Hijab Cultural Appropriation

In the past few years, cultural elements of several races are being thoughtlessly adopted and borrowed by people of another race to simply display them as fashion accessories. Pharrell Williams, a famous singer, once wore a Native American headdress on a magazine cover as a style status, which disturbed many. Numerous music festival goers and fashion models have also donned tribal war bonnets, eradicating the true importance of a headdress which is supposedly saved for old tribal leaders who exhibit wisdom, leadership and selflessness. Moreover, Western women and celebrities such as Kim Kardashian and Lady Gaga have been wearing the Hijab as an erotic garment. The Hijab is a veil for Muslim women as a sign of faith and humility but is instead

Bosin (2014) discusses civil virtue as the concern of citizens for their community and civil etiquette as the standard to social behavior. Basically, the mere act of borrowing and utilizing other’s culture for one’s personal gain already diminishes that concern for the community or the concern for those in that culture. Appropriation also becomes significantly problematic when people defile and pollute the unique set of elements, behaviors and rituals of a culture, relating it with the lack of civil etiquette. According to Suleyman (2014), cultural appropriation happens when these two are being disregarded and instead the individual interest is being followed. Adrienne (2010) suggests that the solution is to first take in consideration how would the members of that culture feel instead of just displaying an element of their culture as a fashion accessory. Shand (2013) also asserts that it is okay for a person to wear something from a culture for as long as that person does not go in full costume or display something that would disrespect those in that culture. Hence, to avoid it, everyone should be knowledgeable about how cultural appropriation lacks self-conscious approach to the imposition of polite behavior and

Bird and Osland (2013) explain that different nationalities have all been victims of stereotyping. For example, Katy Perry dressed as a geisha in her Japanese-themed performance at the American Music Awards to honor the Japanese culture. However, it is completely misunderstood by people and viewed it as a way to perpetuate the stereotype view of Asian women. What is heart-breaking about it is that at the end of the day, the singer gets to take off the costume and return to the millions of dollars while Asian women have to face the sexist and racist norms that Katy Perry set in the performance. For the Asian women, it would be quite offensive that only the mainstream image is consistently being reinforced by cultural appropriation. According to McLeod (2008), the mainstream representations often cause victims to suffer insecurity, anger, hopelessness and frustration. Therefore, Ben (n.d.) encourages people not to jump into conclusions and make general assumptions on cultures and nationalities. It is important not to judge a culture as a whole but instead look at the individuality and at the current state of it. Burgess (2003) also advices people to understand first the “other side” or from the point of view of those in that culture so that all the negative impressions they once had with that culture would be disregarded. Moreover, individuals can be positive