Japanese Beautiful Model - why is a muslim woman abused in the west for covering her body?

why is a muslim woman abused in the west for covering her body?

Im a muslim girl and wear the headscarf and cover my body in loose clothes as do many. I just want to know why we get so many upsetting comments from westerners who try to humiliate us for covering up. I want to know why we are called freaks and why we are looked at so strangely. nobody ever thinks that the girl under those clothes is a normal person with a family and kids and hobbies, who enjoys going out seeing her friends and joking around with them. Its like people see what they want to see, an 'oppressed' ninja who has no life and is a slave to her husband or something! we cant win either way and doubt we ever will. so why is it ok to so many in the west that a girl walks around in next to nothing with everything on show, becomes a lapdancer or a porn star or even a glamour model, thats completely normal, but when a muslim girl decides to cover her body so as not to draw attention to herself and protect herself from stares, being judged and being checked out by guys, this is a bad thing? opinions? I veil as many other women do simply to cover your beauty and i personally dont want to share it with anyone else but my husband and family, thats my choice and part of Islam. as for the comments stating that a woman who doesnt cover is going to get raped or turn into a porn star, i absolutely never said that or implied that, you did not read my question properly and you made an instant stereotype that a muslim woman thinks that rape happens to people who uncover and that all people who uncover are porn stars and lapdancers. thats not what i said so please read carefully. by the way thankyou for all your comments, much appreciated sisters and brothers in humanity :) matt lol thanks for that weird little piece of info tequairium, ive been to egypt on holiday with my mum before i became muslim and wore little shorts a tank top and left all my hair out, i recieved no abuse or funny looks whatsoever. On the contrary the people were nothing but kind and hospitable. and with regards to your comment about me implying i think women who dont cover are not normal, that is completely unfair. if you had read my question you would clearly see i asked simply, WHY do i as a muslim girl get abuse for covering and why do those girls who uncover get no abuse when we are equals in humanity? I am judging nobody, i am forbidden by Islam to judge people, hence why in egypt and other muslim countries, if a westerner appears in their clothes on the street, people let them get on with it because they know they are western. On the contrary in this country for example, any girl with a veil gets dirty looks, unequal treatment and verbal abuse from people who WONT let them get on with their lives. pooka, great answer and i also despise all the political correctness crap. Does my head in. obzi, im saddened to hear your opinion as this is actually not the case in more ways than one. if you read above, i put that muslim girls cover their bodies and beauty for their husbands only, NOT because they think every single man out there is a sex fiend! This is a stereotype amongst many that you have just made. I do not believe every man would look at a woman as a sex object, there are decent men regardless of the ones who leer over women and as muslims we are fully aware of this, but we cover because we do not want ourselves on show. please dont act like you are offended by this, and please dont make such quick stereotypes about our reasons for covering. yes we dont want to be leered at in the street and i would like to make the point now, how am i supposed to know, looking at you as a person whether you are a decent guy or a complete perv!!?? thats right, i cant, so its best to just cover regardless. dustin m, believe me it is not a 'martyr complex' on our part. unless you are a muslim woman who has suffered abuse, you cannot possibly imagine what it is like. I and many friends have witnessed and experienced this, and still do to this day within our non-muslim families, there is always a sarcastic comment or mocking to be made at the dinner table.

Public Comments

You're right. People shouldn't give you a hard time.
If the purpose is to avoid being judged, it's obviously not working. I would ask you a counter question: Why do you wear the veil? What is its purpose? And no, I don't think people should be abused for what they wear (whatever that may be), and I think everyone should be free to wear whatever they want, however much or little they want, when they want. But the purpose of the veil eludes me. What does it achieve?
I think its great to be modest! It is so much more important than other people realize.
What's bad is that you have been indoctrinated to believe the repression of women is a good thing.
What society deems as "acceptable" or "normal" is going to be different wherever you go.
