselves when we do. This does not mean thinking ourselves superiour. One thing I could appreciate about Ayn Rand was her sense that some things were just good and we should all acknowledge that. That we should all strive for our own personal greatness and not worry about comparing ourselves to others for petty reasons and instead look at output. Feelings and emotions can be irrelevant as long as the output is superiour.

(hmm. did that make sense? i need to take a lunch break, my brain is getting fuzzy!)

Why would someone be "proud" of being a Muslim? Or a Christian or an animist or even an atheist?

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I think one can be proud of one's religion (or lack thereof) quite in the same way one is proud of one's ethnicity, culture, heritage, heck -- even the university one went to!

Is wearing a 'religious marker' that different from wearing a t-shirt with your university logo ?

I also think that, when one is a minority, and a not-very-well-understood minority at that, there is a desire not to 'hide' one's identity and just pass. I cannot say I quite understand what its like to be a Muslim in post 9-11 USA, but I do know that if Hindus in USA were suddenly being denigrated, then even though I'm a non-practicing Hindu, I'd start slapping bindis on my forehead as a daily thing simply to show that I wasn't about to hide my identity.

The fact that the hijab is not merely a religio-cultural marker but has also been a tool for suppression and patriarchy does make it more complex. I've had one Muslim lady tell me that its why she wears a hijab, but otherwise wears attractive form-fitting clothes. She wants to show that she is a muslim, but doesn't buy into the whole "good women should look like a shapeless lump" doctrine.

surpassing the point of just being proud of who they are but actively feeling negatively towards those who are different. and that goes for everything from religion to university to sports teams.

but i agree about showing solidarity. That's not the "bad" kind of pride.

I think most people take this in the wrong way... or in too much detail. Here is a more objective way of looking at it:

Just like within any group, lets take the example of a security guard, you have to wear a uniform. Granted its for a few hours, but as long as u are the guard, u wear the uniform. why? its the law/rule/etc.

Similarly, the hijab is a uniform for muslim women. There are rules for men clothing as well, but you dont see most men following that too. Anyway, so the hijab is the uniform for women while they are muslim. as being a muslim is a 24/7 deal, so is the hijab, with of course the conditions in which it is not required.

For those women who do it, more power to them. Those who dont, good for you. It is a matter of choice, in regards to what you want to do. But stating that hijab is not required, or debating its place in teh muslim world, that is wrong. If you dont want to do it, fine, but dont debate why its wrong. Just like you dont debate cheating on your spouse. it is wrong, but those who do it, its their choice.

hope this helps