Anticipated hostility makes Muslims alter dress and public identity strategically

Evidence

I do wear Muslim clothes occasionally, for example, when I go to the mosque but in general I don’t, mainly for political reasons. If I were to wear it, it would create further division. People already see Muslims as different. I know I will suffer hostility for wearing it so I don’t wear it. I don’t look like a Muslim 100 per cent because I don’t wear it all the time but I do have a beard so people realise I’m a Muslim.’ (Hamza) Mohammad also stated that ‘My postman would not deliver my post because I am Muslim. — Irene Zempi and Imran Awan, Islamophobia, 187

Categorization

• SHARE: The beard as an unremovable cue while clothing is chosen for safety is a sharp, specific detail.
• XREF: Directly rhymes with the reader’s article on immodest dress as political signaling — here dress itself is strategic signalling under threat. — connects to: Islamic converts show drastic observable lifestyle changes before embracing extremism — Ryan Andrew Brown, Todd C. Helmus, Rajeev Ramchand, Alina I. Palimaru, Sarah Weilant, Ashley L. Rhoades, and Liisa Hiatt (RAND Corporation), Violent Extremism in America:…, 379