The veil or more commonly known as the hijab is worn among Muslim women as enforcement of Islamic values based on Quranic Teachings. The Islamic concept of hijab is most often expressed in women’s clothing. Hijab garments range from simple head scarves to head-to-toe cloaks such as ‘niqab’ and ‘burqas’. Various passages in the Quran, the Muslim holy book, and the Hadiths make reference to veiling.
However, this concept is not unique to Islam, but embraced by other religions, Jewish, Christian and Hindu women have also covered their head at various times in history and in different parts of the world. Certainly, the headscarf is tied to religion (Killian, 2019).
However, negative portrayals of Islam, Muslims and especially to Muslim women who visibly shows her religion by wearing a hijab are everywhere. You don’t have to look far to find stigmatizing, offensive and biased news reports – all of which significantly impact how Muslims generally see the world they live in. These experiences influence Muslim people’s day-to-day lives – and can play a role in how Muslim people conduct themselves on a daily basis. Muslim women are left vulnerable to misrepresentation by both Muslims and non-Muslims.
Misrepresentation by Muslim
Hijab in masculine view
Many women who cover talk about it as a way demonstrating their submission to God and a constant reminder to hold fast to Islamic beliefs such as being honest and generous to those in need. While, majority of masculine views that the veil has been used as a way of curbing male sexual desire, intend to safeguard women and their honor. Not only in the West but in Malaysia as well, many regard traditional Muslim dress like the hijab as a sign of oppression, with women forced to wear the garments by men.
For example, in 2003, News Straits Times highlighted that the Kelantan State Government spent RM 60,000 on media campaigns and road shows educating women wear the hijab that simply asserts that improper dressing leads to premarital sex, rape, incest and abortion (Saat, 2010: 34). This undoubtedly shifts the blame on non-hijab-wearing Malay women for not conforming to the Islamic code of attire, and conversely reversing the their liberated, assimilated roles in the society with those who apply the hijab. The vast reach of traditional print media reminds Muslim women to safeguard their image in public with moral and ethical evaluations, while assuming the practice of veiling as a cultural identifier.
Furthermore, incident of MH370 tragedy, popular Muslim elite speaker Dr Ridhuan Tee Abdullah in his weekly column in Malay newspaper Sinar Harian reminded Malaysia Airlines to take heed of God’s will by encouraging recitation of prayers prior to take off, abolish the serving of alcohol on flights and the urgent need for stewardesses to cover themselves - including their hair in order to not incite sin and caring for hygiene as well making it a Malaysian cultural identity to cover modesty and utterance of Arabic greetings to other Muslims (Abdullah, 2014) (Hassim, 2014).
Misrepresentation by non-Muslim in popular Hollywood media
Popular Hollywood media such as films and television programmes further distort perception of media audiences with power relations that put the Muslim groups in negative stereotypes. Many films and television programmes either feature hijab wearer in the character of a “terrorist mastermind” or “being weak and flawed”, this positions that indirectly affect a sense of inferiority within a hijab wearer. Thus, increased levels of discrimination against the Muslim women who wears the hijab.
In recent years, different industries have been attempting to give Muslim women a platform — be it in fashion, media, or sports. We have seen countless drama series feature visibly Muslim women (aka ‘hijabis’) for the sake of inclusivity. But, we are better off without the representation if it is to be covered in bundles of stereotypes.
Terrorist
In the last century, veiling trends escalate in media following global Islamic resurgence in the Middle East from the 1970s up until the wave of Islamophobia that surfaced after 9/11 (Hassim, 2014). Since 9/11, negative media coverage of Muslim communities, alongside government counter-terrorism policies in many Western countries, has further demonised Muslims. For example, in the BBC’s popular drama Bodyguard. We first see a hijab-wearing woman hiding in the toilet of a busy train, about to detonate a vest she is wearing packed with bombs (stereotype one: Muslim woman as terrorist). It then transpires she is actually a victim who looks frightened and vulnerable while our hero steps in to save the day (stereotype two: the oppressed Muslim woman). Finally, in the series finale this Muslim woman was revealed to actually be the terrorist mastermind. As she says, no one suspected her because they were taken in by the “vulnerable Muslim woman as a victim scenario” (Nazeer, 2018).
