The main thing that you have to remember on this journey is just be nice to everyone and always smile. Netizens called out the double-standard of hailing a white woman for wearing the headscarf in a country where Muslim women are oppressed for doing it.
Netizens are calling out Vogue France for its “hypocrisy” after it posted a picture of Julia Fox wearing a headscarf along with a caption that read, “Yes to the headscarf! Swipe left for your recap of Julia Fox and Kanye West style journey at the haute couture shows in Paris this week.”
The caption was later changed to “Swipe left for your recap of Julia Fox and Kanye West style journey at the haute couture shows in Paris this week” without offering any explanation, but social media users are not impressed.
In the post, which comprised three pictures, Fox was clicked arriving at Paris Men’s Fashion Week in a leather Balenciaga trench coat, a headscarf and a pair of sunglasses. In the other two pictures, the actor was seen with beau Kanye West.
Why is it contentious? Well, for starters, the post has been deemed offensive to Muslim women living in the country, which has been accused of perpetuating a culture of Islamophobia.
According to a report in The Independent, the right of Muslim women wearing the hijab has been contested in France since 1989, when three students were suspended from school for refusing to remove their headscarves. Since then, there have been many such suspensions and in 2011, the country banned face coverings like the niqab and burqa. While burqa covers the face fully, niqab covers everything except the eyes.
Vogue France irked netizens by its double-standard of hailing a white woman for wearing the headscarf in a country where Muslim women are oppressed for doing it. “Not Vogue FRANCE writing ‘yes to headscarves’ as if that same country hasn’t banned a specific demographic from wearing them,” one person pointed out.
“The irony of Vogue France promoting a ‘headscarf’ on a white woman while Muslim women in Hijabs are banned from public life,” another wrote.
“How can you post about the headscarf on a white woman, but have it banned in your country for Muslim women?” another comment read.
The Independent report also mentioned that earlier this month, the French Senate voted in favour of banning the wearing of “religious symbols” in sports competitions, which includes the hijab.
A CNN report stated that with its 2011 ban, France had become the first European country to prohibit wearing of face-covering garments in public, like balaclavas, masks, burqas and niqabs. Other countries like Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Denmark also followed suit with partial bans of face coverings.
