This is a controversial topic for sure, or is it? I guess it all depends on who you talk to. Whether it’s on the news or on the web, you see or hear about the prejudice against certain ethnic women who wear head scarves. There was even an episode on the television program, “What would you do?”, that took this very topic and did a social experiment to see how people would react.
Check out this interesting social experiment on “What Would You Do?”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rIrTMzhE4o
Anyway, back to how this ties into my life. As I was growing up back in the 1960s, I remember seeing women of all ethnic backgrounds wearing head scarves. My mother, who is of asian decent, used to wear head scarves and I know she was not wearing them for religious reasons. This was the trend, or fashion back then, just like bell bottom pants, platform shoes and overalls were all the rage in the ’70s.
I could be wrong, but I would hazard a guess that women from just about every culture at one time or another in that cultures history has worn some type of head scarf, whether for religious or fashion reasons.
My point being, a head scarf does not make a Muslim–religion does.
Movie stars, first ladies and princesses are well known for what they wear and two women in particular, Audrey Hepburn and Princess Grace Kelly, were known for wearing head scarves. I can’t say for sure, but I don’t think either of these women practiced the Muslim religion.
Of the 150+ posts that I’ve written so far, this is one of the more serious topics I’ve written about. Once I started researching and writing this post, I wasn’t quite sure what direction I was going with it and what point I was trying to make, if any. I didn’t want this to be me preaching about right and wrong, but I think I just wanted to point out what I had already stated above, just because you wear a head scarf, doesn’t mean you’re a Muslim. And just because you’re a Muslim wearing a head scarf, doesn’t mean you should be treated any different than the women wearing a scarf making a fashion statement.
Nuff said.
Back to my lighter types of posts next week.
Having grown up in the 60′s, I really like your web site. I totally agree with your point on headscarves. My mom used to wear them and a significant percentage of women used to wear them and if they weren’t wearing them, a scarf was carried in or tied to their purse. They wore them for fashion or for more practical reasons (protecting their hair from wind, rain and sun).
One thing that you didn’t mention was that until the late 60′s, if a woman went into a Catholic church, she had to cover her head (not as completely as Muslim women). Many women wore headscarves for that reason on Sunday.
I realize that fashion has changed, but I think that headscarves would be worn more frequently by western women today, if it wasn’t for the connection with the Muslim religion. What is even more true is that what Muslim’s call a “headscarf” typically is quite different from the fashion headscarf of the 50′s and 60′s. Muslim head coverings, which go by a number of names, cover a woman’s hair completely. The pictures you posted would not be acceptable to the Muslim religion as head coverings. [And the last picture looks like a hood, not a headscarf...sorry] The video you linked to shows a woman that is not wearing what I call a headscarf. It is a Muslim head covering, but not a classic headscarf. The term has “headscarf” has been hijacked unfortunately, which is part of the reason wearing a classic headscarf of the 60′s is now tabbo for most western women.
On a personal note…probably because I did grow up in the 60′s, I always thought that headscarves were very feminine and (like any other fashion) could be very attractive on a woman depending on who wore it and how it was worn. I am tired of seeing women wearing baseball caps in convertibles…while they can be cute, it would be nice to see a 60′s style headscarf once in a while.
Wow! Thanks for your in depth comment regarding this topic. I appreciate the additional information about women having to wear a head cover in the Catholic church.
I agree with you that it would be nice if women started to wear headscaves for fashion again, but I don’t think that will happen anytime soon.
Glad you enjoy the site!