Wearing the hijab shifts how Muslim women are racially perceived and treated

Evidence

Maryam, a Syrian American, told me she passed for white before she decided to wear the hijab. She grew up in a small Midwestern town where hers was one of only a few Muslim and Arab families. Growing up, she said her family was never overtly religious. They used to celebrate the major Muslim holidays, but other than that, culture played a more prominent role in her family’s everyday life than religion. Maryam did not have Muslim friends in high school, but at college in Chicago, she began to meet other Muslims, and this strengthened her interest in Islam. As a result, she started to wear the hijab, which is when she recognized her status as white beginning to change. — Saher Selod, Forever Suspect_ Racialized…, 145 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Islamophobic stereotypes of Muslims form a closed gendered loop. — Carl W. Ernst, Islamophobia in America_ The Anatomy of…, 487; Changing European society, not Muslim women, drove the oppression image; American-born Muslim women are assaulted for being recognizably Muslim (+33 more)

Related

• The hijab marks Muslim women instantly and provokes hostile public encounters (similarity 0.92)
• Removing the hijab restored women’s ability to pass for white (similarity 0.91)
• Hijab converts white-passing women into racialized outsiders (similarity 0.90)
• Wearing the hijab strips Arab women of their perceived whiteness (similarity 0.90)
• The hijab overrides whiteness as a racializing agent on any wearer. (similarity 0.90)
• Wearing the hijab is read as surrendering whiteness and citizenship standing (similarity 0.90)
• Ordinary fashion choices become racial markers on hijabi bodies (similarity 0.89)
• Arabs classified as white lose that status upon wearing the hijab (similarity 0.89)
• Gender shapes both how Muslims are racialized and how they respond (similarity 0.89)
• The hijab signals foreignness so strongly it overrides ethnicity and skin tone (similarity 0.89)
• Women alter dress to escape the citizen gaze, not male oppression (similarity 0.88)
• Removing the hijab lets Muslim women regain individual identity and escape racialized scrutiny (similarity 0.88)
• Converting to Islam or wearing the hijab causes loss of whiteness privileges (similarity 0.88)
• The hijab rather than skin tone triggers racializing surveillance of Muslim women (similarity 0.88)
• The hijab functions like skin tone by marking bodies as racial others (similarity 0.88)

Broader Connections

• Wearing the hijab is read as surrendering whiteness and citizenship standing #corroborates (0.85)
• Wearing the hijab strips Arab women of their perceived whiteness #expands (0.80) — Saher Selod, Forever Suspect_ Racialized…, 145
• Muslim women alter dress and demeanor to counter surveillance-based stereotypes. #expands (0.70)
• Muslim women carry the burden of dismantling racialized myths through daily behavior #expands (0.60)
• Gender shapes both how Muslims are racialized and how they respond #expands (0.60)
• Muslim women alter their dress in response to fellow citizens’ surveillance, not male oppression #expands (0.60)