My concerns in this article are purely theoretical. They arise out of my study of post-modern Feminist Theory. I argue here that the Islamic concept of Hijab can liberate women from the issues emerging in the Irizarry’s analysis of postmodern society as a sexual economy

I shall proceed in presenting my case in the following fashion:

1.    First, I will explicate my understanding of post-modern feminist theory and then briefly try to locate Muslim feminist theory within it.

2.    I shall then present my problem as I see it by giving a comparatively fair exposition of the concept of ‘Sex Economy’ as developed by Irigaray.

3.    Next I will develop a concept of Hijab as I see it and finally show that by adopting the Hijab, women can liberate themselves from the sex economy

Post-modern Feminist Theory:

Postmodernism engulfed academia in the 1970s and 1980s as a reaction/rejection of modernity. Post-modern thought has evolved into widespread collection of discourses, feminism being among them. Rejecting the concept of universal truth, the postmodernist demonstrates shift towards pluralism claiming that there are many truths which may change over time and are dependant on socio-cultural Diasporas in which they are expressed and ultimately judged,  

Locating Islamic Feminism within Post-modern Feminist Theory:

In the religio-cultural context, the postmodernists use the hermeneutics of scriptures, which takes on a crucial significance. It understands the religious attempts to create reality by defining certain traditions and boundaries that are outlined in the religious texts. However, the given (the scripture) may seem outdated when translated in present times. Traditional translations appear obsolete and inadequate in answering questions emerging from existing social situations. Therefore, dominant religious customs and practices, which may have been a crucial aspect of past reality, may not adequately address the concerns of a different age. Though the actual content of these scriptures cannot be changed, its understanding/interpretation varies, enabling religious communities to live and abide by their sacred texts within new realities. Thus, interpretation emerges as a crucial technique in creating and understanding new dimensions of reality.

Muslim feminists have employed post-modern techniques to address the major issues facing Muslim women today. They realize that their understanding of the Quran⁵ is in flux and the changing socio-cultural conditions must be taken into account in our understanding of it. Consequently, Muslim feminists like Fatima Mernissi and Nawal El Sadavi⁶ have adopted the approach of reinterpreting the Islamic texts, i.e. the Quran and the Sunnah⁷. These feminists rereading of the texts seek to place the discourse of equality of sexes in the very heart of Islamic discourse in general. It aims at demonstrating that the discourse of equality of sexes is supported by authentic Islamic sources. Moreover, a feminist reading of the Islamic texts provide alternative Islamic solution to the post-modern woman issue of the status of women in society and their growing aspirations of equality (of participation) in the dynamics of the Muslim society. The position of the women in an Islamic society and their role in the socio-political changes of their society are at the heart of the feminist quest of the Islamic world. The Muslim feminists share their concerns about how gender as a social category rather than a biological given can be constructed from within their Islamic tradition.  The primary feminist issue which confronts Muslims concerns the way gender issues are treated in the discourses that invoke ‘Islam’, dwelling on authenticity and tradition and self-consciously feminist. Next are the concerns about the social constraints and marginality of the female so as to limit woman’s access to economy and politics and hence the growth of the society. The Muslim woman, unlike her Western counterpart, has always enjoyed legal and economic personality⁸. However, issues of female domesticity, the institution of polygamy, segregated society and unilateral right of divorce to the male are some of the issues, which place Muslim feminists on a different dimension as compared to Western feminists. The Muslim feminist faces the general issue, which for me is that she (the Muslim woman) wants to be in the public eye but wants also to preserve feminine modesty and propriety within the framework of Quranic principals governing the relations between men and women.

Muslim feminists understand that Islam, which is governed by the Quran, is socially constructed to relegate a secondary status to women. They try to dispel the grand narrative of the inferiority of women as taught in Islam. The world today is only a social construct and not an essential part of Islamic doctrine. In practice, this belief has led the Muslim feminists to the rereading of the Quran and Hadith⁹ in search for Islamic alternatives to the problems arising from the changed status of the women and to accommodate the changing female roles. Further, they (the Muslim feminists) have found that women are oppressed, exploited and dominated by the capitalist society while reserving an army of labour, paying low wages and accepting unpaid reproductive work. Muslim feminists also look back at history to demonstrate that their culture was not always the same. Al-Ghazali and Aiysha Abdur Rehman are compiling history of early Islamic society. They try to show that Mohammad was respectful of his wives, involved them in politics, war and social affairs, and they (his wives) were always his confidants and his equals.

