You may have seen folk commenting on the ludicrous Benneton “unisex” hijab. Many have been so unkind as to scoff at this “stunning and brave” innovation.
Well, folk are right to scoff. The very idea of a unisex version of a garment that is intended to demonstrate a Moslem woman’s position as a sister in the Ummah, a Moslem man’s wife, or daughter and therefore off limits to other Moslem men, is inherently mad. You could easily argue the very concept of a man in hijab is un-Islamic. You could even be forgiven for thinking Benneton are taking the mickey out of Islam. Perhaps some of the famously tolerant members of the Religion of Peace will demonstrate their appreciation of the humour as they did to the staff of Charlie Hebdo.
Whatever Benneton thought they were doing, it’s certainly not new, it’s no innovation. As soon as I saw the pictures my memory stirred. I’d seen something very like it before, in a movie many years ago. I had a little rummage around on Johnie Interweb and there it was! Here is a still with Woody Allen modelling the unisex hijab in his classic 1972 film Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Demented Liberal Loonies* (*But Were Afraid To Ask).
2 replies on “There is nothing new under the sun…”
LOL, Islamists will have an easy go of determining which “women” they will toss off ten story buildings. It’s the guys in the hijabs.
Is that like advocating circumcision for women? I guess some people do that, though they call it something else, and only do it on women.
I would argue that the whole thing is as un-Islamic as they want to claim it is being helpful and by completely missing the point have failed to counter it… whether they wanted to or not.