Documentary Film as Interreligious Dialogue: A Cognitive Perspective

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

This is a wonderful and well-referenced contribution to the literature, both on documentaries as a form of social or para-social discourse and the power of movies and media generally to help to overcome viewers' stereotypes and suspicion of people in other religious and cultural groups than their own.

The discussion of how documentaries work as a form of virtual social interaction ("para-social contact") is particularly timely and important, as it is a crucial dimension of documentary rhetoric that has until quite recently been largely ignored. 

The specific focus of this study, on fostering positive and productive dialog and understanding among people of different religions, is also especially valuable, since it gives the study real practical utility, both for documentary filmmakers and those who wish to use documentary films to promote cross-cultural understanding. 

Finally, I find both the structure and the prose of the essay to be remarkably accessible and clear. 

In short, I find this to be a timely and important scholarly work that will benefit scholars of religious studies and documentary films and filmmaking.

Author Response

REVISIONS IMPLEMENTED INTO “Documentary Film as Interreligious Dialogue: A Cognitive Perspective”:

 

To my reviewers,

Thank you kindly for your great and helpful feedback! It is much appreciated. I hope my revisions speak sufficiently to your suggestions and inquiries.

Thank you for your time!

The Author :)

PS: My citations are not showing in this comment field so I have attached a PDF that shows the added sections and citations more clearly.

 

 

REVISION RECOMMENDATION #1: However, the article would benefit from evidence more directly related to documentary film, as the arguments for the social, emotional, and cognitive impacts of film-viewing may apply as much to fictional as well as to non-fiction films.

 

 

REVISION RESPONSE:

The literature collectively emphasizes that the very notion of “impact” must be operationalized, defined carefully, with clearly specified and tangible indicators, before we can say anything meaningful about the social impact of documentary films. The social impact of documentary films might be defined as improvement in attitude amongst documentary film audiences, that is, a more positively-valenced schematic social imagination across any given social divide, constituting a pro-social perceptual shift and more constructive, cooperative interactive behaviors. A number of research studies, newspaper and magazine articles, media scholars, social media musers, and (of course) impact producers have explored the ways in which documentary film bears especially strong moral force when it comes to recalibrating unsavory notions about people on the basis of social divides.

As noted above, studies have found that news programming is even more powerful than entertainment television in its ability to uphold and reinforce stereotypical images and representations of any given human demographic. News videojournalism possesses the cultural capital of “authority” and objectivity, and is trusted by audiences to deliver quality information reflecting the real world. Likewise, the “truth” status of nonfiction filmmaking rooted in the “real world” intensifies its authority as a source of social information, and therefore its potential impact upon the schematic imagination, notwithstanding the ample literature contesting the platform of documentary film for presenting objective reality. Documentaries and news videos, nevertheless, attribute positive and negative attitudes across social divides with more efficacy and gravity than do fictional serialized television shows, and thus represent a worthwhile object of investment for considering them as mediated forms of interreligious dialogue.

 

REVISION RECOMMENDATION #2: the fact that most documentaries are stand-alone films (rather than part of a series) may undercut the arguments made ….

 

REVISION RESPONSE:

 

It is true that, for the form’s history, the vast majority of documentary films are stand-alone feature films. Indeed, media scholars refer to the period after 2000 as the New Golden Age of Television, attributed to the rise of serialized fiction shows such as The Sopranos and Six Feet Under, and the fall of the dominance of television networks in favor of digital streaming platforms. Following the explosion in episodic fictional television, beginning around 2017 and with increasing ubiquity dating to the COVID-19 global pandemic, industry reports and and internet articles alike have followed the increasing popularity of documentary series, and therefore the increasing viability of them as a business model for studios and digital streaming platforms. The documentary series is now to be considered an “emerging” format, which is a direct response of the digital revolution which has increased a thousand-fold independent filmmakers’ access to professional and pro-sumer filmmaking equipment, editing equipment, citizen journalism trends, and the possibility of excess footage, all of which makes the series format more attainable for filmmakers.

