Friday, January 27, 2017

Hijabi America, I salute you.

Captain America cosplay by Dania (aka Hijabi Hooligan Cosplay):


^ via Black Nerd Problems, “I can still have fun without compromising my faith!” Dania said:
"Cosplay to me means many things. It’s freedom from the stress of normal life, and to some extent it allows me the opportunity to live vicariously through the characters I cosplay and that gives me more confidence to talk to people and have fun! Cosplay for me also means making a statement. I am a Muslim, hijab-wearing woman, and there is a lot of stigma surrounding the hijab. I want to show people that choosing to cover up does not deprive me of anything that my fellow women have — I can still have fun without compromising my faith!"
 also see Buzzfeed article "15 Hijabi Cosplayers That Are Flawless"

6 comments:

The Crow said...

I just remembered the hatefulness shown toward Catholic women by many of the numerous Baptist sects down south when I was young because the Catholic women wore lace caps or short veils when they went to worship. My first exposure to interfaith bigotry came from my time in Baptist congregations. Those animosities didn't begin to change until 1959 or 1960.

Ignorance knows no bounds...but, then, neither do love and understanding.

I like her costume. Did she make it, do you suppose?

Frex said...

CROW: Wow--thanks for sharing that. It's ironic, isn't it.

Dania does make (or assemble) her own costumes--she posts about it on her FB:
www.facebook.com/HijabiHooligan

Does your grandson do any cosplaying? Seems like something he might do, or like... I see lots of Tolkein costumes out there, for instance.

The Crow said...

He doesn't do cosplay or costumes, but he likes designing characters for video games. He's pretty good at it, which surprised me. We don't have a cosplay community in our town, but he enjoyed dressing up for the renaissance faire events he attended....

Oh, wait. Yes, he does get into cosplay. He and his mother went to a Horror Find a couple of years, once as zombies, which Donovan still likes to do for the local Halloween parade each, so I guess he does, after all. Just didn't think that that was cosplay, but of course it is! Not as organized or frequent as I think Dania's might be.

I think the changes in attitude towards Catholics began to change when the Kennedys were in the White House. At least, it wasn't so in the open as before.

Frex said...

Designing video game characters? Wow! Good for Donovan!
Halloween is definitely cosplay (costume + play)--so long as you're having fun. :)

I wonder if attitudes toward Catholics changed when Kennedy's death also coincided with Vatican II beginning to modernize the Catholic Church?
Nuns no longer had to wear habits, etc.---cuts down on external reasons for prejudice.

I was surprised, though, when I entered the Catholic faith in 1998, how much people felt free to say rude things about it to me:
"I can't believe anyone intelligent would become Catholic," one co-worker said.

I was so flabbergasted, I was speechless!

Bink said...

The Captain America pic you picked is my favorite from the Buzzfeed article, but lots of cool work. So important, especially now, that non-Muslims see Muslims engaged in nice, normal, pursuits like cosplay. 😉

ArtSparker said...

David Tennant recently said "We must be rebelliously optimistic and optimistically rebellious". Feeling it right now!