Hijab Hysteria

Last September, I had lunch with an old friend of mine at a combination diner/grocery store kind of place. It was brilliant and warm afternoon, but not too humid,  in the high 80’s—warm enough so that sweat formed on your glass of iced tea.  As we chatted and watched people going in and out, loading groceries in their cars, I spotted a woman in a full length black burka with her two toddlers headed out to the car to pack her car.  Her burka was full length black with only the tiniest slit out of which she could see.    She reminded me of one of those large black Hefty contractor bags.  My reaction was mixed—first, pity for this woman that undoubtedly was suffering in this stifling heat under this suffocating costume, when she should have been in shorts and a t-shirt or a sun dress, and second, irritation at a misogynist culture that either coerces her to dress like this, or so indoctrinates her that she feels compelled to do this, when her husband, no doubt is free to dress as he pleases.   It was so out of place in Western society.

I wrote a post in support of U.S. Chess Champion Nazi Paikidze-Barnes, who is skipped the World Chess Championships that were held in Tehran.  Ms. Paikidze-Barnes refuses to wear a hijab, which is mandatory under Iranian law.  “I will NOT wear hijab and support women’s oppression.  Even if it means  missing one of the most important competitions my career,” she told the New York  . Her boycott was also supported by leaders of the Muslim Reform Movement, Masih  Alinejad and Asra  Nomani and was described as a “welcome departure from a pervasive hijab fetish, which romanticizes and normalizes the hijab,” which they describe as a “symbol of sexism, misogyny and purity culture.”

Now along comes Nike, promoting its Nike Pro Hijab, aimed at a tiny segment of competitive athletes-Muslim women.  I’m not privy to Nike’s projections but I strongly suspect this line of clothing is more a political statement than a financial one for Nike.   Of course, the announcement was cheered by the Left (you know, the same folks that were celebrating the women’s march and Linda Sarsour, teaching American women to tie a hijab as a statement of “choice”).

But even if that is the case, large numbers of women (and men) DO see the hijab as a symbol of oppression (and the burka even worse).    Why would Nike promote something that is seen as such?  Similarly the Confederate flag is seen as a symbol of oppression of blacks, but is simultaneously seen as a symbol of Southern pride and independence by large numbers of nonracist Southerners.  Would Nike ever dare to promote a “stars and bars” summer golf wear line?   What then is the difference between these symbols?   We widely condemned the display of the Confederate flag.   Are we now fine with hijabs and burkas?

Which leaves us with a question that my friends on the Left refuse to answer.   Do the U.S. women’s chess players have an incorrect view or does Nike?  They cannot both be right.  

I continue to stand with Ms. Paikidze-Barnes.  My next driver won’t be a Nike.  It will be a TaylorMade.