Given the increasing popularity of this format, their longitudinal impact is a sure to be an increasingly studiable object over time. Most concrete data lives ahead of us as to the longitudinal perceptual impact potential of the documentary film series. In my opinion, it is a format worth investing in because the brain science and the social science affirm the impact potential of repeated acts, the power of repetition and constancy, and the gravitational force of habits. Research indicates overwhelmingly that duration matters when it comes to trying to change minds and nudge them in a more receptive, cooperative direction in a way that has staying power.

 

 

 

REVISION RECOMMENDATION #3: This article would benefit from the addition of some examples of this sort of influence, which might include qualitative data from those who have used documentaries presenting religious diversity and then asked for written comments afterwards.

 

REVISION RESPONSE:

 

 

 

 

Self-report on increasing intercultural and interreligious competence via documentary films

 

In multiple sections of a “Religions of the World” course, after a lecture on the Muslim hijab, the position of women in Islam, and a screening of the documentary Jilbab about the Indonesian hijab. The film uses voices of Indonesian women to explore the function of autonomy, feminism, and personal choice in relation to wearing the hijab. After the screening, many students reported that the film and ensuing discussion completely changed their perspective on the matter of the hijab. Most students had believed the hijab to be purely an oppressive garment and a symbol of restrictions upon females in Muslim contexts. After the screening, a student sent an email saying that the viewing of the documentary film Jilbab was a very important part of her education on contemporary Islam, about which she had held many misperceptions and stereotypes.

The email inspired us to conduct an informal survey of students in both our courses about their areas of intercultural and interreligious competence—specifically, how viewing a documentary film added to their knowledge about different cultures and religions affected their attitudes and skills. The following question was sent to the students:

 

How did watching the documentary Jilbab impact your knowledge about the hijab? Did it change your mind or clarify anything for you?

 

With the caveat that self-reported, non-anonymous data is considered incomplete and positively biased, it seems worthwhile to share select student reflections on the relationship between documentary film and interreligious knowledge, attitudes and skills. Most student respondents are 18 or 19 years old, European or white-American, hailing from majority culture.

The most frequent adjective used by students to describe the documentary film was “eye-opening,” and roughly 90% of the respondents noted that they had been socialized with stereotypes and bias against the hijab that were effectively disrupted and dissolved by the film. Students expressed appreciation for exposure to various voices and perspectives, noted that they had never met a woman who wore a hijab so the film gave them parasocial exposure to young women in their own age group with a very different life experience, and realized that they had been unconsciously socialized with a negative perception of the hijab—many, in fact, realizing, that they did not realize that they had a strong opinion on the matter with no education or personal familiarity to ground their reasoning. After viewing the documentary, many students became more aware of the diversity that is attached to socialized notions of dress and female power and embraced the variety or rationales, aesthetics, and motives behind the wide world of the hijab: “The amount of different reasons from religious to cultural to fashion was not what I was expecting. “ Most students were struck by the films’ theme of the importance of women’s personal autonomy, having taken their own for granted, and felt strongly that choice is a fundamental element of feminism: “The women clarify in the video that for each woman it is a choice whether or not to wear it and has to do with their personal connection to it.” Ultimately, many concluded after watching the film that “I believe a woman should have the same right as any other woman in the world to disguise or display herself as she so chooses.” Below is a sampling of representative statements from students about their experience viewing Jilbab.

 

This film truly has taught me to be more open-minded about other religions and to learn more about them before making any judgements such as I have before about Muslim women being forced to wear hijabs.

 

I have confronted my own personal biases on things like Muslim women and opened my eyes on how they believe and why they think the way they do.

 

This week's movies were extremely eye opening. Watching Jilbab was maybe one of the most interesting topics I have learned in this class, likely due to my surprisingly little knowledge on the concept.

 

Upon watching the Jilbab documentary I can say that I have changed opinions on the matter. I always believed that the hijab must be oppressive, and that no one truly wanted to wear them. Honestly, I have never had any friends that wear a hijab, so I am pretty naive to the topic.

