Questioning Islam's modesty clothing for women

[u/DistractedCraftress]

From what I remember in this sub-reddit there have been some heated posts regarding Islam and modesty clothing (hijab, niqab etc. etc.).

Let me just clear up that I'm not a Muslim and I have no experience with the religion as a whole as I grew up in a mostly Christian country.

However, these questions have been lately on my mind:

1. Maybe this sounds stupid but do you think that these outfits may have functional and cultural influence other than Islam and modesty? Because it seems like they were always a good protection from the heat and sand such as long robes for men in Arabia and other countries with similar climate (yes I am aware that women's robes were also a thing e.g. in Afghanistan but women were forbidden to wear them) but the burqa for example seems really useful to wear in a desert climate and environment under specific environmental conditions (maybe way more rarely I wouldn't know how useful it would be). Do you think the complete abolition of them is needed? Because it just seems to me like in a perfectly equal society women could reclaim them as something functional and not as a sign of modesty and oppression. I just have been thinking are we talking of the complete abolition of such modesty garments only because of men? If men didn't factor in do you think women wouldn't be wearing them at all?

2. This was inspired by a reel from a source that I was unable to track that I watched some weeks ago. If I remember correctly it was an outfit used in Latin America by women to fight the colonization. The garment was banned because women were using them to gather information against the oppressors and they couldn't be hold accountable for it since they could never find the culprit. Maybe there's a way they could be used as a means of protecting anonymity and freedom in a world that is becoming more and more all about surveillance against activism. Something similar to modern day full-face masks for women but even better since now there are odds that the eyes and body could play a role for telling people apart.

[u/sxugna]

Hijab wasn’t originally about desert protection it was used to separate free Muslim women from slave women (who weren’t allowed to veil and were physically beaten if they did, they were often kept shirtless because their “awrah” was the same as men ) basically a status marker that later got religiously enforced. If it were truly functional, Muslim women in humid countries, freezing countries, or rainy tropical wouldn’t still be pressured to wear it, it’s not practical in a lot of places, it’s about modesty control. Seriously you can’t even swim without the clothes being safety hazard. Sure you can wear it as some sort of fashionable clothing but that’s not what it is. Hijab is invalid that way. Hijab is supposed to be plain and it comes with a lot of stuff like not walking in heels too loud (attracts men), not speaking softly, not beautifying yourself (makeup, jewelry) in front of non mahrams (male guardian/family) etc. There’s also hijab when it comes to mahrams and even your father, basically navel to the knees. (The same awrah as males everywhere) You’ll hear many Shiekh saying to not wear stuff in front of ur father because “satan exists” and could put stuff in his mind blah blah what this ultimately leads to is victim blaming which you see a lot of already. Every con outweighs the pros of hijab. ( which are barely any)

[u/DistractedCraftress → u/sxugna]

Thank you for clearing that up. Well I initially didn't mean to say there are pros to hijab like I don't see them as pros. I know it's a garment that has religious and misogynistic roots. I'm just thinking at what degree does society shape religion and the other way around as well.