How World Hijab Day Harms Women

Nazma Khan founded World Hijab Day in 2013, and No Hijab Day began in response not long after. FreeInHijab also has a counter campaign in #FreeFromHijab. Muslims and non-Muslims exist on both sides of this issue. My ex-Muslim guests, Mimzy Vidz, Zara Kay, and Yasmine Mohammed, all oppose embracing the hijab with World Hijab Day as I do. Hijab is a tool of oppression, used to suppress women's rights for centuries. In the west, many of those on the left, including Muslim feminists and progressives, would have you believe otherwise. Protesters in Iran and testimonies from Saudi Arabian refugees constantly proclaim that hijab is not a choice, it oppresses women, and imposing it with Islamic law needs to stop.

Share the hashtags #NoHijabDay and #FreeFromHijab

Follow my guests here:

Mimzy Vidz

Zara Kay

Yasmine Mohammed

This video contains 100% therapeutic grade skepticism.*

-------------------------------------------FOLLOW-------------------------------------------

*This statement has not been evaluated by the FDA

[GeneticallyModifiedSkeptic]

Help us spread the message of #NoHijabDay and #FreeFromHijab by sharing wherever you can! Also, links to all my guests' social media is in the description.

[KimDrago]

I'm an ex muslim. The hijab played a very significant role in my choice to leave islam. I wore it every day since I was ten years old, because my stepfather told me that I would burn in hell if I didn't. I lived in a small town with no other Muslims than our family, so I was relentlessly bullied. I ended up becoming suicidal at thirteen years old, up until I left Islam at eighteen. Remember, it's not a choice if you're manipulated into wearing it.

[worthlessanduseless]

Hi
I’m an Iranian atheist girl
I’m 16 and the hijab had a huge impact on my way of thinking about my so called religion
Even tho I do not have the right to take off my head-scarf in public I was raised in a non religious family
Not in the sense that they didn’t believe in islam
They did
My dad use to pray 5times a day
My mom can not let go of believing in god
But they did not practice islam in most forms it is practiced in deeply religious communities
They drink my mother never wore hijab in anywhere other than the streets were she is forced to and they never told me to wear it
I remember at the age of 9 my school forced a chador on me and made me do the islamic prayer and told me that from now on I’m a grown woman and I’m supposed to cover myself up
They told me I should cover myself from my cousins and every man I knew other than a handful
And I of course based on how I was raised (which was in full contradiction with my learnings at school and in society) I never wore the hijab outside of society
But at the age of 12 I was sexually abused by my 2 older cousins and 2 other boys that were my own friends
And it happened way more than once to the point that it still happens sometimes
And I with my always thinking mind looked for someone to blame and it couldn’t have been my cousins that I loved like a brother
So I blamed me
I even started praying 5 times a day
Because I thought it was gods form of punishment for me for not listening to his orders
And that thought process lead me to depression and a lot of other problems that I to this day struggle with
So as a person raised in an islamic country it is deeply troubling and painful to hear about such thing as “hijab day”
My understanding of my past religion and studies now show me how much of a damaging thing hijab is

[jessicadavis]

Tired of us being punished for men not being able to control themselves

[nelseaa.spokes]

I suffer from severe scalp psoriasis and I'm forced to wear hijab to this day, I can't take it off because I have no independence and have to live by the rules of my father. I really don't see how women aren't considered subhuman in Islam.

[rahmakhaleel]

I'm a forced hijab victim. I struggle with it every minute of every day of my existence on profound levels. Thanks for this.

[emma.]

If u want to wear hijab
due to ur religious belief, go for it.
If u don’t want to wear hijab,
it should be your choice.

[katieoberst]

I always felt like the arguments FOR hijab were much like the arguments given to women for abstinence from sex until marriage, like, "Your sex life is like a piece of gum. No one wants pre-chewed gum, and the same goes for sex!!" It's just infantilizing to men and shameful to women!!

[emowitch]

I live in Iran and hijab is forced on us and it's 40°C out here, I passed out so many times just because of what I have to wear everyday outside, my mental health is poor and my body image is fucked up, I'm also a r*pe victim. So tell me how is hijab benefiting me exactly?

[justentertainment]

I respect muslim woman who wear hijab if only these hijabis also respect muslim/Ex-Muslim women who chose to not wear it.

[demiiyah]

as a fellow muslim girl i can assure you that alot of families force the hijab upon their daughters. I'm moving to a new school this September which is mixed (boys and girls) and my dad wants me to wear it at that time. after I told him that I'm not ready, he said he'll force me. hijab isn't anyone's business except you and God's.

edit: alot of hijabi girls in my class have been forced to wear it and take it off whenever their family members aren't around. they even have accounts that are blocked from their parents' sight so they could post hijabless photos of themselves.

[jumanahidris]

I'm being forced to wear the hijab in a muslim country and I approve this message.

[Rodrik]

For anyone who would call this video islamophobic: tolerance of intolerance is not a virtue, it is abandoning the victim in favor of their abuser.

[ZlaBarbika]

One question that crumbles their whole logic: If wearing the hijab is considered virtuous and the alternative is hell, how is it a choice?

[DL-idk]

Non-muslim women would have to wear hijabs while traveling to a Muslim country for security reasons. I don't know about the locals, but that is not what I would call "having a choice".

[bhumika]

If you are telling grils from a small age that you bur in hell if you don't wear it then it's never a choice

[justaguy]

Imagine raising a daughter for 16 years with hard work, effort and love. Only to kill her because she doesn't agree with you on something. I can't even conceptualise that. How can someone throw away all that time and memory just like that.

[aminathfaraha]

I’ve been forced to wear the hijab since I was 10 years old. It’s one of the reasons I get depressed. Knowing that I can never take it off and if I do I’d be disowned is a heavy burden to carry

[iferlyf]

That being said, being against the hijab does not mean that you should harrass those who wear it or disrespect them.

Opressing the oppressed will not make them less oppressed

[Femuscle]

A Muslim father in Indian in 2015 killed his 4 years old daughter by repeatedly thrashing her on the floor because her head covering fell off while she was having lunch with her mother.I don't think she had a choice at all.She wasn't even given a chance.