The Sexualization of Hijabi Women

A fetish that kills, Islamophobia, and the perception of Muslims

I started wearing the hijab when I was in middle school. The decision wasn’t hard for me, as my mother was my inspiration and I had always dreamt of wearing it. I knew I could wear it with pride. I remember standing in front of the mirror, wearing my mother’s pink and blue pashmina, and there was a feeling of pure bliss. I saw a beauty in myself I’m not sure I’ve ever seen again.

I never felt anything other than confident in my hijab, and that continued into high school. Though I was one of two hijabi’s my freshman year, I saw it as an honor. One day as I sat in my orchestra class, a friend turned around in his chair with a smirk and told me that I looked like Mia Khalifa. I didn't know who she was or what it meant but after hearing the nearby snickers by the other boys in my class, I knew something was amiss.

He leaned in and told me “She’s a porn star who wears a scarf, and she kind of looks like you.”

I was mortified, embarrassed, and felt as though I was stripped down and violated. This would be my introduction to how boys saw me and how something as innocent and holy as my hijab could be tainted and turned into something else completely.

The symbol of my faith and religion has turned into a sexual fantasy that men can tune into.

The Dangerous Misrepresentation of Muslims in a Post 9/11 World

Muslims have been grossly misrepresented in the media for decades. This is no surprise to many. You just have to turn on the TV, click on your favorite Netflix show, and you’ll see any mention of Islam or Muslims is dripping with Islamophobic sentiment. Western media has categorized Arabs and Muslims into eight common themes, “sexual depravity (e.g., harems and belly dancers), creature analogies (e.g., vermin, camels), physiological and psychological traits (e.g., unappealing physical characteristics, fanaticism, vengeance), savage leaders (e.g., warmongers), deceit (in business and politics), and secret power” (Perry, 2013)

This misrepresentation of Muslims has been extended to Muslim women in particular, and this intersection of islamophobia, racism, and misogyny has dangerous effects. “Muslim women are feared and reviled on the same basis as all Muslims. Yet in addition, they are often constructed as racialized, exotic others who do not fit the Western ideal of womanhood”, and this is reflected in Hollywood tropes and beyond. The hijabi character has been consistently characterized as an unhappy woman taking off their hijab to be with their white male love interest, and consequently becoming more rebellious and wild. This idea of a secret rebellious, wild, and free woman under the hijab, hiding under her cloak of self-righteousness has been paired with orientalism and used to fetishize Muslim women.

The contemporary effects of years of orientalism have been shown through these examples of fetishization and the racist and Islamophobic desires of “sexually liberating” a Muslim woman. Edward Said’s book on Orientalism speaks of the exoticism of the veiled woman. “Early male travelers to the Middle East went with erotic fantasies in mind, having been fed images of the exotic beauty ‘behind the veil’, and thus sexualized expectations of women found there” (Said, 1978). This fetish is different from the others and can’t just be chalked up to perverse thoughts.

Muslim women have been victims of sexualization and fetishization for decades, and this has only been exacerbated by the porn industry. Though orientalism and the sexualization of hijabi women have existed for a long time, people like Mia Khalifa specifically opened a gateway into this becoming more openly expressed in the porn industry. Her work has contributed to disgusting sexual fantasies that have stemmed from orientalism and Islamophobia. The ideas of a "submissive but secretly sexual hijabi" are reflected in porn and have had extremely harmful effects on Muslim women in real life. Mia Khalifa has been out of the industry for years, but the damage done is long-lasting. And yet, she’s only the tip of the iceberg.

A study done in 2021 analyzed these "hijab porn" videos and found that "in almost all of the videos (98%), women were portrayed as passive and/or submissive". Furthermore, the study found that "male performers were portrayed as sexually experienced, while female performers were depicted as inexperienced (e.g., in several videos, female performers verbally stated that it was the first time they had engaged in a sexual encounter; in one video, the female performer seemed too clumsy at fellatio which, in turn, made the male performer angry)" (Mirzaei, 2021)

Real-World Effects

These themes of submissiveness, innocence, and violence all stem from orientalist and Islamophobic rhetoric. It also portrays the idea of a white man colonizing or dominating a "submissive Arab woman" in bed. This is a clear example of colonial violence. The study ended with the conclusion that "women in the “hijab” category of the targeted websites, compared with mainstream categories studied, are highly likely to be the targets of aggression. These women also are objectified, exploited, and shown as submissive and passive".

These portrayals have real-world effects.

These videos and fetishes manifest into real-world gender-based Islamophobic violence where Muslim women are targeted. A study done with Muslim women in Canada expressed how "participants believed that they were targeted for Islamophobic violence because of the impact of gendered Islamophobic discourses that construct Muslim women as being passive, weak and oppressed – and therefore as ‘acceptable targets’ for violence" (Kozaric, 2023).

Sexual and physical violence are only some of the effects of these videos. But shouldn't it be enough?

A symbol of our religion, our faith, our devotion should not have been turned into a sexual fantasy. A fantasy that comes from hateful rhetoric that has justified an angry lust. The hijab porn category is a large category in the adult film industry and this overt sexualization manifests in the daily lives of hijabi women. Our experiences go unnoticed and because of that, we are always targets.

Normalized Islamophobia

As a woman who has worn hijab for a decade now, I have always said that Muslim women are truly only cared for by other Muslim women.

This negligence is only further seen when self-proclaimed feminists have turned a blind eye to Palestinian women being raped and slaughtered. Our struggles and oppression do not matter because we are not the right religion, not the right skin color, and don’t wear the right clothes. Because we cover we deserve what is coming to us, what has come for us, and what will come.

Though many people believe the negative perception of Muslims is nothing but mere complaints, I have seen a shift in how much Muslims are detested, and this time, it’s not hush talks in the privacy of your home. Now, we are openly hated and despised. It’s becoming normalized. And within all of this, Muslim women are the hidden but open targets of violence. We are the victims of gender-based sexual violence. Our hijabs are being ripped off our heads and we are being attacked on our way to work. I have been threatened to be choked with my hijab. I have been called a terrorist and Taliban since I was in middle school. I do not fear these people and I never have.

I have been believed to be nothing more than a submissive oppressed Muslim woman and this is more than a stereotype; this kills and harms Muslim women every single day.

This conversation is one that I've been at the forefront of for years, but it’s become relevant now more than ever.

This is more than just Mia Khalifa, it’s more than just porn, and it always has been. We as Muslim women must continue to fight for each other, even and especially, while others turn a blind eye.

People don't care to see that one day the men who watch these videos will realize it's not enough and will instead seek out a real Muslim woman to fulfill their fantasies.

I'm angry that this has already happened, but no one will care until Muslim women have a traumatic story to tell. One that many will reshare, pretending to care, pretending to be “woke”, but will continue to perpetuate the same Islamophobic rhetoric that’s been circling for decades.

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Links to Research Shared

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/263529139_Gendered_Islamophobia_hate_crime_against_Muslim_women

https://doi.org/10.1177/10778012211021125

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01419870.2023.2268179#d1e123

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