 

Before this class, I had a few prejudices of my own, and I can confidently say they are gone. For example, although my mother is an Iranian immigrant and I know about headscarves, I still found them oppressive to women. After watching the Jilbab documentary, and hearing from multiple different women that they actually make the choice and how it is made to protect and be considered beautiful I was taken aback. I always felt that woman covered because they felt forced, but it showed me, along with many other things in the class, that I need to be educated before making statements/opinions about it.

 

I was rather naive when it came to Muslims and their Hijabs. I never understood why females of this religion wore Hijabs and saw them as a symbol of a lack of freedom. As I soon came to learn, feminists affiliated with Islam believe that the Hijab allows for personal autonomy. …I learned that some Muslims believe the Hijab allows them the power to see and gives them the power to reveal as much or as little of themselves to those around them.

 

Our discussion about the Hijab is something that will stick with me forever. I, like many others, have always maintained that the Hijab was a sign of female oppression and never considered it as a symbol of power and freedom. With your teachings and film, I now have adopted a completely different and open-minded approach to the Muslim religion and other religions that I am significantly uninformed about. Due to our honest and candid conversations about religion, I have learned to replace blind stereotyping with curiosity. This, I concur, is one of the most valuable traits any person can have.

 

The movie Jilbab made me question and reassess my previous point of view on veiling. As a feminist myself I admit I may have had prior bias on the meaning behind the Hijab. I had always supported and appreciated the wearing of a Hijab and understood its religious significance, yet I did not fully understand a muslim’s women choice and reasoning behind choosing to wear a veil. I learned that they may use it as a way to show their religion visibly, or to gather respect, ward off sexual objectification, and many other reasons. These women each have different reasons and exact views on the veiling but all personally choose to wear the veil.

 

In addition to my lack of knowledge, United States cultures and norms tend to portray veiling in a negative light and associate it with negative connotations. Until watching Jilbab, it didn’t really cross my mind that women had the choice not to veil. …the film explains how patriarchal society in America wants women to dress in a showy way, with tight-fitting clothes and exposed skin. So in reality, veiling is opposing the standards of the patriarchy. I thought this was a very interesting point made and a perspective I’ve never really been exposed to before.

 

Students also drew parallels from the documentary film’s themes and characters to their own religious contexts, standards and choices in dress and personal conduct. They gained insight about how they interact with Western beauty standards that, oppositely to the practice of veiling, often encourage women to expose more of their bodies.

 

I too, always thought that women were being forced to wear veils at any time. Considering the fact that I hated having to cover my shoulders in school when it was 90 degrees in the classroom, I could not understand how any woman could willingly wear something so covering. Jilbab certainly gave me more perspective. From the Jilbab film, I gathered the most that women wore it as a sign of their own respect for themselves as well as their religion. … What struck me the most were the drawings at the end of a “typical Muslim woman.” I noticed that many of the pictures depicted no body at all, simply a face and a jilbab. This showed me that women’s bodies in those countries are not thought to be as emphasized as they might be in America. The Muslim woman is clearly separated from her body, and only her face is focused on. If I were to draw an American woman, I would certainly draw the rest of her body with a feminine physique. … I know that I spend a lot of time focusing on how I look, especially when I know boys will be there. I do my makeup, I do my hair, I wear push-up bras, and look for pants that flatter my curves. Whether conscious of it or not, I realized that maybe I do not have as much freedom over my body as I thought I did. Maybe I would feel more accepting and loving of myself if I was not constantly dressing each day to look “hot.” Up until watching this movie, I held the conception that the “slutty” clothes I wear to the club were an example of me expressing myself and wearing what I want. Is this a false consciousness? Do I even like wearing those things and would I choose to wear them if I wasn’t trained to please men? Am I literally objectifying myself? I think I might have internalized misogyny! Help!

 

Many students drew parallels between the hijab and standards of dress for women in other religions, such as the wigs of Orthodox Jewish women or the habits of Catholic nuns—and also realized they had held a double standard against Muslim womens’ dress, considering it to represent oppression while characterizing the Jewish and Catholic fashions as “traditions.”