Hence, Muslim feminists are working in their own religious tradition and developing their own identity within the Islamic world as well as the Western feminist world. They face in their ordeal a twofold crisis. Firstly, they face the internal crisis where they are battling to carve out a more viable image of woman based on justice and equality from within the Islamic perspective, and secondly, they face the external threat of domination from the Western feminist, who imposes her own image construct of womanhood. Finally, the Muslim feminist is fighting in general along with the Western feminist, the patriarchal nature of society.

Irizarry on Sex Economy:

Relevant at this point is Irigaray’s critique of the discourse of feminist theory regarding female sexuality in the Western Philosophy. She emphasises the fact that female oppression is institutionalized by reducing her (woman) into an object of economic exchange on the basis of her sex (exchange) value. Irigaray’s refusal to accept male-centered structures of language and thought by challenging writing practise as a first step towards feminine discourse that could end the Western phallocentric.

In the Western philosophical discourse, maintains Irigaray the female body as a sexual object occurs within the discourse that take women as objects of men’s desire. In this context, sexuality itself is constructed phallocentrically. This theory is developed in her work “This Sex Which Is Not One.”

Irigaray develops her theory of sex economy on the critique of Marx’s and Freud. She theorises that contemporary social economies along with using money for exchange also use women as commodities. In the sex market, Irigaray categorises women as mothers, virgins, and prostitutes based on their inherent worth/value as exchange according to social norms; virgins are highly priced, being new, pure, and unused. Mothers are used and old commodities who are off the market but their status as nurturers of children give them some value. Prostitutes are lowest in the price since they are used and easily traded (exploited). The stratification of these values creates competition among women. This association of values and presence of competition relegate women to the status of commodities

Mothers, virgins, and prostitutes – the social roles imposed on women are grounds of characterising feminine sexuality valorization of reproduction and nursing, faithfulness, modesty, lack of interest in sexual pleasure, a passive acceptance of man’s activity, seductiveness so as to arouse the consumer without getting pleasure herself – thus in neither of the three social roles, a woman has the right to sexual pleasure. At this point, Irigaray criticises Freud’s phallocentric thought, which sustains the above patriarchal socio-economic order. Freud’s justification of depriving women from sexual pleasure lies in his theory whereby woman’s inferiority (in the patriarchal system) is directly linked to her sexuality/her sexual lack of not possessing a Phallus. This phallic centered thought bestows woman all her deceptive/seductive qualities and places her in the market as a sexual commodity all of which the woman chooses of her sweet will driven by her craving to complete her being by compensating for her lack of the Phallus by appropriating it either from her, from her child, lover, or husband.

Irigaray, however, sees in female sexuality a plurality and not just a mono-sexuality which characterises the male sexuality simply because man possesses one, single sex organ. The female sex, Irigaray finds is not one for the female sexual organ is not one but plural – hence the title of her book “This Sex Which Is Not One.”

However, Irigaray is not able to decipher the strategy, which would envision society that no longer disgraces femininity to the level of sex object and keeps her in the sex economy in the market to be consumed by male subjects all the time.

It is at this point, that the Islamic practise of wearing the Hijab becomes important. I feel that women, by adopting the Hijab can remove themselves from the sex market and participate in the social activity as genuine, respectable human beings while at the same time retaining their identity as women.

In order to show how the practise of wearing the Hijab is liberating in the post-modern society Irigaray above traces whose dynamics, I will explain my own motion of Hijab and in the process also demonstrate how this liberation from sex economy will take place.

Hijab in Service of Irigaray

The Hijab is not a uniquely Islamic practice and has a long history in Judeo-Christian tradition. There are several references to the practice in both the Old and New Testaments (King James Version). In the contemporary religious discourse, Hijab has taken on a specifically Islamic significance as it has increasingly becoming a symbol of Islamisation in the post 9/11 September socio-political scenario. It has been a controversial issue among Muslim Feminists and Western Feminists on the one hand and among Islamists Feminists and liberal feminists on the other hand. While the Western Feminists regard the practice of Hijab as totally Islamic and find it oppressive to Muslim women, the Islamist Feminists own the tradition and justify it as liberating. Whereas the debate among the Muslim feminists takes on a more religious discourse regarding its basis in Quran and Hadith and about its meaning and significance for a Muslim woman.

