Sports Illustrated features Muslim model in Hijab

[ReplacementPelican]

Someone on Twitter was arguing that in a lot of places you won't be able to wear hijabs and burkas that are so fashionable and colorful, and women are mainly forced to wear black ones

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Where? This isn't true in America or the West in general so why does it matter? Islam isn't a monolith and if this woman wants to show off and celebrate her Muslim heritage by dressing this way and being in this magazine incidentally as a Muslim then why does it matter? It's a shaky premise for a thread.

 

[Deleted member 16876]

Women being forced to wear hijab is strictly cultural. Nothing to do with Islam. Infact hijab wasn't even Islamic and came before Islam itself.

If a woman wants to wear a hijab then that's up to her and only her.

 

[Zelas]

Someone on Twitter was arguing that in a lot of places you won't be able to wear hijabs and burkas that are so fashionable and colorful, and women are mainly forced to wear black ones

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Maybe this is a step towards changing that. This is a good thing.

It will also help educate anti religion people who insist these women all have no free will.

 

[Snack12367]

It's a step in the right direction.

 

[Deleted member 5127]

I honestly think it's tasteless. It's empowering only on the surface, in the end, it leads to normalizing a method of oppressing women and their right to be whoever they want to be.

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Agreed, a majority of women world wide are still oppressed by the hijab, the minority that wear it out of free will doesn't change that.

This only muddles the water on this issue.

 

[Antrax]

Someone on Twitter was arguing that in a lot of places you won't be able to wear hijabs and burkas that are so fashionable and colorful, and women are mainly forced to wear black ones

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Sure, but that's not an issue with Islam, it's a problem with those places.

This is kinda the issue with a lot of critiques of the Middle East and Islam. People conflate the two, but there are things that aren't inherently Islamic but are instead just cultural problems in specific countries that happen to be majority Islamic.

For an American example, see the Deep South and Christianity. A lot of overlap, but there are Southern things that aren't Christian and Christian things that aren't Southern.

So here we have a Muslim woman who feels empowered by her hijab (if you've heard a woman talk positively about a head covering, they have the same effect as somebody who wears a cross on their neck or a rosary. It's a calming thing). That's a good thing! And if someone doesn't wanna wear one, that should be okay too. It's just important to recognize that it isn't Islam that does these heinous things to women, but people in the political ruling class of certain countries.

 

[GhostTrick]

I honestly think it's tasteless. It's empowering only on the surface, in the end, it leads to normalizing a method of oppressing women and their right to be whoever they want to be.

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Yeah but a lot of women actually wants to wear it, for their own personal reasons and belief. It doesn't mean it's okay to force them to wear it. It's not okay either to claim they're oppressed when they want to and that they should remove it.

Agreed, a majority of women world wide are still oppressed by the hijab, the minority that wear it out of free will doesn't change that.

This only muddles the water on this issue.

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A lot of women are oppressed and forced to wear it. But it doesn't mean it's okay to oppress and force the women who decide to wear it. Basically what we want is to let women chose to do so or not.

 

[Deleted member 16876]

Agreed, a majority of women world wide are still oppressed by the hijab, the minority that wear it out of free will doesn't change that.

This only muddles the water on this issue.

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How do you know it is the minority that wear it out of choice?

 

[plagiarize]

Agreed, a majority of women world wide are still oppressed by the hijab, the minority that wear it out of free will doesn't change that.

This only muddles the water on this issue.

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Conflating hijab and mandatory burka laws muddies the water here more than anything else.

This woman is choosing to dress this way. Sports Illustrated are choosing to feature her.

It has nothing to do with what terrible regimes in other countries are doing.

Or put it another way, should nobody be featured in headscarves or just Muslim women?

 

[Kill3r7]

I am not sure this makes sense in the SI swimsuit edition.

She looks great.

 

[jeelybeans]

Why can't she be allowed to wear what she wants and feel comfortable and beautiful?

I was conflicted about this as well being a Muslim who was raised in the west and considered myself progerssive. This helped simplify it for me a lot (I'm also a man so wtf do I know):

Really disappointed in all the people in this thread trying to tell this woman what she should or should not wear and why it's right or wrong. lol

 

[Radeo]

The only real issue is that it's in a porn mag

 

[UnpopularBlargh]

Muslims aren't a monolith. Not all follow the religion 1:1.

Also the women in Iran aren't agaisnt the hijab. They're against being forced to wear the hijab.

 

[effingvic]

Halima is amazing.

 

[EloquentM]

Her photos are dope.

Slayven can we put her name in the title though?