 

Until recently, I thought that hijabs/head scarves/veils were a sign of religious oppression at the hands of the patriarchy, and I never really gave it much more thought. I wasn’t alone in this….I didn’t act like a white savior or anything, instead, I simply felt bad for the women I saw wearing them. After learning more this week from the documentary film, I realized that there is no one-size-fits-all, and if you think about it, no religion is completely exempt from the patriarchy and oppression that I assumed all hijab wearing women experienced. After all, any form of religion is a human institution and/or a construct created by humans. My religion too (Roman Catholicism), has plenty things that are patriarchal about it. Take the fact that only men can be priests – this is a red flag to me and something I personally struggle with. … I’m realizing that women who wear a head scarf face a very similar ‘struggle.’ As I learned from the documentary, there are countless ways that Muslim (or other hijab wearing) women chose to express their religion, spirituality, or lack of it. Some wear the hijab because it’s what’s expected of them by their family (similar to how my parents taught me that I shouldn’t have sex before I get married). Some wear it because they want to, and they are proud and grateful that they get a choice (similar to how I can choose to go to any church I want!). And some even wear it as a fashion statement (Jilbab film)!

 

The documentary film Jilbab ultimately serves to acquaint viewers with the complexity of the human social world, especially evident in the intersection of religion and gender.  A student concluded, “I’m realizing that there is so much complexity that lies below the surface of this topic, and that that is where the beauty lies. Learning to not make judgements or assumptions and accept that there is a lot of gray area when it comes to religion and how people choose been super awesome to learn this week.”

 

 

 

Reviewer 2 Report

This paper presents an argument for the impact of viewing documentary films on interreligious dialogue, chiefly through evidence related to neurobiology and para-social interaction. It is well presented and organized in its detail. However, the article would benefit from evidence more directly related to documentary film, as the arguments for the social, emotional, and cognitive impacts of film-viewing may apply as much to fictional as well as to non-fiction films. Documentary films may have a particular influence due to their obvious connections to real world situations, but the evidence here does not speak in great detail about that. Case studies of the influence of viewing documentaries would be useful in this regard. Also, given the argument that repeated exposure (longitudinality) has the greatest effect, the fact that most documentaries are stand-alone films (rather than part of a series) may undercut the arguments made about their specific influence (as opposed to, e.g., viewing a weekly fictional series about a Muslim character). This article advances the discussion about the influence of viewing documentaries on interreligious understanding. As an instructor myself, I have anecdotal evidence for this, albeit as part of courses in which viewing films was combined with a number of other strategies (meeting practitioners of religions in person, reading about them, discussions, etc.). This article would benefit from the addition of some examples of this sort of influence, which might include qualitative data from those who have used documentaries presenting religious diversity and then asked for written comments afterwards. This might not be too difficult to add, and it would strengthen the article and its contribution. For example: Organizations like Eboo Patel's Interfaith America might have resources along these lines; or instructors may have student reflections on films shown in courses, that could be cited; or churches or other community organizations which have shown a film like Alexandra Shiva's This is Home and held a discussion afterwards, may have evidence to share on changed attitudes and perceptions. 

Author Response

REVISIONS IMPLEMENTED INTO “Documentary Film as Interreligious Dialogue: A Cognitive Perspective”:

 

To my reviewers,

Thank you kindly for your great and helpful feedback! It is much appreciated. I hope my revisions speak sufficiently to your suggestions and inquiries.

Thank you for your time!

The Author :)

PS: My citations are not showing in this comment field so I have uploaded and PDF that shows my additions and citations more clearly. 

 

REVISION RECOMMENDATION #1: However, the article would benefit from evidence more directly related to documentary film, as the arguments for the social, emotional, and cognitive impacts of film-viewing may apply as much to fictional as well as to non-fiction films.

