Should American's cover up?

I first became interested in this topic of women’s fashions not only because I am majoring in retail merchandising, but a lecture I attended halfway through the quarter sparked my interest as well. The lecture, The Islam I Know, focused on the Muslim culture. Speaker Catherine Cutcher talked about the topic of veiling. This topic got me thinking about the negative associations with veiling and how women in different religions dress as well.

            Being more aware of how women in the other cultures dress has really changed my outlook on how American women dress. All of the women I studied in my blog dress modestly for themselves and for their God. They believe the body is special and should only be seen by their husbands, close family members, and God. American women jump at the chance to show a little more leg, more cleavage, and now showing off the back is considered sexy. If everyone can “see the goods” how are we keeping our bodies special for the ones that mean the most to us? Yes, I am guilty of wearing short shorts, low tanks, and exposing my body in a bikini at the beach; every girl is at some point or another, but we’ve been brought up in a world that doesn’t see the body as being special or a thing to be hidden from view. We see dressing skanky as a way to express our individuality, but it everyone is dressing this way are we really being an individual? One of the main problems in our society today is a young woman’s self-image. The way we dress is leading to eating disorders, hatred of our bodies, and way too much pressure on being perfect. By dressing modestly all the time, young girls wouldn’t have the pressures and would learn from a young age that all women are beautiful, not by the way they look, but because of their intellect and personality. This would lead to huge confidence boosts in our young girls.

            After researching how women dress from a Catholic Nun standpoint, an Amish and Mormon standpoint, and a Muslim’s standpoint, I think we should learn from them and take the time to think about the negative outcomes of having free range to dress how we want. The ability to cover one’s body is not a sign of oppression, but a sign of control over their bodies. If anything, American women are the ones being oppressed. Since we have say over what we wear, we have the mindset that we have to live up to something we aren’t, and be someone we aren’t. We need to start learning from other cultures and stop looking at them so negatively just because they are different than our own.

Why Muslim Women Cover?

In my last post, I cited a quote from a study done by Rachel Droogsma. Droogsma interviewed 13 Muslim women who currently reside in the United States. All of these women continue to wear a veil and Droogsma has interviewed each one about why they still continue to veil. Here are the reasons found in Droogsma’s study: Defines Muslim Identity, Behavior Check, Resists Objectification/Sexual Exploitation, Affords More Respect, Preserves Intimate Relationships, and as a Source of Freedom.

            First and foremost, the hijab functions as a visable marker of one’s identity as a Muslim (Droogsma, 301). It is a sure way to identify a woman as a Muslim without  needing to seek out further information. This can be a very powerful step in becoming Muslim, if one isn’t already. A sure way to feel connected with other Muslim women and instantly get respect from the community is to wear a veil, this is especially important if someone is converting to Muslim. Sadiyyah, a Muslim woman from the study, feels that one of the most important functions of the hijab is in connecting her to other Muslim women (Droogsma, 302).

            The next function of the hijab discussed by the Muslim women was that it serves as a behavior check. It functions as a reminder to the women to guard their behavior so that their lives please God (304). "It is not for a believer, man or woman, when Allah and His messenger have decreed a matter that they should have an option in their decision. And whoever disobeys Allah and His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), has indeed strayed in a plain error." (Qur’an 33:36). Amaraah, a woman from the study, noted that options for someone to “misbehave” are not presented to a woman who wears hijab. She states, “Nobody’s ever offered me drugs, nobody’s ever offered me a drink…” (Droogsma, 304).

            One of the most important functions of hijab is that is resists objectification. Tasha, another woman from the study, states, “My whole body is private, not just a few parts… I see [hijab] as God saying: “You’re beautiful, don’t let those men look at you like they shouldn’t be looking at you (305).” Many women find that wearing the hijab gives men the impression that they aren’t allowed to look at their body and they see it as a way to control their body. Instead of getting checked out, like American women, Muslim women are noticed for their personality and intelligence. Women believe the hijab allows people to see them as a person and allows women to remove their physical appearance from the interaction (305). Muslim women believe the veil functions as a protection against unwanted attention and, thus, feel wearing it provides them with great power over their bodies (306).