You can't win. This is just the majority culture in the west expressing how it sees you. You are going against it so this is what happens. If I visit a majority muslim country, why is it so difficult for me to get an alcoholic drink? What do they have against it? Same answer.
A: Because people who choose to wear the burqa are in the minority compared to those who are FORCED. If you like wearing it, that's another matter, but the fact is that it IS used as a form of oppression, usually by the same parts of the community that uphold honor killings and suchlike. B: If we're talking about full facial covering as well here, there's plenty of reasons that's looked down upon, and it has nothing to do with religion. From a psychological standpoint, covered faces make people nervous, and from a security standpoint, they can be used as disguises for criminals. It's for this reason that motorcycle helmets are banned in banks. I don't really care if you cover up your body (although there's a difference between loose clothing and full flowing robes; robes just look odd, but hey, still your call if you wanna wear them), but covering up your face so only your eyes are showing is not the same thing.
I really don't subscribe to any religion, but I believe that modesty is a great personality trait. I think that people in the west have fetishized and sexualized women to the point of expecting to see everything that she has to offer at first glance - so when a woman is covered, especially with any Muslim attire like a headscarf, she is seen as prudish or coy. It doesn't help matters that Americans are so skittish about Muslims lately. They probably also believe that you're 'repressing' yourself by wearing modest clothing or covering your head. I say, wear what makes you feel good, and to hell with anybody who disagrees.
If you don't like the comments then just wear other clothes.
People that are different get picked on. It's not right and its childish, but it has always been so, and will likely continue that way. I'm told that American women that travel to other parts of the world also run into problems for showing to much skin. Many people are childish and ignorant wherever you go.
You already hit the nail on the head- dressing in Arabic style and covering up no matter what the weather... is NOT normal in the States so by not being like everyone else, you stand out, and draw attention, instead of the opposite. Us Christians went thru that stage of making the women cover up from head to toe in WOOL no matter what the weather- no matter the poor women had to work in the garden, sweat and labor doing such hard work as the women had to do in the past.... it was nuts. I say thank God we got past that nonsense. Dress for your work, dress for the weather. God looks at your heart, not if you dress Arabic or Chinese or Indian or Western. We can dress Western and be modest too. Believe me, our faces don't inspire out of control lust in the men.
It's called IGNORANCE. I don't see anything wrong with Muslim women using veils and scarves, I actually think it's beautiful. Not everyone in the west is open to different cultures and anything that deviates from their own norm. But if it's any comfort, I'm pretty sure that you can still find a lot of westerners who are open to your culture.
Whoa! A woman who goes around in a skimpy outfit does not become a porn star or lap-dancer. Please get rid of this misconception. You will never get people to listen to you while you are disparaging them. The muslim coverings do draw attention to you, you have said this yourself. They won't stop you being checked out either; they will just look at your face instead of your body. Re additional: "so why is it ok to so many in the west that a girl walks around in next to nothing with everything on show, becomes a lapdancer or a porn star". You are clearly stating that the skimpy outfit can lead to these professions. I am misinterpreting nothing.
Hmmm... That's odd, there are plenty of muslim women at university, we have a large islamic prescence with about 2 or 3 different muslim clubs working out of the university and a large amount of people who wear headscarfs. I've never heard one complaint verbally about them, in fact, I hear more about girls poorly dressed, like when its winter and they're wearing short shorts. Now, I'm a 'western' guy (I'm going to say 'western' here, compared to islam), so of course I'm a sleezy bastard, but I'm also smart, which is hence why I respect womens reasons to want to cloth up. I'm sorry to tell you though, I don't like your generalisation that women wearing scantily clothing are going to get raped etc. they are free to wear what they want to wear as much as you are. YOU STOP COMPLAINING!
