Some hijab-wearing women resist surveillance by reclaiming public space
Evidence
Because women who wear the hijab are incapable of hiding their religious identity in public, they are forced to deal with the public hostility, as I chronicled in chapter 3. Many Muslim women who wear the hijab have become more vigilant since 9/11 and subsequent terrorist attacks in Europe and the United States because the anger toward Muslims, with hate crimes and anti-Muslim violence, continues to rise. For Muslim women to avoid public spaces out of fear of physical and verbal abuse is understandable. However, as emphasized in Zara’s testimony, there has been an alternative response to a self-imposed house arrest: the conscientious decision to try claim a place in American society by showing the compatibility of a Muslim and American identity. — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 500
For Muslim women to avoid public spaces out of fear of physical and verbal abuse is understandable. However, as emphasized in Zara’s testimony, there has been an alternative response to a self-imposed house arrest: the conscientious decision to try claim a place in American society by showing the compatibility of a Muslim and American identity. For women like Zara, a Muslim identity did not impede one’s mobility in public, even if it inspired hate and potentially violence. By going to the garage sale immediately after 9/11, Zara tried to connect with the larger American public and show that she too was one of them, even if she was also a Muslim. This can be seen as an act of resistance to one’s hypersurveillance. — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 500
Categorization
- corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 500
- XREF: connects to: Women entered the resistance by invoking operational effectiveness against masculine secrecy — Frantz Fanon, A Dying Colonialism, 376; Women alter dress to escape the citizen gaze, not male oppression — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 521; The hostile gaze of fellow citizens pressures women to alter their dress. (+10 more)