            Another function of hijab is that it affords more respect. Muslim women feel that they receive more respect from both Muslim and non-Muslim men because of the veil (307). A woman in the study, Taqiyyah, noted that all people tend to treat her with more respect because she covers and indeed must learn her “rules” in order to interact with her (307). After 9/11, the Muslim women in the study noted a change of respect. One of the women, Amaraah, said “there is no respect for the scarf (308).”

            The women in the study also found that the hijab maintains healthy boundaries, thus defining and protecting their intimate relationships (308). One of the main benefits the women in the study discovered after marrying relates to the hijab’s role in saving their beauty for their husbands (309). The Muslim women also feel that it helps them stay more connected with their family. Only close family members and husbands can see Muslim women without the hijab. One of the women in the study feels that the hijab makes things more human (309). The hijab allows women to treasure their bodies and share it only with those persons to whom she grants access (310).

            The hijab is also a source of freedom for Muslim women. Many feminists may have a problem seeing this as a function of the hijab since they see hijab as a sign of oppression. Suzan, a woman from the study, described hijab as providing her with freedom from conforming to fashion standards in American society that exploit women (310). Young women in the United States spend so much time buying the newest fashions, making sure they have all the name brand clothing, and shudder and the thought of buying anything not from a designer. As a young Muslim girl, they don’t have that problem. Their clothing will never be the source of bullying among young girls.

            The hijab has many different functions and serves a different function for each and every Muslim woman. When Americans think of Muslim women, all they can think about is the fact that we need to “save” them from being oppressed by Muslim men. That’s not the case at all. If anything, we can learn from the way they dress and take notes.

           

Bibliography

Droogsma is cited in my previous blog

Qur’an

Muslim Women

For an extra credit assignment, I attended a conference titled the Islam I Know. During this presentation three Ohio University professors spoke about the Islamic culture. The speaker that stood out the most to me was by my Women’s and Gender Studies teacher, Mrs. Catherine Cutcher. Her section of the speech spoke out to me not only because she is my teacher, but she talked about how Muslim women wear a veil covering their neck and faces. She spoke about the negative attitudes toward Muslim women from Americans as well. After attending this conference, I knew I wanted to look into this topic more.

Many feminists have pointed to the burqa as a historical symbol and tool of men’s oppression of women (Voss, 22). Americans have this point of view of Islamic women because of their choice to wear a veil, or Hijab.  The hijab, also called a veil or headscarf, is worn my Islamic women as part of their culture; the burqa is a like a hijab, but the burqa has cloth that covers the entire face so the only part of the face that shows is the eyes. The word hijab comes from the Arabic word “hajaba” meaning to hide from view or conceal (Ali). According to the Qur’an 33:59, Allah says “O Prophet, tell your wives and daughters and the believing women to draw their outer garments around them (when they go out or are among men). That is better in order that they may be known (to be Muslim) and not annoyed…” (Ali). Not only do Muslim women wear a hijab for the sole purpose that Allah instructs them too, they wear them for their own individual reasons as well. While hijab posseses some shared religious purposes for the Muslim women who wear it, as a cultural artifact the veil does not have one universal meaning for all Muslim women in the world (Droogsma, 295). I have posted a video from YouTube on this post that has three Muslim women talking about why they cover up. One of the women only wears the hijab, one wears a burqa, and one doesn’t wear any type of veil.

Bibliography

Ali, Mary. "Hijab: Suppression or Liberation."Jannah. The Institution of Islamic Information and Education, n.d. Web. 7 Mar 2011. <http://www.jannah.org/sisters/hijab2.html>.

Droogsma, Rachel Anderson. “Redefining Hijab: American Muslim Women’s Standpoints on .” Journal of Applied Communication Research. 35.3. (2007): 294-319. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 7 Feb. 2011.

Voss, Katrina. “EVOLUTION AND THE THONG-BURQA CONTINUUM.” Humanist 70.5 (2010): 22-23. Gender Studies Database. EBSCO. Web. 1 Mar. 2011.

"Why Muslim Women Cover." YouTube. Web. 7 Mar 2011. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewOVDgS_UHc>.

Breaking down the Habit

Catholic nuns devote their lives to the Church for a life of perfection and a life married to God. Nuns and monks wear clothing that is referred to as religious habit. The habit covers the whole body to indicate the entirety of the consecration (Archdiocese of Washington). Religious habits are made of multiple parts. For this blog I decided to show a video of a former nun talking about the parts of the habit instead of me typing them all out.