 

 

REVISION RESPONSE:

The literature collectively emphasizes that the very notion of “impact” must be operationalized, defined carefully, with clearly specified and tangible indicators, before we can say anything meaningful about the social impact of documentary films. The social impact of documentary films might be defined as improvement in attitude amongst documentary film audiences, that is, a more positively-valenced schematic social imagination across any given social divide, constituting a pro-social perceptual shift and more constructive, cooperative interactive behaviors. A number of research studies, newspaper and magazine articles, media scholars, social media musers, and (of course) impact producers have explored the ways in which documentary film bears especially strong moral force when it comes to recalibrating unsavory notions about people on the basis of social divides.

As noted above, studies have found that news programming is even more powerful than entertainment television in its ability to uphold and reinforce stereotypical images and representations of any given human demographic. News videojournalism possesses the cultural capital of “authority” and objectivity, and is trusted by audiences to deliver quality information reflecting the real world. Likewise, the “truth” status of nonfiction filmmaking rooted in the “real world” intensifies its authority as a source of social information, and therefore its potential impact upon the schematic imagination, notwithstanding the ample literature contesting the platform of documentary film for presenting objective reality. Documentaries and news videos, nevertheless, attribute positive and negative attitudes across social divides with more efficacy and gravity than do fictional serialized television shows, and thus represent a worthwhile object of investment for considering them as mediated forms of interreligious dialogue.

 

REVISION RECOMMENDATION #2: the fact that most documentaries are stand-alone films (rather than part of a series) may undercut the arguments made ….

 

REVISION RESPONSE:

 

It is true that, for the form’s history, the vast majority of documentary films are stand-alone feature films. Indeed, media scholars refer to the period after 2000 as the New Golden Age of Television, attributed to the rise of serialized fiction shows such as The Sopranos and Six Feet Under, and the fall of the dominance of television networks in favor of digital streaming platforms. Following the explosion in episodic fictional television, beginning around 2017 and with increasing ubiquity dating to the COVID-19 global pandemic, industry reports and and internet articles alike have followed the increasing popularity of documentary series, and therefore the increasing viability of them as a business model for studios and digital streaming platforms. The documentary series is now to be considered an “emerging” format, which is a direct response of the digital revolution which has increased a thousand-fold independent filmmakers’ access to professional and pro-sumer filmmaking equipment, editing equipment, citizen journalism trends, and the possibility of excess footage, all of which makes the series format more attainable for filmmakers.

Given the increasing popularity of this format, their longitudinal impact is a sure to be an increasingly studiable object over time. Most concrete data lives ahead of us as to the longitudinal perceptual impact potential of the documentary film series. In my opinion, it is a format worth investing in because the brain science and the social science affirm the impact potential of repeated acts, the power of repetition and constancy, and the gravitational force of habits. Research indicates overwhelmingly that duration matters when it comes to trying to change minds and nudge them in a more receptive, cooperative direction in a way that has staying power.

 

 

 

REVISION RECOMMENDATION #3: This article would benefit from the addition of some examples of this sort of influence, which might include qualitative data from those who have used documentaries presenting religious diversity and then asked for written comments afterwards.

 

REVISION RESPONSE:

 

 

 

 

Self-report on increasing intercultural and interreligious competence via documentary films

 

In multiple sections of a “Religions of the World” course, after a lecture on the Muslim hijab, the position of women in Islam, and a screening of the documentary Jilbab about the Indonesian hijab. The film uses voices of Indonesian women to explore the function of autonomy, feminism, and personal choice in relation to wearing the hijab. After the screening, many students reported that the film and ensuing discussion completely changed their perspective on the matter of the hijab. Most students had believed the hijab to be purely an oppressive garment and a symbol of restrictions upon females in Muslim contexts. After the screening, a student sent an email saying that the viewing of the documentary film Jilbab was a very important part of her education on contemporary Islam, about which she had held many misperceptions and stereotypes.

The email inspired us to conduct an informal survey of students in both our courses about their areas of intercultural and interreligious competence—specifically, how viewing a documentary film added to their knowledge about different cultures and religions affected their attitudes and skills. The following question was sent to the students:

 

How did watching the documentary Jilbab impact your knowledge about the hijab? Did it change your mind or clarify anything for you?

