I am not a Muslim woman. I’m not an Arab woman. I’m a nature worshiping European white woman, and yet this is what I’m here to write about today. More precisely about our collective (Western) perception and understanding of Muslim and Arab women and the role we play in shaping this narrative.
And at this point you’re wondering if you’re reading the right substack, because how does this question intersect between culture and fashion? The knee jerk response is to look at the burqa, the hijab and more broadly the veil itself, the right to wear it or not. Whether full body strictly black, with a sliver for the eyes or jewel toned, embroidered a headscarf only, nobody has politicised an item of clothing quite as much as old white men have done with the Muslim veil. In reality the intersection of this question is more interesting, because the dilemma of the Muslim world, and intrinsically the “Muslim Woman”, is front and center when we venture into a discussion of Arab culture, fashion and even brands.
I recently worked on a job for a show in Saudi Arabia, which I was thrilled about as Saudi has long been on my list of countries I would like to visit. And yes, I still live in the delusion that when I go somewhere for work I will have time to see anything!
The moment I hit “send” on the casting brief, is also the moment where I was confronted with the onslaught of Islamophobia. Now let me explain this a little more, because I understand that upon reading this you would think of an overtly racist remark or aggressive speech, outwardly obvious and easy to recognize. Do you remember that moment in 2020 during the BLM movement, when we started hearing (if that's when you began to tune in) about words like “systemic racism”. If you did your reading back then, you would know that this is a type of racism that is ingrained, part of our social, political, and other types of structures. It's much more subtle, and harder to spot unless you’re well attuned to the counter narrative. And I am.
The first and most disguised question I received after hitting send on my email: “Is it safe?”
There's a couple of narratives that usually repeat when it comes to Muslims and Arabs, and the first one is usually safety. It doesn't really matter what Arab country you’re talking about because Arabs and Muslims are first and foremostly homogenized by the West. What I mean is, all Muslims are Arabs, and all Arabs are Muslims. The West doesn't differentiate between Iran and Iraq, or Jordan and Lebanon, they’re just “The Middle East” (ME). If there is one catch phrase people have learned very well, and I say this because of how frequently it is regurgitated, because people think it makes them sound like they have some kind of understanding of the geopolitical tensions of the regions is that: “The ME is not very stable”.
Shortly after I took the job on, the siege on Gaza began to escalate exponentially, and so it almost seems like a reasonable thing to ask, “Is it safe?”, given the circumstances. That is until you look at a map, and understand
that Saudi Arabia is not only a separate country from Palestine, Egypt, and Lebanon, but it is also over a thousand kilometers away from the region. There is never any differentiation between what countries might not be stable, and let alone the reasons for why some ME countries might not be “stable”.
I imagine that most people would have no second thoughts about going on holiday to Croatia, even though there is an active war in Ukraine, which is roughly the same distance as Palestine and Saudi Arabia. The world largely understands that although Spain and Italy are both European and Catholic they also have a number of distinguishing factors that differentiates them from one another. We don't however grant the same consideration to Arab countries.
It always feels like a betrayal when I write about my experiences at work and I choose the details I share very carefully, and whilst I'm usually less willing to take risks, I feel it's important enough to share these because I want you to see the extent of what a mindset can do. A number of models were pulled from the show, and I want to highlight that these decisions were heavily mitigated by their agents, and in a number of cases the models were not unwilling to be a part of this, but their parents wouldn't let them do it. Which gives us some interesting information about the difference of perspective through generations. I had somebody request that a security detail be installed for their models, who should remain with them at all times. A number of models and even members of the overall team confessed to me they didn't tell their family members where they were traveling too for fear of getting into an argument.
I don't get asked about safety concerns when I cast models to work in the US. Of course not! Even though everyone is legally allowed to carry a gun, and there have been 487 mass shootings (and counting) in 2023 only.
One of the wonderful things about the fashion industry is that because it is populated by creatives, they inherently are champions for diversity, equality and are not afraid to take a moral stance. However I think this sometimes backfires. Whilst it comes from the right place, people who live in glass houses should not throw stones. Since the fashion industry is an industry and therefore run by corporations, the entire thing is one large crystal palace.
Which brings me to the second most heard comment during this casting, which was of course cloaked in white saviorism: “[Insert name] is a big supporter of women's rights so she won't travel to Saudi”.
At this point my colleagues' words rang loudly in my ears “If I didn't work in casting, I would be a diplomat”. And it's in these moments where I truly wonder if I'm not just better off pursuing a career in politics because I am proud to say, I did not respond with what I actually wanted to say. This has more weight if you know me personally.
I will use the US again as my example because it is always upheld not just as the beacon of Western freedom but also the embodiment of Western values. Nobody I have ever worked with has ever refused to work in the US on the basis of supporting women's rights, and yet in 24 states women can be arrested, criminalized and jailed for seeking and obtaining abortions, without exclusions for rape and/or incest.