Edit: WOAH what the hell is happening in this thread lmao

 

[AcademicSaucer]

looks slightly less loose than what some of the athletes were wearing at the olympics, that should help them perform better

 

[HighResTomato]

I honestly think it's tasteless. It's empowering only on the surface, in the end, it leads to normalizing a method of oppressing women and their right to be whoever they want to be.

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What in the fak are you even saying.

 

[Jag]

Is the person in the OP and the Olympic photo wearing a birqua or hijab? Or do the labels not matter and it's more about covering all the skin except the face?

 

[dallow_bg]

The bathing suit itself is pretty ugly. I've never liked patchwork block coloring.
Are there any pics with different suits?

 

[Pixel Grotto]

She is very beautiful and I think this is fine. It's Sports Illustrated featuring another culture and promoting diversity. If anything, the Sports Illustrated swimsuit mag is already an outdated thing designed to titillate, so if this is generating some thought then I can't see it to be a bad thing.

 

[Radeo]

The bathing suit itself is pretty ugly. I've never liked patchwork block coloring.
Are there any pics with different suits?

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[Alice]

What in the fak are you even saying.

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You mean the Hijab isn't a sign of oppression? Is that why women in Iran are celebrating getting rid of them?

It's something introduced to Islamic faith by Patriarchal beliefs as a way to control Women in the eye of men. Yes, some women choose to wear it, that doesn't mean it isn't what it is. Feminism doesn't criticise it without reason.

I don't see anything empowering in it, or about it.

Like I said, on one hand, this promotes diversity, open mindedness and empowerment, on the other hand, it does it with a symbol that actually has nothing to do with empowerment. It's perfectly normal to see and recognize the weird dualism.

A lot of women are oppressed and forced to wear it. But it doesn't mean it's okay to oppress and force the women who decide to wear it. Basically what we want is to let women chose to do so or not.

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And this is fine, too. If someone truly chooses to wear it, more power to them, if they turn the symbol of "male ownership" around to something that actually empowers them, that's awesome. I just rarely see it actually argued like that.

 

[9-Volt]

Why, then, must there be a difference in the dress code of muslim and non-muslim women? The middle east is hot. People wear short clothes for a reason when it's hot and when they're at the beach. If you want skin protection you can use sunscreen and umbrellas.

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Actually, there shouldn't be difference between Muslim and non-muslim dress code. If a country is run by Muslim leaders, non Muslim population is also subject to dress code.

Ottoman Empire is the best example of this. At its best, Muslim population was no more than 65% of the population and there were some "mild" dressing laws. Hijab was not mandatory, but when a woman encountered a non relative man, she needed to cover her mouth with a handkerchief. And this applied to both Muslim and Christian women of the empire. When Ottoman nobles invited to events in foreign countries like Venice or Spain, they asked event holders to have the local women there to dress conservatively and they usually complied.

In later years dress code was completely abandoned.

 

[Cation]

The hijab has an interesting dichotomy nowadays

- In countries that mandate it/social standard is to wear it - it is discussed as oppression

- In countries that ban it/not the standard - it is discussed as freedom

Since this is sports illustrated - it clearly is for the latter audience in this case

 

[Kisaya]

I hope Western media stops pandering to Muslim by putting hijab as their headline. I understand that for many Muslim women, hijab is important part of their identity, but if the West wants more progressive Islam then they should also empower millions of Muslim women who choose to not wear hijab. Hijab is no longer a symbol of oppression. In many Muslim countries, women who do not wear hijab actually feeling shamed socially.

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☝🏽 as a former hijab-wearing Muslim, this.

 

[Alice]

The hijab has an interesting dichotomy nowadays

- In countries that mandate it/social standard is to wear it - it is discussed as oppression

- In countries that ban it/not the standard - it is discussed as freedom

Since this is sports illustrated - it clearly is for the latter audience in this case

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Exactly this. It might be one of the most muddled issues one can face within the pro-diversity and feminism spectrum.

 

[StrangerDanger]

Why can't she be allowed to wear what she wants and feel comfortable and beautiful?

I was conflicted about this as well being a Muslim who was raised in the west and considered myself progerssive. This helped simplify it for me a lot (I'm also a man so wtf do I know):

Really disappointed in all the people in this thread trying to tell this woman what she should or should not wear and why it's right or wrong. lol

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This picture is basically it.

 

[SugarNoodles]

Someone on Twitter was arguing that in a lot of places you won't be able to wear hijabs and burkas that are so fashionable and colorful, and women are mainly forced to wear black ones

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I think the takehome here is that you should stop viewing Muslims strictly through the lens of what someone on Twitter told you about the way things are in "a lot of places"

 

[Fatoy]

She's a good-looking woman.