"we cant win either way and doubt we ever will." Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim When comes the Help of Allah swt and Victory And you see people enter the religion of Allah in crowds Give praises to your Lord and seek His Forgiveness for He is Oft Returning in Mercy. :) salam
I think the main reason comes down to culture. In the western culture our women don't cover ourselves to such an extent, and the reason the westerners would make comment is simply because they don't understand/haven't taken the opportunity to understand. I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to work with a young girl who was Muslim (Lebanese i believe) she had not yet started wearing the head scarf, but i asked her about it and her point of views and she told me about her culture and why women cover themselves. Now i actually understand why, i don't look at Muslims who have covered themselves as something strange and out of the ordinary, simply as another normal person who has a culture (I'm Australian, and we have no traditions of culture, curse of a young country).
I have no problem with people who wish to cover up so as not to draw attention to themselves. Like I also have no problem with people wearing nothing at all, weather to draw attention to themselves or simply feel free and at one. People who choose to do things (like covering up, wearing a certain peice of jewllery or choosing to put christmas lights up) for a religion, which is really just a group of people who beleive in something, no proof to is there to say any religion is real, is fine. The problem with the above is when it comes into laws already written on the land. Like being at school, and everyone having to wear the same uniform, then someone else coming along and deciding they can cover up because of something they beleive in. If thats the case then all children at schools should be able to wear whatever they like, expressing who they are. The same with people who disagree christmas lights going up and get people to take tehm down, it's just religion battaling it all out. It's ridiculous. I worked as a market trader for 5 years and we wern't alllowed to put up UK flags on our stalls in case we offended other races...WHAT?! We can't even put up flags of the country we live in in case it offends people from another country? I come from no religion, my whole family don't follow a religion and I have never been pressured to join one. My choice in life is to try my best to live it without hurting anyone, try to help people, even in a small way and learn and understand that everyone in the world is diffrenent and to except that. I have an amzaing group of friends of all ages and from many diffrerent backgrounds but will all have the same outlook on life. The world is full of really horrid people and that's why theres a lot of crap and stigma but it's also full of beauty and wonderful people, concentrate on them and sod what anyone else thinks. RANT OVER - apologies!
i'm really sorry to say this, but my best friend is so racist it's untrue. he says people like you don't belong in our country and should go back to india or wherever you come from. he says we like porn stars because they are white, and hot and normal. sorry.
It is not a bad thing. But not all American girls become lap dancers and porn stars. And there are still a lot conserative women who still dress appropriately and modest. People look at you and make comments because wearing a head scarf makes you different and they don't understand what it means. When you are wearing it everybody knows your religion and some people may be afraid of it or feel sorry for you because of it. It is all because they do not understand. If you have chosen to wear your head scarf you should also understand that in this country there is a lot of things that may come with it. It may not be right or fair, but it is what it is. My advice is to patiently educate people where you can, ignore people when you can't, and remember that the law is on your side if things get bad. Edit: Well excuse me, but you said and I quote,"So why is it ok to so many in the west that a girl walks around in next to nothing with everything on show, becomes a lapdancer or a porn star or even a glamour model, that's completely normal." You did imply that you feel this is true about most Western girls. So don't say I misread, because I did not. Perhaps you mistyped.
If I went to a predominantly Muslim country and wore leggings and a tanktop and left my long hair uncovered like I do in my home country, I would be stared at and abused too. You are drawing attention to yourself. People tend to criticize those who disturb their ideas of what is "normal" and "right" in their society. We are taught by the media and in books that many women in the East are forced to be submissive slaves to their men and family. Even if YOU are not, the way you are dressed reminds Westerners of what they have read/heard about. Their jerk reaction is probably to feel uncomfortable and angry that you are not "free" like them. It's like when people tell anorexic girls to "eat a sandwich" or fat girls to "go for a jog". It's hurtful to that person, but those who say it feel like they are saying what needs to be said - as if they think the shock of hearing it will make the person suddenly change their ways. It's certainly not a bad thing if you want to cover up, but women who want to bare it all should be allowed to as well. Perhaps you are not implying they will get raped, however it is clear from your wording in your first post that you feel those woman are "wrong" and should not be considered "normal" for showing off their bodies. I say, let people do what they feel comfortable with. You are judging them the same as they are judging you.