I believe the media needs to be accountable in some way for the content they produce, especially when levels of anti-Muslim hate crime are soaring. British research has shown that government policies have resulted in Muslims receiving unjustified attention in airport security. They have also been shown to have created extra tensions and divisions between Muslim communities and the police. For some hijab wearers, the hatred towards Muslim communities pushed them to stop wearing the veil after terrorist incidents, in order to minimize the chance of them experiencing racism (Hopkins, 2016).
Oppressed
In the new Netflix series called Elite, a Spanish drama. The story is based on a prestigious private school in Spain where three newly enrolled working-class students upset the status quo. Character named Nadia Shano, played by Mina El Hammani, is an intelligent and focused scholarship student, an ambitious Muslim-Palestinian girl
In season one, Nadia wears hijab. When she is threatened with expulsion if she does not remove her hijab on the first day of school, she begins to only wear hijab to and from school, but not at school itself. The show seems to show and feature challenges faced by Muslims in Europe. However, in a key scene in season two, we see Nadia walk into a bar, looking undeniably fierce as she crosses the floor of the club. She is not wearing her hijab. She goes on to drink alcohol, and finally, she has the courage to get with the rich boy – the Chuck Bass of the show – and white savior, Guzman (Khan, 2019).
As a disclaimer, it is important to note that it is no secret some Muslim women may be forced to wear hijab. The ideology that has been spread via Saudi Arabia over the last half-century, where they are responsible for extreme modesty doctrine. For example, it is compulsory that women wear the hijab in public, not only in Saudi Arabia, also in Iran. Aside from government-led imposition of the hijab, there are also members of the Muslim community even in Malaysia who force the hijab upon their daughters, wives and sisters. In these cases, the hijab is a tool utilized for the oppression of women; forcing the hijab (“forcing” includes any form of coercion, undue encouragement or guilting) infringes upon a woman’s freedom to make choices, and therefore, is oppressive (Jordan,2018). Hence, I am not arguing that those narratives shouldn’t be portrayed or discussed.
What I am saying is that this is all the media ever portray when it comes to the representation of Muslim women. When will TV shows and movies will depict a regular Muslim character who experiences regular things? When will the stereotypes around Muslim women on TV will end? How are we going to dig ourselves out of these stereotypes when Muslim women that are depicted onscreen, are always either involved in oppression or terrorism? When and how will anyone believe that Muslim women have the ability to make their own choices, if stereotypes like this consistently dominate every cultural space Muslim woman are a part of?
Considering, believe it or not, there are many — indeed, millions — of Muslim women who choose to wear the hijab out here living their best lives. It is important to understand not only the fact that some women freely choose to wear it but also why they choose to do so. Establishing these understandings can serve to invalidate generalizations and stereotypes. It is frustrating that someone can be in a position of such influence, such as writing a popular TV show, and yet they persistently refuse to accurately research authentic narratives outside of what they know. It is sheer laziness, and it is insulting.
The best way to promote idea hijab is a choice is to work towards a future where all women around the world can freely make that choice. Whether that is by helping to change mandatory hijab laws millions live under or even just ending the social stigma that keep millions more afraid. Being if the concern is the oppression of Muslim women, non-Muslims shouldn’t express this by ridiculing the hijab or ripping it off Muslim women’s heads which frequently happened in the west, as this behavior does exactly what was trying to be combated.
If you’re going to fight for the right of any woman to reveal as much as she wants, then you should also fight for their right to cover as they see fit because if you only care about one half of that equation you are not really interested in freedom.
In conclusion, I have come to realize that Muslim women being portrayed in this way is a malicious patriarchal technique that is employed to control Muslim women. Because if we aren’t perceived as oppressed, then we have the possibility to be what we want to be. I worry about how portrayals like this may hold back young Muslim women for a long time to come. If shows like Bodyguard and Elite continue to exist and erase us.
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