Balaclava & Co. are very trendy - why are Muslim women like me still discriminated because we wear hijab?

Balaclava hats trend vs. hijab: Why do we still measure clothes with two levels?

It is difficult to imagine that a piece of clothing is more political and controversial than the hijab - and as a woman who has decided to cover her hair for over a decade, I also know that.

It is different with headgear that is very similar to the hijab at first glance - Balaclavas as well as scarves and triangular towels that are worn as a capacity. They have been in a knitted form and in bright colors for a while the ITthe fashion professionals - and also with theTo see everywhere again in 2025.

Now you might think: Balaclavas & Co. are nothing more than hijabs made of wool that cover the hair and neck, like Muslimdo for centuries. And yet the trend of the Balaclava and triangular towels has nothing with realto do for those for which it is part of the culture. Because the excitement about hijabs is as omnipresent as ever.

The question is: When is a headgear a controversial piece of clothing - in the eyes of some even opents and patriarchal - and when is it fashionable and trendy?

Since I decided to wear hijab at the age of fifteen, I have been repeatedly discriminated against because I am visible Muslim. I was racially insulted on the street, hastily sorted out during interviews and even had to say goodbye to some friendships that I actually thought were to last for a lifetime.

To date, I have to stand on the street in Europe and sometimes let me endure threats of violence. All just because I meanCover? No. Because a look at Balaclavas & Co. shows that the hatred that makes us Muslim women on us every day was never about covering our hair. But about what the hijab stands for in the perspective of xenophobia: inside.

One of the most common allegations with which women wearing hijab are confronted with is that we can hardly have decided to cover our hair and body ourselves. Apparently we must have undergone brainwashing through an outdated patriarchal religion or a controlling father or husband to act.

I even experienced that strangers came to me on the bus and told me that I would not need “that” in Great Britain because women were “free here”.

Therefore also has that ofwhiteWomen dominated mainstream feminism claims that their fight against the headscarf is a struggle for the freedom of women-and views us as the ultimate anti-feminists. They are such feminist: inside that do nothing against the bans and partial bans prevailing in Europe (also inDeutschlandIf a headscarf at the workplace is prohibited under certain, “operational” circumstances), but the hair in an Insta video is effective in an insta video..

Muslim women with a headscarf like me are exposed to a double threat: Islamophobia and misogyny in one. Our hijabs make us a strange threat that is persecuted and outlawed by the police, but also to submissive victims that need to be saved. This constant criticism and conviction is exhausting and harmful.

It's not new, but it hurts to see when aAgain reminds of how arbitrarily women and their clothes are divided into “problematic” and “trendy”. Because ultimately the Balaclava trend is also about thatwhiteWestern women are granted as a matter of course that they choose their wardrobe for themselves and that Muslim women are kept in the supposed victim role.

This unequal measure of what is sociallywhite,western women and Muslim women are brought up, we see not only in the current street style and the Balaclavas, but also with great ones-Events such as the. For the event appearedIn a look that covered your entire body including face, andIt is celebrated to bring silk headscarves back that even women in Eastern Europe have been wearing for generations.

If it is cool to cover yourself when you are called Kim, but problematic if you called Khadija, what does that tell us? In short: headgear are considered modest, stylish or progressive if they are worn by beauty icons in history such as Audrey Hepburn or Kim K., but not if they are carried by women with whose culture you have a political problem.

The irony is: I actually like the Balaclava trend. I find him aesthetic and cool - they also hold-Kützen with-Extension inwonderfully warm. And there are also Muslim women who wear and celebrate the trend.

Be trendy and follow our belief? It could hardly be better. And if you see the trend on the street now, you almost have the feeling that the cover we wear Muslim women a little normalized.

However, the fact that this is a hope that is probably disappointed show recent debates, such as the headscarf ban onin Paris. There can still be so many women in trendy hats, wander through the French fashion metropolis. As long as there are people who are interested in taking advantage of Muslim women as characters for their own political game, fashion will not make us freer either.

This article comes from our glamor college: inside from UK.