 

With the caveat that self-reported, non-anonymous data is considered incomplete and positively biased, it seems worthwhile to share select student reflections on the relationship between documentary film and interreligious knowledge, attitudes and skills. Most student respondents are 18 or 19 years old, European or white-American, hailing from majority culture.

The most frequent adjective used by students to describe the documentary film was “eye-opening,” and roughly 90% of the respondents noted that they had been socialized with stereotypes and bias against the hijab that were effectively disrupted and dissolved by the film. Students expressed appreciation for exposure to various voices and perspectives, noted that they had never met a woman who wore a hijab so the film gave them parasocial exposure to young women in their own age group with a very different life experience, and realized that they had been unconsciously socialized with a negative perception of the hijab—many, in fact, realizing, that they did not realize that they had a strong opinion on the matter with no education or personal familiarity to ground their reasoning. After viewing the documentary, many students became more aware of the diversity that is attached to socialized notions of dress and female power and embraced the variety or rationales, aesthetics, and motives behind the wide world of the hijab: “The amount of different reasons from religious to cultural to fashion was not what I was expecting. “ Most students were struck by the films’ theme of the importance of women’s personal autonomy, having taken their own for granted, and felt strongly that choice is a fundamental element of feminism: “The women clarify in the video that for each woman it is a choice whether or not to wear it and has to do with their personal connection to it.” Ultimately, many concluded after watching the film that “I believe a woman should have the same right as any other woman in the world to disguise or display herself as she so chooses.” Below is a sampling of representative statements from students about their experience viewing Jilbab.

 

This film truly has taught me to be more open-minded about other religions and to learn more about them before making any judgements such as I have before about Muslim women being forced to wear hijabs.

 

I have confronted my own personal biases on things like Muslim women and opened my eyes on how they believe and why they think the way they do.

 

This week's movies were extremely eye opening. Watching Jilbab was maybe one of the most interesting topics I have learned in this class, likely due to my surprisingly little knowledge on the concept.

 

Upon watching the Jilbab documentary I can say that I have changed opinions on the matter. I always believed that the hijab must be oppressive, and that no one truly wanted to wear them. Honestly, I have never had any friends that wear a hijab, so I am pretty naive to the topic.

 

Before this class, I had a few prejudices of my own, and I can confidently say they are gone. For example, although my mother is an Iranian immigrant and I know about headscarves, I still found them oppressive to women. After watching the Jilbab documentary, and hearing from multiple different women that they actually make the choice and how it is made to protect and be considered beautiful I was taken aback. I always felt that woman covered because they felt forced, but it showed me, along with many other things in the class, that I need to be educated before making statements/opinions about it.

 

I was rather naive when it came to Muslims and their Hijabs. I never understood why females of this religion wore Hijabs and saw them as a symbol of a lack of freedom. As I soon came to learn, feminists affiliated with Islam believe that the Hijab allows for personal autonomy. …I learned that some Muslims believe the Hijab allows them the power to see and gives them the power to reveal as much or as little of themselves to those around them.

 

Our discussion about the Hijab is something that will stick with me forever. I, like many others, have always maintained that the Hijab was a sign of female oppression and never considered it as a symbol of power and freedom. With your teachings and film, I now have adopted a completely different and open-minded approach to the Muslim religion and other religions that I am significantly uninformed about. Due to our honest and candid conversations about religion, I have learned to replace blind stereotyping with curiosity. This, I concur, is one of the most valuable traits any person can have.

 

The movie Jilbab made me question and reassess my previous point of view on veiling. As a feminist myself I admit I may have had prior bias on the meaning behind the Hijab. I had always supported and appreciated the wearing of a Hijab and understood its religious significance, yet I did not fully understand a muslim’s women choice and reasoning behind choosing to wear a veil. I learned that they may use it as a way to show their religion visibly, or to gather respect, ward off sexual objectification, and many other reasons. These women each have different reasons and exact views on the veiling but all personally choose to wear the veil.

