Challenging Media Representations of the Veil

Abstract

The image of the Muslim woman’s veil in the popular western media isthat it is a symbol of oppression and violence in Islam. The forced coveringof women in postrevolutionary Iran, or lately, under the Talibanin Afghanistan seems to confirm this image of the veil. But this singularimage of the ‘veil’ is not the whole story of covering. Since the late1970s scores of Muslim women, from Arabia to Asia to the West, havebeen voluntarily covering. The re-covering movement challenges thereductive image of the veil as a symbol of Muslim women’s oppression.Due to the ubiquitous image of the veil as a symbol of oppression orviolence, Muslim women living in the West who cover often suffer discrimination,harassment, even assault. Hence, it is important to understandthe multiple meanings of the veil, and to challenge the media toimprove their representation of its meanings.