The truth is that Western centrism has fooled us all. We have been tricked into thinking that everything we see should be filtered through the understanding that what is right or wrong is dictated by Western values. Values which at this point and time of history, seem to be founded on monetizing every aspect of human life, including death. This narrative has convinced us that “we” have the most freedom, “we” are the most advanced, “we” have the most accurate moral compass when it comes to understanding what is correct and what should be corrected.
This gives us the highground and the duty to “help” others achieve this too. By keeping us focused on the “problems” of other cultures, they keep us under the spell that our domestic issues are not as dire.
That statement “[Insert name] is a big supporter of women's rights so she won't travel to [insert ME country]” is so camouflaged by good intentions that it fails to see its own arrogance.
It lacks any consideration for the fact that by supporting, for example, a fashion show in a country like Saudi, a country which only opened its borders to tourism in 2019, they would be supporting brands who are changing and pushing the boundaries of what fashion is for an Arab and Muslim woman. They would be elevating the women of these countries, who believe it or not have more autonomy than one might think, who themselves are evolving and re-writing their own fashion rules according to what makes them feel empowered within the limits of what makes them feel true to themselves and their values.
These acts of self righteousness are not helping anyone besides atoning our own conscience.
It seems almost impossible to discuss the veil without getting political.Part of the reasons our governments do what they do in the ME is so often justified by the salvation and liberation of muslim women, who we have so largely led to believe, have no autonomy and more so are forcibly made to cover up. The veil has become one of the biggest symbols of oppression, and it seems largely inconceivable to some of us that a muslim woman might want and might choose to wear a veil.
The strongest comparison that has been made is of course the difference in response between a woman that chooses to wear a burqa, versus a woman that chooses to wear the habit. One is largely condemned as an act of submission and oppression, and one is accepted as a religious choice. Even though we have our own socio normative influences, we cannot understand that the veil in whichever form, is merely one of such for some Arab cultures. We all globally live under societal rules of what is an appropriate sartorial choice for the occasion and what is not. A wedding or a christening would require something entirely different to a night out with your friends. What many of us wear at work is different to what you would choose to wear to go to the cinema. We make sartorial choices according to what is and isn’t appropriate all the time, and sometimes even against our own wishes. Did I want to wear a skirt to school as part of my uniform for 10 years of my life? No. Was I oppressed? Debatable. Jokes aside, I was merely adhering to what is socially normal for my culture. I do this every single day.
Now, I can hear the questions, they pop up in my own head as I type: What about Mahsa Amini? The morality police? The honor killings? The issue is far more complex than “Muslim women need saving”. I am not saying that Arab countries are not without fault but no country is. I am not saying some women have less freedom than others, what I am saying is those women might be your friends or your neighbors, they are not just women in distant countries. How many times have we heard of “crimes of passion”, jealous husbands, ex boyfriends who kill women because they believe they have some kind of ownership over them. I am not saying we shouldn't stand up for women's rights, I'm saying the fight for women's rights is a global one.
As a woman, I am already hyper aware that no matter how carefully I curate an outfit, I will be judged accordingly. If I meet a client for the first time, should I wear a skirt or will they think I'm too feminine? I should wear the “Power” suit. If I wear red lipstick on a date will they think I’m easy? If I wear a veil, will they think I don't have a choice?
Many monologues have been made about women not being enough, and always being judged on their appearance. I believe this is a thread that unites many of us.
The liberation of women is global, it's not relegated to Muslim women or the Middle East. I show up in solidarity because my liberation is intrinsically tied to the liberation of all other women. Our cause is one and the same. And whilst the world desperately needs more stories directly told by minority voices, perhaps an essay written by a white woman, might sway you to search for these accounts first hand.
I understand your point, that it's easier to think especially in a position of privilege that the western countries we live in aren't as bad, and that we don't get the right to finger-point. I would also agree that our energies may be best placed standing up to our own governments and making ourselves heard in the places we live and vote. I do also think we can compare policies and practices of governments as more or less abusive or exploitative than each other without being colonial. I think executing people for criticising their leadership, for fighting for gender based equality or for just being LGBTQ is really that sort of urgently bad , the kind of bad which I could understand boycotting, especially if that draws attention to how an event or sponsorship may be washing over these matters. I don't think this means we are off the hook in terms of fighting rights abuses and colonialism in the US / Europe, but I also think it's a very fair stance to take when people's lives are on the line and/or are potentially being tortured in jail.
this is clearly more about the very real threat of sexual exploitation that is extremely prevalent in the region and models are the number one target. if i was a 16 year old model my parents definitely wouldn’t let me go there and would have been 100% in the right. the stories about what goes on there are just next level