Changing the Way the World Sees the Hijab

For my research I conducted a literature review on perceptions of the hijab in Western

society and Muslim majority countries. I also investigated social media sites such as Twitter,
Instagram, and blogging sites to see how Muslim women use social media as a tool to challenge
negative stereotypes around the hijab. Thesis Statement: Muslim women face many stereotypes
associated with their choice to wear the hijab but actively work to change how the West and the
world at large perceive the hijab through social media and fashion.
In the West, the hijab is associated with oppression and extremism. As a clear visual
indicator of Islam, women who wear the hijab are targets for Islamophobia and often find
themselves facing harassment and discrimination (Selod, 2014). However, Muslim women are
actively trying to fight such harmful stereotypes by purposefully wearing the hijab to show that
not all Muslims are bad, using the visibility of the hijab to portray a positive image of Islam
(Tariq-munir, 2014). Muslim women are also using social media to disseminate this message on
a larger scale, with hijabi fashion blogs and Instagram accounts being particularly influential.
Hijab as fashion has a great influence on Western perceptions simply by offering increased
exposure to images of women in hijabs, and also by placing the hijab in the positive context of
fashion and beauty as opposed to the harmful context of politics and terrorism within which
Westerns so often frame discussions around the hijab. Fashion is an incredibly important tool for
Muslim women to normalize the appearance of the hijab in Western society, remove the negative
context associated with most discussion of the hijab in the West, and fight against negative
stereotypes that are often held not just in the West, but by many people all around the world.
Discrimination against women who wear the hijab does not occur only in the West, but
sometimes in Muslim majority countries as well. One Pakistani woman reports her family

considers a woman who wears the hijab as somebody who is not educated and who is not
independent (Tariq-munir, 2014). Female managers in the United Arab Emirates face similar
sentiments, with one woman reporting that her choice to wear the niqab made her ineligible for
promotion since it didnt conform to the companys modern image (Omair, 2009). Muslim
women are fighting against these stereotypes by using fashion and social media to show how the
hijab can be adapted to the modern world, while still holding on to tradition. In Malaysia the
hijab is increasingly being marketed as a high-fashion luxury item for the rich and famous in an
attempt to challenge negative stereotypes. In 2014, popular Malaysian designer Vivy Yuso began
a line of chic, luxury hijabs that she promoted on her blog and social media accounts, helping to
spread the image of the hijab as modern and fashionable throughout the country (Thean, 2015).
Dubai fashion CEO/blogger Melanie Elturk also uses social media to promote hijabi fashion and
clearly emphasizes how important it is to hold on to traditional values and promote traditional
Emirati culture in an increasingly globalized country (Elturk, 2014). This trending demand for
Islamic fashion abroad directly affects the West, too. Mainstream Western companies such as
Dolce and Gabbana and Tommy Hilfiger, for example, have jumped in on the growing Islamic
fashion market and recently released hijab fashion collections, which many see as a step forward
in the acceptance of the hijab in Western society (El-Yacoubi, 2016).
Presenting the hijab as fashion has greatly influenced how many people perceive the
hijab both in the West and abroad. Westerners are coming into increased contact with images of
the hijab and now have a new way in which to discuss the hijab outside of its usual, negative
political context, while those in Muslim majority societies are learning to see the hijab as modern
yet still a part of societys traditional values. Thanks to fashion, Muslim women have been able
to challenge many of the negative stereotypes of the hijab in the West and all around the world.

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