 

In addition to my lack of knowledge, United States cultures and norms tend to portray veiling in a negative light and associate it with negative connotations. Until watching Jilbab, it didn’t really cross my mind that women had the choice not to veil. …the film explains how patriarchal society in America wants women to dress in a showy way, with tight-fitting clothes and exposed skin. So in reality, veiling is opposing the standards of the patriarchy. I thought this was a very interesting point made and a perspective I’ve never really been exposed to before.

 

Students also drew parallels from the documentary film’s themes and characters to their own religious contexts, standards and choices in dress and personal conduct. They gained insight about how they interact with Western beauty standards that, oppositely to the practice of veiling, often encourage women to expose more of their bodies.

 

I too, always thought that women were being forced to wear veils at any time. Considering the fact that I hated having to cover my shoulders in school when it was 90 degrees in the classroom, I could not understand how any woman could willingly wear something so covering. Jilbab certainly gave me more perspective. From the Jilbab film, I gathered the most that women wore it as a sign of their own respect for themselves as well as their religion. … What struck me the most were the drawings at the end of a “typical Muslim woman.” I noticed that many of the pictures depicted no body at all, simply a face and a jilbab. This showed me that women’s bodies in those countries are not thought to be as emphasized as they might be in America. The Muslim woman is clearly separated from her body, and only her face is focused on. If I were to draw an American woman, I would certainly draw the rest of her body with a feminine physique. … I know that I spend a lot of time focusing on how I look, especially when I know boys will be there. I do my makeup, I do my hair, I wear push-up bras, and look for pants that flatter my curves. Whether conscious of it or not, I realized that maybe I do not have as much freedom over my body as I thought I did. Maybe I would feel more accepting and loving of myself if I was not constantly dressing each day to look “hot.” Up until watching this movie, I held the conception that the “slutty” clothes I wear to the club were an example of me expressing myself and wearing what I want. Is this a false consciousness? Do I even like wearing those things and would I choose to wear them if I wasn’t trained to please men? Am I literally objectifying myself? I think I might have internalized misogyny! Help!

 

Many students drew parallels between the hijab and standards of dress for women in other religions, such as the wigs of Orthodox Jewish women or the habits of Catholic nuns—and also realized they had held a double standard against Muslim womens’ dress, considering it to represent oppression while characterizing the Jewish and Catholic fashions as “traditions.”

 

Until recently, I thought that hijabs/head scarves/veils were a sign of religious oppression at the hands of the patriarchy, and I never really gave it much more thought. I wasn’t alone in this….I didn’t act like a white savior or anything, instead, I simply felt bad for the women I saw wearing them. After learning more this week from the documentary film, I realized that there is no one-size-fits-all, and if you think about it, no religion is completely exempt from the patriarchy and oppression that I assumed all hijab wearing women experienced. After all, any form of religion is a human institution and/or a construct created by humans. My religion too (Roman Catholicism), has plenty things that are patriarchal about it. Take the fact that only men can be priests – this is a red flag to me and something I personally struggle with. … I’m realizing that women who wear a head scarf face a very similar ‘struggle.’ As I learned from the documentary, there are countless ways that Muslim (or other hijab wearing) women chose to express their religion, spirituality, or lack of it. Some wear the hijab because it’s what’s expected of them by their family (similar to how my parents taught me that I shouldn’t have sex before I get married). Some wear it because they want to, and they are proud and grateful that they get a choice (similar to how I can choose to go to any church I want!). And some even wear it as a fashion statement (Jilbab film)!

 

The documentary film Jilbab ultimately serves to acquaint viewers with the complexity of the human social world, especially evident in the intersection of religion and gender.  A student concluded, “I’m realizing that there is so much complexity that lies below the surface of this topic, and that that is where the beauty lies. Learning to not make judgements or assumptions and accept that there is a lot of gray area when it comes to religion and how people choose been super awesome to learn this week.”

 

 

 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf