This post was written by Rawi and originally published at Anthology.
A friend shared this BBC news clip reporting on a hijab fashion contest being sponsored by Danmarks Radio, the Danish national broadcaster. The purpose, they state, is to show “cool Muslim women who often make up a very fashion-conscious and style-confident part of the Danish street scene.” Browsing through the pictures on the official website, one cannot help but note the remarkable diversity of the headscarf donning contestants, which in itself shatters the monolithic image of the Muslim woman. The usually unseen but imagined object of the political discourse on hijab has been rendered visible. Interestingly, whereas beauty contests are generally regarded by many feminists as unhealthy practices that objectify women, it almost becomes in this case the very means of affirming these women’s individuality. Which reminds us, therefore, that meaning is always relative.
But of course, the business is more complicated than that. This is still a process of “representation”–which is always a problématique, as the French would say. Perhaps the real question is: who has the power to represent? It isn’t surprising then that the religious establishment doesn’t appear too happy. The BBC report interviews a Danish Muslim scholar who asks, “would you ever see nuns in a beauty or fashon contest?” Local community leaders have asked Muslim women to preserve their modesty and not to participate in the contest. But Khadijah, a young woman also interviewed by the BBC report, wants to reclaim her agency and asserts: “it’s about time that people and the media talk to us and not just about us all the time.” One thing is clear: Danmarks Radio has gotten exactly what it wanted, which was to garner attention as well as to spur debate on an issue; or, to put it another way, to use an already contentious issue to draw website traffic. They deserve props, however, for depicting the hijab as a reality on the streets of Denmark, thereby highlighting its acceptability (or so I think). The significance of this should be evident, at a time when groups are calling for a ban on the hijab altogether. This is in the wake of a recent government decision to ban judges from wearing headscarves or similar religious/political symbols. The pointlessness of the ban isn’t lost on some, who’ve noted that there is currently no one in the Danish courts who would be affected by the ban. Then why all the fuss?
Court President Torben Goldin is reported as saying that “the ban merely had good ‘entertainment value’.” One wonders if the Danish government has nothing better to work on. Meanwhile, the DPP (Danish People’s Party) continues it’s anti-Muslim campaign, which earlier included mass-producing a poster with this ridiculous image of a judge in a burka (and, err, with what looks like a man’s hands!). Perhaps the much-hyped decadence of the West is not in sex, drugs, and rock ‘n roll. It is in the fact that boredom has driven some of them to a politics of absurdity.
Editor’s Note: Author Rawi brings up a great point–the contestant pool highlights the wonderfully diverse faces of Islam. But where does this leave Muslim women who do not wear the headscarf; if this is a contest for Muslim women, why not all Muslim women instead of just those with scarves?
Does this contest contribute to a paradigm of Muslim femininity that includes the headscarf?
How is this competition any different from other beauty pageants (if you take away the scarves and the swimsuit competitions)?
Before this was published, Iraqi-born Huda Falah was named Miss Headscarf 2008.
You can read one Muslim woman’s opinion about beauty contestants for women who wear headscarves here.
Incidentally I published a post about this contest this morning. It was not a competition for Muslim women though. The website clearly stated it was open to ANY woman over the age of 15, who wore a headscarf. Several of the entrants were non-Muslims. So I don’t think it’s excluding Muslim women who don’t wear it, rather focusing on the garment itself which seems to be a such a problem with many people in Denmark.
“if this is a contest for Muslim women, why not all Muslim women instead of just those with scarves?”Why not a contest for women of all religious denominations (or none) wearing headscarves? If the aim is to show that wearing a headscarf can have different meanings for different individuals… And in the name of equality, where’s the males-in-kaffiyah beauty contest?
Maybe it’s the feminist in me but I am never comfortable with beauty pageants. It just seems like the women are once again being judged on something that is so superficial. Isn’t there a way to look at the diversity of hijabis without reducing us to our looks?IA that contests like this do serve to make hijabis the representatives for Muslim women while ignoring non-hijabis.
Assalaamualaikum:I’ve never been a fan of beauty contests because of their typical sizist & ethnocentric leanings particularly in the United States.That being said I don’t think that we can deny the aesthetic qualities of the headscarf(hijab) which is seen in the diversity of the wearing of the headscarf across nations and cultures. The hijab can be beautiful and I don’t think it is a crime to highlight its specific beauty. Relatedly, I do believe that hijab is one dimension of Muslim femininity that deserves its own space. While it can be said that this contest is exclusionary to non-hijab wearing Muslim women I do not think that highlighting a specific group aesthetic is necessarily always a bad thing. The comedienne Monique has something for big girls. Why? Because typical beauty pageants celebrate a certain body type to the exclusion of larger women. Should skinny girls be offended? I’m not a skinny girl so I can’t really feel that bad for them : ) Relatedly black women who wear natural hairstyles create spaces where their textures can be celebrated because of the overwhelming exclusion of their beauty from both mainstream and black venues. Now it is of course a problem to say this IS THE ONLY WAY TO BE A MUSLIM WOMAN or moral or pious. BUT, I do believe that people should be given a space to celebrate who and what they are. Hijabi beauty has a language, a feeling and an aesthetic of its own. I actually feel happy that other sisters have a space to express themselves as they see fit. I would also support non-hijabis doing their thing…
Great comments, ladies. Hayah, on your post (http://hijabstyle.blogspot.com/2008/06/miss-headscarf-2008.html)you say that it was a fashion competition, not a beauty pageant. It’s interesting that this was so widely publicized as a beauty pageant. I think a fashion competition is better: this focuses on the clothes, their colors, textures, and juxtapositions; a beauty contest is tied to the beauty of the contestant, not her clothes. An important distinction.
Zeynab, according to the FAQs on the Skum site http://community.dr.dk/default.ns?lngItemID=1402 they clearly state:”It is a fashion contest, not a beauty contest. The pictures we receive from the participants will be reviewed according to criteria such as style, aesthetics and fashion-savvy. We do not consider the physical appearance (i.e. face or body) or beauty of the contestants.”Unless it was publicised elsewhere differently?
(shrug) Everywhere I read about it, they termed it as a “beauty contest.” Incorrectly, apparently.
“Does this contest contribute to a paradigm of Muslim femininity that includes the headscarf?”That is an important question, and I think I had expressed precisely this same concern with the following comment at my own blog: “…such a contest may reinforce and recyle the fetishism surrounding the hijab that is so pervasive amongst both its opponents and proponents.”One of the reasons why I think Danmarks Radio may deserve praise is that by opening the contest to any women posing for a photo with some kind of headcovering, they’re interrogating the symbolism of the headscarf. It’s just a piece of clothing, so what is it that’s so problematic about it? And if it’s not a problem for a white Danish woman to cover her hair, but a problem as soon a non-white Muslim immigrant does the same–then really, the real issue is nativist, racist xenophobia.Someone above asked, “where’s the males-in-kaffiyah beauty contest?” An appropriate question, that I think highlights the fundamentally gendered nature of this whole business. But of course the hysteria over hijab is a gendered discourse!I do agree that the distinction between “beauty contest” and “fashion contest” is critical, and regret the mistake/confusion on the part of most of us.