However my interest here in Hijab is neither to justify or reject the practice but rather to demonstrate how by adopting the Islamic discourse of Hijab, the post-modern Feminists like Irigaray can over come some of the difficulties faced by them like those of objectification of women and their being trapped in the patriarchal structures.

I will now begin with introducing the concept of Hijab in the Islamic context.

The word “Hijab” comes from the Arabic “Hajaba” meaning to hide, or conceal from view. In the present time, the context of Hijab is a modest covering of a Muslim woman.

The word Hijab refers to a cover, wrap, curtain, veil, screen, or partition. When Hijab is used in the Quran context it also implies a separation of sacred and mundane, by implication male and female. But in contemporary Islamic discourse, the word “Hijab” implies;

1.    Simple head scarf

2.    The entire dress a woman wears among non-intimates that covers her body with the exception of her hands, face and feet – In lose and non-distinctive clothing.

3.    The philosophy of dressing modestly.

Now before moving on to my argument let me shed some light on the concept of Hijab as it emerges in the Quran.

Initially, in the Quran, there is the concept of the Hijab both for men and women, which they should both dress in public in a manner that would de-sexualize them in public.

Verse 24, 30-31 says “Tell the believing men to lower their eyes and guard their private parts….Tell women to lower their eyes, and guard their private parts and not display their charms except what is apparently outwardly….”

Women though cover more, is only a functional matter and have no reference to value, or status, or ability of women to move freely in public.

The passage then advises women to draw their veils to their bosom (breast area). The Quran is further very particular about what categories of people a woman can maintain private dress.

Combining this verse with some other verses like verse 33,58, refers to The Prophet’s wives and orders their seclusion and asks them and other believing women to draw their outer garments (when in public) over them.

The spirit of this verse is to dress in a manner to signal “unavailability”. Here dress is used as a marker of Muslim identity. So that Muslim (believing) women may be distinguished from slave girls and therefore are not considered “molest able”¹⁷.

Lastly, the verse 24, 60 has to do with pointing out when Hijab is not required. “As for your women past the age of bearing children, who have no hope of marriage, there is no harm if they take off their outer garments but in such a way that they do not display their charms, yet if they avoid this, it would be better for them, God is all Hearing, all Knowing.’

This verse implies that women should usually wear in public more than what they should in private. So this leads to the two basic issues related to the concept of Hijab;

1.    The idea to de-sexualize dress

2.    The specific idea of being identifiable as a Muslim woman

The woman who uses Hijab makes a radical political statement about herself. She states what she accepts and rejects. She refuses to play the gender roles of the patriarchal order. She refuses to play her role around sex and the aura of sexuality where all social relationships have sexual undertones. When a woman takes the Hijab, she rejects this role in the sexualized society and she asserts that sex has nothing to do with her public life. It is the fact that she has taken out of discussion her physical self. Once in Hijab what makes her a woman (her femaleness) cannot be appraised as a consequence one is left with dealing only with a person. The woman wearing the Hijab is not only rejecting her gender role but also the associated politics of gender. Thus bypassing the basic social structures, the political systems and its tied economic setup.

The progress of women in the present social order is symbolized by her strength, independence, and assertiveness. Yet women are enslaved by an ideal physical female image to which most women do not conform. This duality makes woman a marketable commodity competing among them. Take for example the fashion industry where glamour is symbolized by glossy lipsticks, slip dresses, and spiked heels. Women are expected by fashion designers to dress like prostitutes. The female body is used for selling everything from cosmetics to cars. By wearing the Hijab, the woman refuses to participate in this sexualized economy. Once the female body is de-sexualized then it would pave the way for woman to perform as a person.

The Hijab has a purpose, to restore to women the ultimate control of their bodies. That men and women are equal and people should not be judged on the basis of gender, beauty, wealth or privilege.

A woman who chooses the Hijab makes an independent decision and follows it up by a radical practice. She decides to cover/conceal physical body, moves herself out of the fashion industry, and also removes herself from the market, which commodifies her being in terms of her sexuality.  She is not out to play the roles ascribed to her by the socio-political and economical structure but defies them all by choosing to act in negating the existing structures.