Bibliography

"Secrets of the Habit." Archdiocese of Washington. OmniStudeio, Web. 5 Mar 2011. <http://blog.adw.org/tag/religious-life/>.

"Sr. Elizabeth Explains Religious Habit." YouTube. Web. 5 Mar 2011. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02AJK4n3-2U>.

Amish Women

Another culture I wanted to focus on was the Amish culture. Amish dress for men and women is also very conservative, like Mormon clothing. Amish sacred dress allows the women to be easily recognized with any additional information (Arthur, 39). Not every Amish women dresses alike for every Amish culture might have different colors or styles of dress, but for the most part they all include a long, plain dress. The pattern of the dress is an open front bodice, elbow-length sleeves (long sleeves in the winter), and a fitted bodice with a narrow band-style collar (39). The skirt always comes to just below the knee on young girls and unmarried women (40). All dresses are pattern-less and include a cape and an apron, usually the same color as the dress (My Journey to the Amish). The colors of the dress can vary. Married women wear darker colors such as burgundy, brown, navy blues and black while unmarried girls wear lighter values of rose, greens, and blues (Arthur, 40). Another thing that married women wear is a kaap while in the home and at church (My Journey to the Amish). A kaap is the bonnet that Amish women wear on their heads. The Amish and Mormon style of dress are very similar to each other in the fact that both are very conservative. These cultures take pride in the fact that a women's body is sacred and should be covered. 

Bibliography

*The citation for Arthur is in my previous blog about Mormon clothing

"Amish Clothes." My Journey To the Amish. 02 Jul 2010. Web. 5 Mar 2011. <http://journeytoamish.blogspot.com/2010/07/amish-clothes.html>.

Mormon Women

Before I start talking about the different fashions around the world, I figured I would start my series with fashions in the United States. Mormonism refers to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It refers to the doctrines taught by Joseph Smith and the succeeding prophets and leaders of the Church. Women in the Mormon Church are expected to wear very conservative clothing and not stray from this expectation. It is said that “immodest clothes lead to sin” (Blakesley, 21). For both men and women, the everyday garment is a one or two-piece bifurcated garment that covers the body from just about the knees to above the chest and upper part of the arm (Davis, 44). This leaves little room for any skin to be showing. At Brigham Young University Devontional, Elder Kimball stated that “a women is most beautiful when her body is covered” (Blakesley, 21). This attitude, shared by all Mormons, comes into play when connecting their faith and the way they dress. In Isiah 61:10: ‘I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall by joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness’ (Holy Bible, 1948, p.831). While they visit the church, Mormons wear special white temple clothes (Arthur, 43). For most Mormon women, their style of dress represents only their faith; I found little information otherwise. People don’t usually think of Mormon women as dressing odd because we aren’t around that culture very often. I applaud Mormon women for not falling into the temptations of popular fashions and sticking to their modest style of dress.

Bibliography

Arthur, Linda. Religion, Dress, and the Body. Oxford, UK: Berg, 1999. Print.

Blakesley, Katie Clark. "A Style of Our Own": Modesty and Mormon Women, 1951-2008." Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 42.2 (2009): 20-53. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 2 Mar. 2011.

Fashions Around the World

A women’s clothing can say a lot about her. In the United States, it’s normal to see a woman walking down the street in a mini shirt and tube top, but in other areas of the world woman wouldn’t be caught dead wearing such an ensemble. We know that through clothing people communicate some things, about their persons (Davis, 4). The way we dress can say a lot about who we are, our values, our religion, and the way we view ourselves. The women dressed in the mini skirt and tube top may have a different level of self respect than the women dressed in a full length dress. What some combination of clothes or a certain style emphasis “means” will vary tremendously depending upon the identity of the wearer, the occasion, the place, the company, and even something as vague and transient as the wearer’s and the viewer’s mood (Davis, 8).  Western feminists like to view the way women dress in different parts of the country as a way to tell if they are oppressed or not. In my opinion, that is not an accurate way to make that decision. Woman’s values often are shown through their clothes and covering up our body doesn’t scream “oppression.” I will be doing a series on women’s clothing and the type of values it portrays from Amish women to Islamic women. My main focus is on the veiling of Islamic women, but I am going to incorporate other religions as well.

Bibliography

Davis, Fred. Fashion, Culture, and Identity. Chicago, IL: Chicago Press, Ltd., 1992. Print.