Veiling functions for converts as emancipatory protection from sexual objectification.
Evidence
Female Muslim converts refuse to be sexualized by Western society and thus don the veil as an emancipatory act of protection against the male gaze and mass consumption of female bodies in the public sphere. — Margaret Hodson, Baby Jihad, 45
Categorization
- FICTION: A Western convert choosing the veil as liberation rather than oppression inverts the familiar narrative and could anchor a character or essay.
- XREF: Connects to analyses of modesty, the male gaze, and Western media treatment of Muslim women. — connects to: The female body’s shaping inverted from seduction into tactical concealment — Frantz Fanon, A Dying Colonialism, 210; Many similar articles to Booth’s story have been written by women such as Theresa Corbin, a white convert living in New Orleans, Louisiana. Corbin wrote an article in 2014 for CNN titled “I’m a Feminist and I Converted to Islam.” Even the title of Corbin’s article addresses the Western misperception that feminism and Islam must be mutually exclusive. Like Booth, Corbin also admits to false notions about “oppressed” Muslim women. However, she came to realize that “Islam turned out to be the religion that appealed to [her] feminist ideals.” On the whole, Western audiences struggle to grasp the appeal of Islam for young white women such as Booth and Corbin. Even more shock is expressed at young American girls joining ISIS. According to a report from New America, one in seven American ISIS converts are women. 30% of these female converts are teenagers (Paquette 2015). Marie Saltman, a researcher at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, noted that female ISIS converts “are denying being sexual objects of the West…they refuse to be objectified. They use the veil so they cannot be sexualized” (Paquette 2015). Female Muslim converts refuse to be sexualized by Western society and thus don the veil as an emancipatory act of protection against the male gaze and mass consumption of female bodies in the public sphere.; The perceived threats posed by female Muslim converts challenge false stereotypes about oppressed Muslim women and create fear for nationalists by challenging Western societal norms of objectification of women. Objectification of women means the West hyper-sexualizing female bodies for mass consumption. (+4 more)