Effects of Religious Veiling on Muslim Men’s Attractiveness Ratings of Muslim Women

Abstract

Hijab and other Islamic veiling clothing are important social and political symbols for Muslim women's identity. Although recently there has been a large body of literature on the social and political aspects of hijab in Western countries, there has been no investigation of the origin and function of veiling itself. This article hypothesized that religious veiling, which eliminates the estrogen-induced body curves of reproductive age women, decreases men's perceptions of women's physical attractiveness, thereby serving mate guarding functions against rival men. To test this hypothesis. Measures of the motivational appeal and self-reported perceived attractiveness of women exhibiting different degrees of veiling were obtained from 80 Muslim male participants. The results showed that men were more motivated to view women exhibiting the less veiling and rated them more attractive than those women whose bodily curves were less apparent. These results support veiling serving a mate guarding function and reinforcing the marital bond.