On Tuesday, May 17th, 2022, The official University of Western Instagram page made a post that depicted two women in Hijab engaging in a sexual act.

This petition will speak as to why it is problematic and requires immediate removal.

The post can be found here: IG post (Note they have now turned off comments, more on this later)

Firstly, it should be made clear that this is not an attack on the LGBT+ community, and the existence of queer Muslims is acknowledged.

This does not mean that the Muslim community should allow any or all elements of its religion to be used to propagate any notion one deems worthy. As this often happens at the expense/sacrifice of the religious element in question. Such is the case with the use of the Hijab in the Western University IG post.

It should also be made clear that if you are not Muslim, you have no right to tell us what we can and cannot find offensive.

 

What is portrayed is extremely disrespectful, insensitive and completely imperceptive to the Muslim community at large. The Muslim community has voiced their concerns on the matter (Many of which were Women who wear the Hijab). Yet, Western University goes on to disregard their input and instead turns the comment section off, stating:

"This post was not religious or theological in content and was internally vetted by our cross-campus EDID group which has Muslim representation. We understand that the imagery might be upsetting for some Muslims, but we also acknowledge the Queer Muslim community often does not get represented. Therefore, this post will continue to be live on our channels. As the conversations in the comments are no longer about recognizing 2SLGBTQ+ identity, we have turned off comments to avoid any further impacts on the community."

As one can see, this response makes a poor attempt to gaslight individuals into believing that nothing about the post was meant to be religious and that they 'understand' that the imagery may be upsetting to 'some' muslims.

Let us break this response down, line by line:

• "This post was not religious"

This is such a dubious claim. The women are clearly wearing Hijab. This directly implies that they are Muslim Women. Muslim women practice Islam; Islam is a religion. Which, in fact does make this post religious and to pretend as though it does not is foolish and dishonest. The Hijab symbolizes devotion to the Islamic faith; that is clear. To attempt to separate the two is impossible.

• "We understand that the imagery might be upsetting for some Muslims"

The imagery has made many Muslim women uncomfortable by portraying the Hijab on women engaging in sexual activity; Western University has contributed to the sexualization and fetishization of the Hijab. If you had understood that, you would have removed the imagery from the post. Then to go on and belittle the concern of the Muslim community. Indeed if only 'some' Muslims found it upsetting, Western University would have left the comment section as is. However, it was clear that this was done to silence the voices of the community.

• “we also acknowledge the Queer Muslim community often does not get represented.”

This may be true, but it certainly does not allow you to tokenize the Hijab in an attempt to push such acknowledgment. Then to silence/ignore all of the voices that pointed it out, many of which were women who wear the Hijab themselves. This also directly contradicts the claim that the post was not religious and makes it clear that the University knows that the Hijab is a representation of Muslims/Islam.

• "As the conversations in the comments are no longer about recognizing 2SLGBTQ+ identity, we have turned off comments"

Perhaps this would speak to poor design decisions. If a particular design element pulls away from the actual message you are trying to send the viewers. The natural response is to remove it as to adequately direct attention to the desired topic (in this case, recognizing 2SLGBTQ+). However, the lack of willingness to do so makes the intentions of the use of Hijab explicit. To bring religion into the picture. Specifically targeting Islam.

• "we have turned off comments to avoid any further impacts on the community."

But refuse to acknowledge the impacts of the imagery upon marginalized Muslim women who wear the Hijab daily. Instead, silencing and ignoring the concerns of visibly Muslim Hijabi women. Tokenizing the Hijab, stripping it of its association with modesty by intertwining it with a sexual act and contributing to the sexualization and fetishization of Hijabi Muslim women, as if sexual harassment/assault against women of minority groups wasn’t already bad enough. Especially on the Western University Campus in recent times.
 

      

The Edit also claims it being approved by internal members, some of which happen to be Muslim. Then provides no further information on the topic (were they Hijabi women, women, men, reverts, practicing, non-practicing, members of the muslim student association, etc..). Whomever they are, it is clear they do not represent the voices of Muslim students on campus. The fact that the response of Western University to concerns of Muslim students is to rid of the comment section (essentially silencing them). Then, enforcing their decision to include the Hijab (a socially, religiously and spiritually important element of the Islamic faith) on a post that Hijabi Muslim Women themselves are expressing concern for is highly problematic. Suggesting a significant disconnect between the Muslim Student body and the authoritative governing body at Western University. Evidently so.

 

Overall, the depiction of the Hijab in such a context is disrespectful, tokenizing, and attempting to redefine elements of the Hijab by sexualizing and fetishizing an element of  Islamic Religion that is supposed to desexualize and encapsulate modesty. The Muslim community should not and will not allow the colonist mindset to question if we have the right to be upset; we do, and we are. The response from Western University has engaged in ethnocentrism and decided to take a beloved element of our Religion and use it as a prop to broadcast what they deem worthy. Irrespective of the concerns of the Muslim community.

As such, this petition calls for Western University to immediately remove the post, issue an official apology and improve operations to make sure such events do not reoccur.