Hijabi pole dancers and then some
”Religion to me is very personal. What and how I practise are the result of my upbringing and my own readings/research. A wise imam once said, ‘Listen to the religion, not the people.’
Dina Zaman
Meet Vixen.
And Moxie.
The two young hijabs in front of me are married, well-educated, love Sephora and cats. They are the best of friends, and adhere to Islamic teachings faithfully. They both are professionals, and have gone far in their careers.
They are also pole dancers.
“This,” Moxie says, tapping her own hijab, “is a sign of respect. R-E-S-P-E-C-T. We nurture our bodies and minds. Our bodies are not for show.”
But you pole dance, I say.
“Well, the classes are women-only. So we’re not showing our bodies to men and the public.”
“And our husbands like it,” Vixen smiles. They have poles installed in their homes.
They both look at me. “Do you want to come for a trial class?”
I fend them off. No thank you, I hear pole dancing is brutal, I say.
How do the two reconcile their faith, aurat with their hobby of pole-dancing?
Why not? Again they reiterate, this has nothing to do with syirik. It’s exercise, and conducted in a closed class full of women. They don’t perform in public.
I have been speaking with and following a couple of young women of the new generation of hijabs, who are worlds apart from their mothers, and me.
In the 80s, when more Malay women took to covering their aurat, many wore black, and some took to the niqab, which spawned off the Hantu Kum-kum myth.
Beginning from the Nineties, modest fashion began to be more colourful, as women took to wearing floral baju kurungs with pastel coloured scarves (tudungs).
However, in the last eight years, the young have made modest fashion their own. Yuna, the singer, who is now making inroads in the highly competitive music industry in the US, paved the way for many young Muslim women. The Internet also influenced young Muslim women, as they poured over blogs, fashion websites, and adapted the latest trends in modest wear.
There had always been this perception: Malay women in hijab are less educated, less exposed to the world and are conservative. They are also perceived to be at the lower rung of the wage scale.
Maybe this could have been true 20 years ago, but today, the hijabi professional and hipster hijabi come from upper-middle class backgrounds, are well educated, and tote the latest designer IT bag.
The pole-dancing hijabs sitting in front of me are proof that veils and modesty to not equate to low IQ.
Read more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/opinion/dina-zaman/article/hijabi-pole-dancers-and-then-some
