Rising Islamophobia drove many Muslim women to adopt the hijab in protest.

Evidence

The Islamic headscarf has always been a powerful symbol of Muslim women’s defiance against the male gaze, against colonialism, and against Islamophobia as we know it today. Now in the West, it has become a racially politicized garment; there is every reason to think it will sadly remain at the center of a sociopolitical tug-of-war for the foreseeable future. — Arsalan Iftikhar, Fear of a Muslim Planet_ Global…, 454 (#expands, via linked claim)

Nasreen, a forty-­two-­year-­old Palestinian American and mother of five, said that before she started wearing the hijab, she sometimes passed for white or a white ethnic, like an Italian or Greek. Once she started wearing it, she had some interesting experiences with her neighbors, who she considered to be her friends. After 9/11, the father of her son’s neighborhood friend would come over and engage her in conversation about religion. She felt he was trying to persuade her to give up her religious beliefs. He would try to convince her to take off the hijab. He said, “But you’re so good, Nasreen. You’re so good. And why do you have to put that on? It’s not making you better. It’s ugly.” She told me that his wife did not like her because she wore the hijab. She said her son’s friend would tell her stories of what his mother said about her. He told her his mother said, “She’s white. She’s an American. Why the hell does she have this on?” Another neighbor, an older white woman, said she would be more beautiful without the hijab. — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 404 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim
• XREF: connects to: Hijab converts white-passing women into racialized outsiders — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 404; The hijab marks Muslim women instantly and provokes hostile public encounters; Fear of violence after terror attacks places hijab-wearing women under house arrest. (+2 more)

Related

• The hijab functions as Islam’s most provocative symbol in Western public discourse. (similarity 0.88)
• Wearing the hijab shifts how Muslim women are racially perceived and treated (similarity 0.88)
• The hijab functions as a symbol of defiance against colonialism and Islamophobia (similarity 0.87)
• The hijab marks Muslim women instantly and provokes hostile public encounters (similarity 0.87)
• Hijab-wearers and mosques both symbolize Islam’s threat and face violence (similarity 0.86)
• Fear of violence after terror attacks places hijab-wearing women under house arrest. (similarity 0.85)
• Hijab converts white-passing women into racialized outsiders (similarity 0.85)
• Muslim men escape stranger harassment but women in hijabs do not (similarity 0.85)
• Hijab-wearing women self-impose house arrest out of safety fear (similarity 0.84)
• Gendered Islamophobia imposes the most distorted stereotypes on veiled Muslim women. (similarity 0.84)
• The hijab makes Muslim women visible targets of displaced anti-terror anger (similarity 0.84)
• Muslim women are simultaneously attacked as threats and pitied as victims (similarity 0.84)
• Muslim women are disproportionately targeted because hijabs make them most visibly Muslim (similarity 0.84)
• Western discourse displaces Muslim threats onto obsessing over women’s clothing (similarity 0.84)
• The oppressor stereotype itself oppresses hijab-wearing women. (similarity 0.84)

Broader Connections

• The hijab functions as a symbol of defiance against colonialism and Islamophobia #expands (0.80) — Arsalan Iftikhar, Fear of a Muslim Planet_ Global…, 454
• Gendered Islamophobia imposes the most distorted stereotypes on veiled Muslim women. #expands (0.45)
• Hijab converts white-passing women into racialized outsiders #complicates (0.40) — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 404
• The hijab marks Muslim women instantly and provokes hostile public encounters #complicates (0.35)
• Fear of violence after terror attacks places hijab-wearing women under house arrest. #complicates (0.35)