Opinion: Fashion of the Free, by Aleena Arif

Many people argue that it's what is inside a person that counts, but there is no denying the importance of a first impression. Due to this, what we choose to wear and how we choose to present ourselves always says something. Many articles of women's clothing have been heavily debated and scrutinized: from swimwear to hijabs, critics are constantly trying to define what clothing is considered "oppressive" versus "empowering." These arguments miss the central point of the dichotomy between oppression and empowerment: the choice of what to wear. In this essay, I will explore the issue of labeling fashion as oppressive with the impacts of stripping women's agency, silencing their narratives, and the importance of cultural context when looking at fashion to avoid viewing fashion through the lens of a Western savior complex.

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Our world is not black-and-white: just as gender is not a dichotomous subject, it is also inaccurate to label clothing as empowering or oppressive. One article of clothing that is heavily painted as oppressive by Western media is the hijab: a headscarf worn by Muslim women that has recently become a focal point in debates regarding fashion, religion, and women's rights. Historically, before the presence of Islam, the hijab was worn by most women in Arab countries. Over time the religion adopted it, highlighting the complex and intertwined relationship between culture and religion (Landorf & Pagan, 2005).

Today, 500-800 million women wear the hijab worldwide and live in countries with differing levels of enforcement of the hijab ("How Many Women Wear the Hijab?", 2022). In countries like Afghanistan, the hijab is mandated for women, while in other countries like Pakistan and Morocco, women wear the hijab as an optional cultural fashion. In America, where there is no mandate for the hijab nor cultural norm to wear one, 60% of Muslim American women wear the hijab (Rosenberg, 2011).

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The differences in the enforcement of the headscarf across the globe illustrate a spectrum of free will in relation to the hijab, yet Western media portrays it as exclusively oppressive. One example of the Western world viewing the headscarf as not only oppressive but also as a danger to the public is the French hijab ban. The ban was said to be placed in order to separate school and religion, but this law ultimately only targets a visible religious symbol as opposed to ensuring religious neutrality in schools (Bowen, 2010). This law incriminates Muslim women for no reason other than how they choose to portray themselves – a right anyone should have.

This labeling of clothing as inherently oppressive strips women's personal agency, which is ironic as many people speaking against this "oppression" are trying to accomplish the opposite in the name of feminism. A feminist is defined as an "advocate for women's rights," someone who stands up for women to have the right to choose (Oxford English Dictionary, 2025). When some feminists argue that the hijab is oppressive, they are erasing the autonomy of women who choose to wear the hijab and find it empowering. When women have the choice to wear the hijab, it is inherently autonomizing as women are choosing to "privatize their sexual energy" and have control over their own bodies (Mogahed, 2023). In this sense, the hijab exemplifies a woman's agency over her own body, a topic that harmonizes with feminist ideals rather than juxtaposing them.

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In addition to the removal of the autonomy of women, labeling fashion as oppressive can undermine the stories of women who feel empowered by their choices of dressing, including those who choose to dress modestly. Western media seems to push the agenda of more revealing clothing as being more liberating, mostly because the more revealing Western style of dressing was emerging during the 1920s to 1960s, a period marked with changes in gender roles, openness regarding sexuality, and other social transitions. One example of this was the rise of the mini skirt: a symbol for women's rejection of previous societal norms (Hinton Magazine, 2023). Though these changes in fashion may be liberating to a certain subset of women, enforcing this narrative on others silences other women's stories.

When dominant voices suppress the beliefs of others, even in the name of feminism, it is detrimental to the feminist movement and disregards the diverse nature of womanhood. This concept is highlighted by the "Chicana and Black Feminisms: Testimonios", a paper that emphasizes the importance of personal narratives in the feminist sphere. The author's incorporation of Spanish words in the primarily English paper alluded to their mixed heritage as both a Spanish and English speaker and conveyed what it is like living between two cultures. This feature showed that silencing any aspect of oneself is going against feminism.

