Fetishism of the Hijab - a (very long) thread:

Fetishism itself arises from s*xual fixation on a material object - an er*tic obsession. Fetishism is a pathological tendency to place disproportionate s*xual value on something, morphing it into a commodity to be bought and sold, despite it not being a product of materialism.

Materialism is defined by: “the tendency to consider material possessions as a physical comfort more than spiritual values”. From this, we begin to see how easily how spirituality can be warped and corrupted into a catharsis for repressed desires & physical gratification.

Whilst s*xual fetishism’s existence was only acknowledged in the late 19th century, it has been a fundamental element of human depravity for centuries, dating back to the dawn of global exploration.

There are two types of fetishism: commodity & racial. Unfortunately, for the majority of Muslim women - they are subjected to both. From compliments rooted in perversion such as “exotic” to “beurette”. All rooted in the conquest & hence, r*pe, of women in Islam-dominated lands.

The hijab’s origins began far before Islam. All the way in pre-Islamic Arabia, when the uncovered women were s*x slaves and the women who covered, were not. It was a signal of availability for men & differentiated between chaste & “available” women.

We see how engrained the objectification of women is. How the hijab distinguished between the chase and the unchaste & how it will lead to the desire to de-veil women, to transform them into an object of men’s desires & lusts which we come to know as “the male gaze”.

The “male gaze” is a heavily politicised form of oppression, where the objectification of women empowers men by perceiving women as objects worth nothing more than their fulfilment of male s*xual desires. It is largely responsible for the fetishism of the hijab.

Men, throughout history, have been insistent on policing women’s clothing. Clothing items such as bikinis, stockings, overly tight clothing etc all stem from the patriarchy yet hijab is singled out and seen as uniquely objectifying & “must be removed”.

This narrative is not a new one & has been used as a political power play. During the 1950s, the veil played a key role in resisting French colonial forces & oppression. Frantz Fanon, an anti colonialist individual is quoted as saying:

This highlights how European/Western fashion norms are actually counterproductive towards female liberation, for the oppression of a country can only be successfully achieved by the oppression of its women: stripping them & exposing them for the gratification of (European) men.

Unfortunately, Algerian women have found themselves to be the victims of the most prolific sort of fetishisation. Stemming from their country being colonised, their women being r*ped & being stripped of the veil: we conclude that fetishism is an integral part of Western society.

In France, the derogatory term “beurette” is one of the top p*rn searches, often combined with violence and youth. The desire to see “hidden” women stripped for male gratification has long been a fetish of men, especially French men.

The hijab became a permanent staple in p*rn also in part due to Mia Khalifa: an infamous ex-p*rnstar who filmed herself in a hijab. She has admitted she felt pressured into this role, again proving the extent to which the Western media will go to s*xualise the hijab.

Images of pre-Islamic Revolution Iran are spread like wildfire where women who were forced to conform to European beauty norms are compared to covered women, forced to conform to Islamic norms. The implication being: “They must not be oppressed because they are fully undressed!”

The measure of oppression in the West is female s*xual liberation. If she is able to gratify the male gaze, then she is free. This is why you often see other (arguably more important) women’s issues so oftly neglected in the West, as the patriarchy has led us to believe we -

- are free, for having the right to choose what we wear. Unless it’s the niqab/burka of course, which is banned in 16 nations. Anything that resists Western, colonial & patriarchal forces of oppression is falsely labelled as “oppression”, that must be overthrown.

This ties into the West’s obsession with the ME. Whilst it’s intentions are purely financial, they’ve spun the narrative to portray Middle Eastern/Muslim countries as oppressors of women & that veiled women need saving. This portrayal has only aided in fetishising the hijab.

However, it’s important to note that this isn’t a limited phenomenon. It is widespread. Across the West, there has been a rise in the Jesus Complex. Media relentlessly pushing the narrative that veiled women are oppressed & of course, who to save them but the white man?

Freedom of the woman has been linked to her “s*xual liberation”. Women have been fooled for decades that this movement will benefit them yet it has and always will exclusively benefit men.

In shows & movies, the majority of covered female characters have the same storyline: a covered girl, oppressed by her cruel parents. She falls in love with a white boy who rushes to rescue her from the constraints of hijab. She takes off the hijab for him & alas - true love.

The hijab is not viewed by Western normative standards as a symbol of modesty but rather something to be stripped and taken for themselves; commodity to be bought and sold & something acquire for oneself and bare it to the world like a kind of of trophy.

The hijab has now become a subject of men’s desires. It is not a religious head covering, it is a challenge. A humiliating challenge, under the false guise of female liberation yet the reality is much clearer: it is for the male ego & male s*xual gratification.

The hijab is not just a religious symbol, it has become a political resistance; a resistance against the heavily politicised s*xuality of women, a resistance against the patriarchal forces that seek to undress us for their pleasure & a resistance against oppressive Western norms.