I don't think they are abused - not in the sexual way that the hijab or niqab is supposed to prevent in Muslim countries. However people should try to adapt to the culture they live in. You can be modest without following Arab fashion. Western women wear Abbayas in Saudi Arabia to fit in - well they are required to but that's another matter. You may get stares because you look different and remind people of the scary images they see on TV - sorry but that's unavoidable. Just be grateful that because you live in the West, you have freedom to wear whatever you like.
I have many arguments to this but i will stick with just one. I think it is incredibly disrespectful to ME for you to dress this way. Why? You dress this way because you do not want a mans eyes on your body, you do not want me to look at you and see you in a remotely sexual way. What your saying is that you don't think i'm capable of look at you in any other than a sexual way. You don't give me the credit, the ability or even the chance to look at you in any way other than a slab of meat. If you took time to ask the women i work with if i'm like that i will guarentee they will say no. I work with women and i have many women work for me, i also have many female friends and you are saying as a man i'm incapable of seeing them and their bodies in the way i should. Your treating every man on this planet automatically as a letch, your saying every one of us will look at your cleavage, your legs, etc, etc without doing what every decent woman would do first and that is to give us a chance. They say innocent until proven guilty but in your eyes every man is guilty. Try this one then... What if every man who met you anytime, anywhere took off his watch and hid his wallet because we all thought you were a thief?!!! They don't know you, they know nothing about you but they all say you are a thief, your not to be trusted, you will steal from us and so they will hide their money every time they came near you. How would that make you feel inside? The fact your being instantly judged and convicted before you've met them, before you've walked past them or said a single word? That's just what your doing to us. It's disrespecful to us and in fact, your opinion of men is appalling!
First off, I’ve seen many wearing Muslim attire as you say (though the veil is very uncommon, I admit) , and I’ve never seen them ‘abused’ because of it. They’re treated like everyone else, from what I’ve seen. Are you sure it’s not a martyr complex on your part? You also should realize that wearing such things in the West “to not draw attention to yourself” is going to backfire. Even if people like your clothes, it’s going to draw attention because it’s something different from what 99% of other people are wearing. It could be good attention paid, or bad, but there’s going to be more attention paid ;) Anyways, wearing a particular clothing item because of a religion that’s not based in evidence or facts seems rather strange to me. If people decided to wear togas in honor of Zeus, I wouldn’t make fun of them, or stop them, so long as they kept their religious beliefs to themselves. But I’d still think it was strange as well as thinking their beliefs are unfounded.
Ignorance and fear of things that are different. It's a shame people can't shut their mouths and open their minds.
1- Media. 2- Ignorance. 3- Islamophobia. 4- Stereotype and racism. 5- Typical American stupidity.
In my part of the world (Northern Europe) at high latitudes, there is a medical need to absorb as much Vitamin D from the sun as possible during the long warm summer days, to make up for the lack of it in those dark winters. We have evolved fair skins that blocks out as little sunlight as possible. It is in our nature therefore (and true throughout Scandinavia, Germanic lands and Russia) to strip off when we can, and think nothing of it. Islam barely penetrated that far north. Indeed were Ramadan to occur in summer at high latitudes, there might be a serious epidemic of eating disorders brought on by starvation for 18, 19 or 20 hours, and then bingeing at midnight. We are worried about Muslim athletes at the London Olympic Games in July 2012, since this will take place during Ramadan. It is therefore unusual to elect to overdress during summer, and it can make other people feel self-conscious about their own nakedness, necessary for good health here. The issue over the burqa is simply that to cover one's face so that one cannot be recognised is regarded highly suspiciously. It is not limited to some Muslim women - hoodies have got a bad reputation for the same reason. I personally feel the veil undermines the Prophet's (PBUH) teachings somewhat, since a Muslim woman's beauty becomes concentrated and intensified in the few bits that are showing, such as the eyes.
any culture different then our own culture is percieved as different or strange. some people try to make an effort of accepting the differences and respecting the other cultures. but sadly there are many that just make fun of the other cultures.
