Planet Faculty

Imagine walking down a busy city street and passing two women. The first woman is wearing a long, flowing habit with a veil that covers her hair and neck, leaving only her face visible. The second woman is wearing a long, flowing dress and a hijab that covers her hair and neck, leaving only her face visible. For many people in the Western world, these two sights elicit vastly different internal reactions. The first woman—a Catholic nun—is often viewed with respect, curiosity, or at the very least, passive indifference. She is seen as a symbol of devotion, peace, and moral purity. The second woman—a Muslim woman—is all too often met with suspicion, pity, or outright hostility. She is sometimes viewed as a symbol of oppression, a victim of patriarchy, or a threat to secular values. But if we strip away our cultural conditioning, we have to ask ourselves: Why does the same physical act—a woman covering her head as an expression of her faith—provoke such contradictory reactions? ...