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For some women, the hijab is a form of empowerment and freedom, as part of the message it portrays is the conveyance of self-respect and having the choice of who sees your hair (Groff v. Dejoy, 2023). By completely erasing this narrative, society is erasing the voices of the often silenced, which according to Ahmed, goes against what feminism stands for: "feminist ears can hear beyond the silence that functions as a wall." (Ahmed, 2017, pg 203). In this quote, silencing is being metaphorically compared to a wall that hides the struggles of women behind it, and the key to being a feminist is hearing inside. Being feminist is not about implicating your own views upon others, which would build a wall of silence, but rather listening and integrating the experiences of all women into a meaningful movement.

Dismissing the diverse narratives of women often stems from a lack of cultural awareness and the imposition of one culture's values on another culture, which can lead to incorrectly labeling cultural practices as oppressive. This distortion of feminism can transform into ideological colonialism by forcing assimilation upon people of a different background. Fashion, in particular, is a diverse subject that varies vastly between and within cultures. For example, Pakistan is a country rich in intersectional Islamic and South Asian cultures, and its fashion reflects this diversity. From tight-fitting gowns to modest dresses with matching headscarves, there is a continuum in cultural fashion that makes it impossible to generalize. This diversity is formed from the interconnectedness between personal style and cultural roots, both of which outsiders may not completely understand.

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Not considering the impact of cultural values on fashion leads to a knowledge gap that can create a savior complex in Western feminists, with feminists from the West stepping in to "save" non-Western women, but in reality seeking to impose their own ideals (Waheed & Cabezas, 2021). Scholars such as Lorde have said white feminists deal "with non-European women […] only as victims," (Komaya, 2000, p. 703). In fact, the narrative of the hijab as oppressive was initiated by British colonialists in Egypt, and this idea exemplifies the use of the Western lens to incorrectly make assumptions regarding other's dressing choices (Hamdan, 2007). These sources highlight the negative impacts of using one specific variation of feminism to sequester another and build upon the idea of feminism as a complex topic that cannot be analyzed without the intersectionality of religion, culture, and personal experience. Feminism is supposed to be a freeing force for women, not an additional form of oppression.

Lorde illustrates the problem of using feminism as a guise to strip other women's personal agency by saying "The master's tools will never dismantle the master's house,": a quote that shows how using systems of oppression to try to beat oppression is counterintuitive and will never lead to the liberation of women (Lorde, 2007). When Western women label articles of clothing worn by other women as oppressive, they are perpetuating the same ideals of judgment, exclusion, and oppression onto other women by removing their right to choose what to wear, and furthermore, how to portray themselves and the intersectionality of their religion, culture, life experiences, and self-concept. As a result, minority women are exploited by Western women using the master's tools.

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Ultimately, labeling clothing as oppressive or empowering through only a Western lens oversimplifies the diversity of women's experiences globally, removes autonomy, and silences their personal narratives. Because the "major forms of oppression [are] interlocking," it is important to realize that true feminist liberation comes not from putting other women down, but from using the complexity of feminism to grow (Combahee River Collective, 2012). Getting to experience a blend of cultures as a second-generation Pakistani immigrant growing up in American culture, I noticed firsthand the way people reduce complex identities into simplified boxes such as "oppressed", not allowing Muslim or minority women to define themselves on their own terms. When we dismiss personal agency, sequester testimonies, and discredit cultural context, we are upholding the very systems feminism tries to resist. Oppression is not something woven into the fabric of a headscarf, but rather the stripping of individuality, lived experiences, and choices creates an oppressive society.

Bibliography:

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Combahee River Collective. “The Combahee River Collective Statement.” BlackPast.org. Last modified November 16, 2012. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/combahee-river-collective-statement-1977/.

Council on American-Islamic Relations. Brief of Council on American-Islamic Relations as Amicus Curiae in Support of Petitioner, Groff v. DeJoy, No. 22-174. Filed June 29, 2023. https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/22/22-174/255808/20230228140751044_EPPC%20Amicus%20Brief%20Groff%20v.%20DeJoy.pdf.

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