Race and Politics
It’s “I’m a feminist” until a woman wears a niqab
Ever since I was a kid growing up in Canada, old white men have been trying to tell me my culture’s clothing is criminal. Enough is enough!
When people call themselves feminists, what do they mean? For a long time, I was of the assumption that being a feminist meant being an angry, white woman who hated men within her core. Pretty cliche, right? It took me a long time to figure out why it was that I was so wrong about feminism when I was younger. Recently, a light went off in my head.
I couldn’t relate to most of what I was being taught in college. All the women we studied were white, of European descent, cis, and from a certain class. There were no studies of Bell Hooks, Patricia Hill Collins, or Angela Davis. There was no Black Feminist Thought or any nuanced look at women outside of the White cultural Gaze.
I had to educate myself, away from academia, for my views on feminism to evolve, and I have so much to learn.
Most of my (feminist) “education” in school was boxed in between early protofeminism in Europe (nothing about Islamic scholars or matriarchal societies in Indigenous tribes across the world) and second-wave feminism. The Suffragettes were celebrated as heroes but nothing was mentioned about their exclusion of Black women or Susan B. Anthony’s questionable idea that a white woman should have gotten the right to vote before a Black man. We studied the history of feminism through a white, Western lens, all the while ignoring women of colour as contributors of feminist theory throughout history, and not just as a reaction to white feminism, but as founding members.
Women are used to having their stories written for them. It is rare that we are afforded the same thought and care to write our history as white men are. However, even if our voices are noticeably absent throughout history, this doesn’t mean that we didn’t make our history.
France, Switzerland, Quebec…oh my!
France has been in the news lately for their swift rejection of Afghan refugees following the unsurprising collapse of Aghanistan under Taliban rule, following two decades of more pointless intervention from the United States (Issue coming up on France’s role in global imperialism soon.) Part of my annoyance with France is based on their deliberate attack on Muslim women’s right to wear whatever the f*ck they want, all while claiming to be a champion for equal rights. They just proposed even more restrictive policies aimed at girls under 18. If it passes, these young women will not be able to be seen in public unless their head is uncovered. This sounds like something out of a science fiction novel. Even the United Nations Humans Rights Council said that France was violating freedom of religion. Then again, I think the head of the United Nations Humans Rights Council might be Saudi Arabia, soooo, it’s not like they have much leg to stand on.
Hypocrisy at its finest, everywhere you look.
But honestly, it’s easy to see why France is violating freedom of religion. Are you seriously telling an entire group of women who adhere to a certain faith that either they expose themselves or become hermits? We already saw the whole burkini fiasco, when police officers ordered a woman to remove her clothing on a beach in France. Imagine a gang of police officers forcefully shoving women to the ground and violently removing their items of clothing in the name of the law.
Is this the feminism that the West dreams of?
Take a look at this sh*t. This poster was used in a political campaign in March of 2021. What do you suppose a poster like this is attempting to evoke to the average person in Switzerland, where it was used in an election campaign? The country is 75% white, 65% Christian and only 5% Muslim. Judging from this, the angry and vaguely violent looking, brown-skinned Muslim woman is a real urgent threat. An invasion is happening. So much so that it needs to be part of an entire political campaign specifically aimed at the clothes she wears. Those scary black fits. They don’t like that. They can hide Sharia law under there!
And, living in Quebec, I know how quickly the French Canadian province is eager to follow big daddy France when it comes to their xenophobic lawmaking. Just in case you weren’t aware, you cannot be a teacher, judge, police officer or public servant in Quebec if you wear a hijab, kippa or turban. Two of my nieces wear hijab, and they are literally being raised in a society that’s telling them they can’t be teachers or in any position of authority. That’s messed up. I don’t see many so-called feminists in the West championing against this archaic and incredibly racist law, which was upheld as recently as April of this year.
When it comes to crying out about the fate of Afghan women and sharing old and out-of-context pictures of Afghan women with mini skirts from the 1970s, white people are experts. But when laws are being passed in their own countries about women NOT being allowed to cover their heads, it’s complete silence. When the Taliban forbid women from having a job, it’s a public outcry, and rightfully so. When the party you voted for literally made it illegal for hijabi women to basically participate in society as public servants, it’s “Well I’m a feminist, but I support that.”
Feminism is cool as long as you don’t cover up too much? Where’s the consistency?
Muslim women, including those who wear hijab, niqab, or not, continuously show up to support women’s rights and do so with pride. As a response to these hijab bans, the Hands off my Hijab campaign took off after model Rawdah Mohamed posted a photo of herself with the slogan written on her hand.
Women, and more specifically Muslim women, have seen their identity exploited for election campaigns time and time again. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve listened and watched and heard the debate about “Should women have the right to wear the veil” living here in Quebec. Am I going to have to be the one to ask? How come these laws always leave WASP men unscathed? While life-changing and harmful against those the law claims to help, none of these laws affects these men in the slightest. No white Christian man will ever have to sit down and take a hard look at what career options are denied to him because of how he chooses to express his faith through his clothing.
Culture vs Religion
And what about the cross? The Christian symbol is literally plastered in every government building across Quebec, outside most schools, and probably wherever you are, if you live in a “Christian” country. It’s even perched atop one of Montreal’s most iconic touristic attractions, the Mount Royal.
But it isn’t religious, right? It’s culture. White people are afforded the claim of “culture” when it comes to crosses in public spaces. Why is wearing a cross necklace a cultural symbol, but wearing a hijab a crime? Where does the line end?
To me, it’s never been about women’s freedom. It’s about controlling a woman’s body, and, more specifically, a marginalized woman’s body. A foreign body. An Other body. You don’t trust her culture. You don’t trust her faith. You don’t trust her to make her own choices. You don’t want her to make her own choices.
You don’t understand why she would choose modesty over showing her body to you. You don’t understand why she would show her body publically, and this action not be for you.
You don’t want to live in a world where your gaze isn’t the one everyone else has to accept without question. You are the world’s number one consumer. And all you do is either consume or whitewash our culture.
I say enough is enough.
Leave us the hell alone.