Given the audience this publication is aimed at, I don't think any of the potential downsides (making a fashion statement of something that's used as the opposite in some countries) really matter, and broadly speaking it's probably a good thing for people to ogle a different kind of person than they'd normally be exposed to.

 

[Gunny T Highway]

Though I have issue with why females historically had to wear the Hijab in the first place, this is a great step forward. I have no issue for those women who still wear it as an identity though.

 

[Ziltoidia 9]

If that's what she wants, then everyone should support her wearing it. If she is "required" to by a man, then the opposite should occur.

 

[Deleted member 47942]

Representation is good but I'm hesitant to believe that the SI Swimsuit Issue of all places is doing it in good faith.

This seems to me a similar situation to a few years ago when they used Ashley Graham to feature "plus size" models - a move that was panned as a publicity stunt.

 

[Mona]

i honestly expected her to be wearing a hijab & a bikini when i came in the thread

in hindsight that was a pretty foolish expectation

 

[Woozies]

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CNN did her dirty, this the pic I knew and was weirded out by it not being the one in the OP.

Shit's flames

 

[ItsBobbyDarin]

Telling women they can't wear something isn't better than telling them they have to wear something.

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Exactly.

 

[Biske]

Seems awesome to me.

 

[Alice]

Telling women they can't wear something isn't better than telling them they have to wear something.

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No one's telling her she can't wear it, though. She can wear what she likes and what she wants. That doesn't mean it isn't okay to criticise the Hijab when then the topic comes up.

 

[molnizzle]

I was under the impression that this wouldn't be compatible with Islam, but I'm also not Muslim, so what the fuck do I know?

Attractive lady.

 

[Mona]

I was under the impression that this wouldn't be compatible with Islam, but I'm also not Muslim, so what the fuck do I know?

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a person's personal religion is whatever they want it to be, its why some peoples' jesus hates homosexuals and another's loves them, neither view is "incompatible" with christianity per say

 

[Deleted member 9479]

I'm not offended by this is any way but I'm definitely confused.

 

[DJ_Lae]

I think it's kind of neat.

But at the same time it's also weird that they've gone and made a progressive statement when the entire point of their swimsuit edition is to peddle attractive women wearing very little clothing.

 

[Deleted member 19066]

No one's telling her she can't wear it, though. She can wear what she likes and what she wants. That doesn't mean it isn't okay to criticise the Hijab when then the topic comes up.

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"She can wear a hijab and it's okay to criticize wearing a hijab."

I know that's not exactly what you mean, but by substituting the symbol (hijab) for the thing (laws/social norms restricting women's self-determination) is precisely what makes this discussion so unnecessarily complicated among western, non Muslim progressives.

 

[Alice]

"She can wear a hijab and it's okay to criticize wearing a hijab."

I know that's not exactly what you mean, but by substituting the symbol (hijab) for the thing (laws/social norms restricting women's self-determination) is precisely what makes this discussion so unnecessarily complicated among western, non Muslim progressives.

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How do you actually remove the symbol from the thing? I've never met someone who says they're wearing it for fashion, and once you're wearing it for religion, isn't instantly the symbol? I dunno, I feel uncomfortable shitting up the thread any further with this topic, and apologize if I've upset anyone with this discussion.

 

[The Artisan]

cool, another thread of white non-muslims men thinking they know better than the women themselves what value they should promote
this forum really needed another one of those

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There is no way of telling what the race and belief system is for everyone posting here unless they say as much.

 

[Huey]

Speaking as a non-muslim atheist, I think she should do whatever she wants.

 

[Deleted member 19066]

How do you actually remove the symbol from the thing? I've never met someone who says they're wearing it for fashion, and once you're wearing it for religion, isn't instantly the symbol? I dunno, I feel uncomfortable shitting up the thread any further with this topic, and apologize if I've upset anyone with this discussion.

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Sorry if I seemed harsh! I was just using you for an example of what I see as a broader issue. The core of the hijab dilemma is respecting women's right to self determination. I think if we focus on that value we stand on much firmer ground.

So something like this is... adjacent to the issue. It's just Sports Illustrated trying to go woke.

 

[Deleted member 11413]

I honestly think it's tasteless. It's empowering only on the surface, in the end, it leads to normalizing a method of oppressing women and their right to be whoever they want to be.

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What if she wants to be a person who wears hijab?

 

[Conciliator]

Different muslim groups and people believe and practice different things, as it turns out. Sort of like every other religion!

 

[Deleted member 11413]

a person's personal religion is whatever they want it to be, its why some peoples' jesus hates homosexuals and another's loves them, neither view is "incompatible" with christianity per say

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There is no theological support for 'Jesus hates homosexuals'.

 

[Shoot]

the minority that wear it out of free will

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Excuse me?