Media Meditation 3: Why Women Wear Hijab

Islam is a religion that most Americans know little about. Many of the controversies that people have with Muslims are a result of either lack of information about Islam, or from viewing the faith from a western secular society perspective. If people had a better understanding of Islam I think there would be less conflict and Muslims would be viewed in a different light. One controversial aspect of the faith is women wearing the hijab. When understood from a western point of view many people believe that it oppresses women as they are forced to wear one, when in reality often times this isn’t the case. Many Muslim women freely choose to wear hijab for reasons such as to respect God, or to ensure that they are judged by their character and the type of person they are. The video below begins to help people understand the wearing of the hijab from the people who actually where them, Muslim women. After seeing this media I think people may view this Islamic practice in a more positive light and not as a symbol of oppression against women. This highlights the power of the media in molding our impressions on society and the rest of the world.

Tribune Brain: I think this media does a good job of engaging a person’s Limbic brain without them being aware of it. There is no music or extreme images, which are common tools used to evoke emotions. Instead they only use the Muslim women and the hijab to involve the Limbic brain. They are able to do this because most Americans automatically feel sad and sometimes even curious just from seeing women wearing the Hijab since it is something that is seen as a sign of oppression to Americans and a practice that most don’t see in the United States. The Neocortex is also engaged during the entire film through listening to the Muslim women’s reasoning’s for wearing their hijab. When viewing the women’s stories people use their Neocortex to understand and analyze what they are saying. Most Americans are surprised at what the Muslim women are saying from being unaware of their points of view on the hijab, which causes them to involve more of their Neocortex brain to rethink their pr-conceived notions.





7 Principles:
Reality Construction- The media is intended to address the reality construction that has been created among Americans about wearing the hijab. Due to the media many Americans view it as a symbol of oppression, but this media creates a different reality where the hijab is a religious practice that is meaningful to Muslim women and is something that they freely choose to do.

Production Techniques- By using American Muslim women to explain the hijab this media is more credible and persuasive. This is because people are more likely to believe the ideas being expressed if they were coming directly from the people wearing the hijabs rather than from a secondary source.

8 Trends:
Epistemological Shift- the only words in this media were the written out question of “Why Hijab” that starts the film. Because of this, viewers gain information from this media through film and not through the use of words.

Technological Shift- I was shown this media on the computer instead of the television. By viewing this on my computer I am able to watch it whenever I want, and can stop and re-play any part of the film that I want. These luxuries would not be able to talk place with the television media.

Discursive Shift- One of the main purposes of creating this media is to address the subjective opinions of the Hijab among Americans. The film itself could also be viewed as subjective because it only includes the Muslim’s who aren’t forced to wear the hijab points of views. This may lead people to believe that all Muslim women who wear scarves do so because they want to, not because they are forced, when some women actually are forced to wear them. However, the reality is that many Muslim women freely choose to wear their hijab making American’s concepts of the practice the strongest example of subjectivity in this media.


Persuasive Techniques:
Testimonial- The whole film/documentary consists of Muslim women explaining why they wear the hijab, which is a form of testimonial. In a way the film could be viewed as entirely testimonial.

Untold Stories- One of the reasons for the creation of the film was to make people aware of the untold stories of Muslim women wearing the hijab. Many Americans view it as oppression, but by viewing the untold stories of the people in the film Americans may form a different opinion about the Islamic practice.

Simple Solutions- The film demonstrates the persuasive technique of simple solutions when the Muslim women claim that wearing the hijab ensures that people won’t just like them for how they look, and that their personalities are what make people like them.

Group Dynamics- The Muslim women use words like “we” and “us.” When talking about wearing the hijab so that people don’t judge her based on her looks she says, “…I think that is what we as Americans strive for.”

Plain Folk- The film/documentary uses everyday normal American Muslims to explain why women wear the hijab. On one hand they may not seem like plain folks since many the Muslim population in the United States is small, but the fact that they are Americans establishes some common ground with viewers.