Leerlingen van de provinciale scholen in Oost-Vlaanderen mogen geen hoofddoek meer dragen op school. De Oost-Vlaamse provincieraad heeft het hoofddoekenverbod vanmiddag goedgekeurd, weliswaar met wisselmeerderheid met Vlaams Belang. Maar niet alle scholen zien dat zitten. "We vrezen dat meisjes met een hoofddoek nu voor thuisonderwijs gaan kiezen", klinkt het.
Most women don’t want to wear headscarves, and a few people who do that willingly don’t justify allowing religious symbols
I’m sorry but this seems just so wrong to me.
Isn’t the ban just about headscarves? A piece of cloth is not a religious symbol and policing women about their fashion choices is an awful idea.
It seems specifically worded to hide behind (white) feminism while just being another bigoted law that specifically targets Muslim people in Europe to scare them and to send them a message.
And I would like to know on what you are basing this idea that “most women don’t want to wear headscarves”. Maybe most white Western women don’t?
Because from my personal life and experiences I can tell you that I’ve met plenty of both Muslim women and also black women who not only preferred wearing a headscarf, but actually felt more empowered precisely because they could control who gets to see what of themselves.
And don’t even get me started on the weird obsession that white people have for black people’s hair. So wearing a headscarf can also helps to have healthier hair… In addition to literally stopping white people from randomly touching your hair just because “they’re so different!”
The ban is made for hijab but I forgot the word so I used a more literal translation for the Dutch word which is headscarves. Though headscarves probably fall under the new measure as hijab wearing people would otherwise be able to say it’s just a regular headscarf.
if a white woman wears a headscarf of any kind, she would probably be able to pass it off as a secular one, even if she is muslim
if a woman of color tries, she would probably not get away with it even if she is not muslim
this is essentially a ban on brown women wearing a headscarf, so your title isn’t incorrect
A piece of cloth is not a religious symbol
I agree. Head coverings in Islam are normally monotone and don’t have any obviously religious symbols unless it’s a hijab/niqab. So by my logic anyone can just claim it’s secular, so this can’t be forbidden
Maybe most white Western women don’t?
I am from the Global South. Some people are really negative about involving children in religion
actually felt more empowered precisely because they could control who gets to see what of themselves
Very good point. Yes, in this case covering your head is totally legit
In addition to literally stopping white people from randomly touching your hair just because “they’re so different!”
Omg, I never knew people can be that creepy. Ahh, the West…
Some people are really negative about involving children in religion
Yeah I fear that’s probably similar to what lawmakers are trying to harness with this law (OP then wrote that the law is actually specifically targeting hijabs and they wrote headscarf for the translation).
I personally think this could be a much longer conversation about clothing, racism, states’ policing and religion. For example, even European fashion used to have far more hats and head covering in it before it became associated with Islam and deemed as “scary/dangerous” in the West.
But because nowadays white Western European fashion has mostly moved away from that specific style, and also because Europe has become less religious, they slowly kind of collectively agreed that ‘covering your hair=bad’.
Pair this with their negative views of immigrants and Muslim people and you can see how some lawmakers are hiding behind things like “feminism” or “schools should be neutral” to target minorities and make them feel not welcomed in Europe.
Omg, I never knew people can be that creepy. Ahh, the West…
They can be far creepier than that unfortunately. And it falls again in that realm of “we don’t want you to feel at home here. You either conform to European whiteness or you’re already going against the law from when you are a child”
I’m sorry but this seems just so wrong to me.
Isn’t the ban just about headscarves? A piece of cloth is not a religious symbol and policing women about their fashion choices is an awful idea.
It seems specifically worded to hide behind (white) feminism while just being another bigoted law that specifically targets Muslim people in Europe to scare them and to send them a message.
And I would like to know on what you are basing this idea that “most women don’t want to wear headscarves”. Maybe most white Western women don’t?
Because from my personal life and experiences I can tell you that I’ve met plenty of both Muslim women and also black women who not only preferred wearing a headscarf, but actually felt more empowered precisely because they could control who gets to see what of themselves.
And don’t even get me started on the weird obsession that white people have for black people’s hair. So wearing a headscarf can also helps to have healthier hair… In addition to literally stopping white people from randomly touching your hair just because “they’re so different!”
The ban is made for hijab but I forgot the word so I used a more literal translation for the Dutch word which is headscarves. Though headscarves probably fall under the new measure as hijab wearing people would otherwise be able to say it’s just a regular headscarf.
if a white woman wears a headscarf of any kind, she would probably be able to pass it off as a secular one, even if she is muslim
if a woman of color tries, she would probably not get away with it even if she is not muslim
this is essentially a ban on brown women wearing a headscarf, so your title isn’t incorrect
Thank you for the clarification then!
Your point is definitely convincing.
Yeah I fear that’s probably similar to what lawmakers are trying to harness with this law (OP then wrote that the law is actually specifically targeting hijabs and they wrote headscarf for the translation).
I personally think this could be a much longer conversation about clothing, racism, states’ policing and religion. For example, even European fashion used to have far more hats and head covering in it before it became associated with Islam and deemed as “scary/dangerous” in the West.
But because nowadays white Western European fashion has mostly moved away from that specific style, and also because Europe has become less religious, they slowly kind of collectively agreed that ‘covering your hair=bad’.
Pair this with their negative views of immigrants and Muslim people and you can see how some lawmakers are hiding behind things like “feminism” or “schools should be neutral” to target minorities and make them feel not welcomed in Europe.
They can be far creepier than that unfortunately. And it falls again in that realm of “we don’t want you to feel at home here. You either conform to European whiteness or you’re already going against the law from when you are a child”