Why do you choose to live somewhere like this. If you want to be in the majority then move to an Islamic country. I never understand why you people want everything changed to suit you. This is the west. If you want something different then move.
when you got to the part of the western becoming a lap dancer, porn star, glamor model I stopped reading because of the pre fed information; those sort of people are not of the norm and most people look down on them. It is a very sad industry that those poor women are trapped into , it is not a chosen life style but a trip down to destruction. It is not ok in the west for people to walk around half dressed...we do not like it and even got rid of the cable/satellite network because of the tv programs of boobs and trash!! it is very easy to dress modestly and not show anything, the idiots that lear and google at women have a mental problem . they need the punishment and horse blinders!! If you feel that you must wear that, then do not be offended when security issues come up. Bad people barrow the garment and us it as a cover to commit crimes. Which is very bad. Years ago there were a number of bank robberies done by people wearing nun habits. Today most Nuns can chose to dress modestly and not wear the habit. No matter how a person dresses today there are creeps out there that no garment is a protection from them; if you chose to wear or not to wear that should be your own choice and no one or a government should have the right or the authority to say anything about it.( except for the security issues)
It will never cease to amaze me how easily you Muslim women are yolked by your insecure narrow minded husbands, this has nothing to do with your religion nor anything to do with sharing your beauty for your family, it's cultural insecurity.
You have dressed your question up quite nicely portraying your self as some kind of victim, but in reality all you are doing is insulting western civilisation, western women and our western culture, a culture that YOU choose to live in, and enjoy the freedom of. I have absolutely no sympathy for you and with this barrage of insults that you have directed at us I can only hope that you crawl back to the oppressive society that spawned you.
Its because of ignorance, lack of knowledge, lack of respect for one self and typical western arrogance when it comes to the beliefs and practices of other people.
It might just be your area, you know? Where I live and at my college there are more muslim girls than any other religion and most of them wear clothes that cover them, and almost every one wears the headscarf. It's nothing remarkable to me, I kind of understand why you do it. The area I live in, nearly all the western/not musim girls wear tiny skirts and nothing under them (I don't mean knickers, they probably wear those, haha!) and I get funny looks because I at least wear dark tights if I have a skirt on. I think it depends on the fashion where you live and how many muslim girls there are there; the more you see it, the more you get used to it, right?
I told you this yesterday "When in Rome do as the Romans do". Muslims chose to come to Western countries, they should try to fit in. Many of you won't .. that's annoying to the native population. You seem to think you should get special treatment & privileges .. which no Westerner would get in a muslim country. Hence you are hypocrites. I was in a shopping centre in Manchester recently and found it had a "prayer room" - I bet only muslims were allowed to use it! How many churches, Hindu or Sikh temples in Saudi Arabia? What "special" treatment do non-muslims get there? If you don't like the way you are treated here, leave. Nobody forces you to remain here. Go to a muslim country. Live there. You will not be missed, some nice Polish people can take your place.
western people are so close minded,i hope one day they learn to realise that muslim people are just people that dont wanna do wrong things and end up in hell for doing wrong in this world! we are just normal people that cover ourselves..i mean i dont see anything wrong with that?..dunno why u people do. we are not harming anyone by covering our body!!!
Abused? I don't recall anybody I've ever known, or who I've grown up with here as having abused a muslim who covers themselves up. Most of us know it's a cultural thing, and most don't care what you do. The only thing that is a worry to us here, are terrorists of course, and some may judge you for what you wear based on that (fairly or unfairly).
Because it's not something they are used to. And fyi, not everybody is like that, only ignorant people and bigots.
Intolerance.