Sexuality, Difference, and American Hijabi Bloggers

Abstract

This article uses qualitative content analysis to explore some themes associated with perspectives on sexuality and multicultural difference on American hijabi fashion blogs. These themes include tensions within the community, the American Muslim identity and Muslim women’s purposes for veiling and blogging about fashion. This paper frames the American hijabi fashion community as a counterculture movement that focuses on Islamically based objections to the commodification of women’s sexuality in the mainstream fashion and media industries. It also discusses disagreements within Muslim communities such as conceptualizations of awrah and hijab, the connections between veiling and empowerment, the tolerance of the American society and perspectives on the modern-traditional binary. The paper concludes with a discussion of how socioeconomic factors may allow “safe Muslims” such as hijabi fashion bloggers to assimilate into mainstream culture while excluding working class Muslims and how the hijab could create barriers to inclusion within Muslim communities.