A covered woman is a direct challenge to any woman’s whole being, sense of self and way of life. A woman in Hijab who is a functioning member of society symbolizes an empowered, independent, woman rather than the eclectic, pop cultural and intellectually bankrupt icons of sex economy.

Hijab is not just a covering dress but more importantly behaviour, manners, speech and appearance in public. The contemporary society as pictured by Irigaray has de-humanized woman hood in two ways:

Firstly, it takes women and objectifies her body as a sex object which is expressed in the fashion industry where the female body image is promoted to which most women do not conform and their desire to do so fuel the economy whereby women compete amongst themselves. Secondly, the patriarchal, dichotomized social structures reduce women to a mere lack of the phallus. Here, the inferiority of women is institutionalized in gender roles also manifested in the dichotomy of private and public. The liberation of women in this context is viewed as consisting in women adopting the public so as to gain equality with men.

The Philosophy of Hijab however would allow women to affectively overcome both these de-humanizing under currents off the post-modern societies.

The concept of it is different in Islam as in other non-Islamic concepts of Hijab. In Islam, Hijab is not a restriction on the movement (physical) of women; rather it gives them the freedom to do so without being judged on their sexual/physical attractiveness/value. Further the Islamic Hijab is not an insult or degradation for women to hide or conceal their being indoors or behind a veil as an axis of evil or as an inferior being. Rather it allows women to access their rights as having complete legal economic and political status without bringing their sexual being into play. It is a protective shield for women against aggression and attacks to her dignity.

Finally, very importantly for me is the implication of Hijab whereby the Western assumption of the dichotomy between public and private and the superiority of the public is done away with. The division and superiority of public over private, linking the public with men and private with women. Extending this dichotomy, it necassitates the competition amongst men and women over control of public space rather than valuing diversity of special roles for both men and women. Thus avoiding essentializing gender roles.

The meaning of Hijab as a marker between mundane and sacred has a relation to the meaning of Hijab as women’s dress. Just as Muslims convert mundane space into sacred thought ritual cleansing and performing of prayer wherever they may happen to find themselves. So in the like manner, Muslim women carry with them their sacred private space into the public space by use of the Hijab.

In wearing the Hijab, a Muslim woman suspends her sexuality and reverts her to her original status as a human being. Thus establishing the humanity blurred by her feminity, the women in Hijab reclaims her dignity as a human and detaches her self from the negative implications of her feminine which always clouds the perception of her being as a person.

In Hijab, she is no longer seen as a commodity/sex object. She places herself in the society as a person and not a woman (having sex value only) and frees herself from the social constraints of her feminity. Once people cease to be distracted by women’s physical appearance, they can begin to hear their views and recognize the inner person. Thus Hijab is established as a tool for de-objectifying women.

The capitalist/monopolistic and exploitive economy feeding on sex economy in billion-dollar fashion industry, cosmetic and cosmetic surgery with body implants can be struck a blow by adopting the Hijab philosophy.

The Hijab philosophy that suspends the feminine in the women ascribes her a-gender or a transgender status. In fact the confusion of the terms of sexuality with sex is seen as the root cause of the unveiling of the female body and hence reducing it to the status of a sex object. The Hijab which covers the body cannot and does not hide the woman’s sexuality which is a part and parcel of her being hence, by assuming a gendered or transgender through the adoption of the Hijab any woman can overcome the degeneration of her being by covering her body and relegating it to the sphere of the person hood.

The concept of sex economy is also derived from Marx’s concept of economy, which keeps women from truly owning and maintaining their own sexuality. The deconstruction of this categorization of the female based on sexuality and competition will call in to question that truly owns female sexuality. In a phallocentric paradigm female sexuality is a commodity and female a product within the system. Once the system is upset, might not the women own herself and her sexuality? Or would there rather be a multiplicity and plurality of ownership? Or would it call into question the entire question of ownership? In light of the above, I can now conclude that the assuming of the Hijab is one way of taking women out of this categorization. The Hijab is the symbol of the wearer being a person who has hidden her sexuality and as a result women must “suspend” their sexuality by covering themselves. By taking on the Hijab, the women define herself as a person and not as a mere sexual object. That all human beings are equal (ontologically-as persons) and have no sexually complimentary roles as male vs. female. Thus taking women off the market and giving up competition among them to please men. With a changed meaning and identity of the woman, the Hijab becomes a signifier of person hood to a women, it allows her to participate in the public sphere without undermining her dignity.