By Abbey Olsen
Amy Gordon is one of the few, among the masses of students trekking to class each day on BYU campus, who wear the traditional headscarf worn by some Muslim women ? the hijab. But she isn?t Muslim.
From South Windsor, Conn., Gordon came to BYU last year, like many other Latter-day Saint freshmen from across the United States, to pursue a degree ? hers in mechanical engineering.
Sparked by a brief discussion with a professor about veils and her long-time interest in Jewish, Muslim and religious women?s issues, Gordon checked out the book ?Rethinking Muslim Women and the Veil: Challenging Historical and Modern Stereotypes? from the library at the end of summer semester. The author of the book converted to Islam, started wearing the hijab and documented the meaning and reactions of people to the headscarf.
After reading the book, Gordon, 18, began a similar project to explore differences and religious issues.
At the beginning of the semester, she began wearing the traditional Muslim headscarf and long, loose clothing each day. The hijab covers the hair, forehead, ears and neck ? a simple covering of the body worn in the presence of unrelated males.
Gordon said she wanted to explore the perception of differences, which the postmodernists call ?the other,? or someone who is distinct from the societal majority. She said at BYU, where there are few visible variations, people often identify those who are different according to their category of difference.
?I think there is a lot you can learn from doing something, that you can?t learn from reading about it,? Gordon said. ?You can?t understand what it?s like to be shunned unless you have been shunned. You can?t understand what it?s like to be odd or different unless you put yourself there.?
She said the choice to wear Muslim dress, rather than altering her appearance in another way, was to explore how she feels wearing the headscarf ? its symbolism of religiosity, modesty and faith ? regardless of the way people react.
?As members of the church, we believe in modesty,? said Gordon, who doesn?t wear the hijab to church on Sunday. ?We believe you shouldn?t run around in little clothing. They also believe in modesty but just take it to a different extent. They take it one step further.?
BYU students and teachers are open-minded as a group to differences and usually react to her with a smile, Gordon observed.
But when she gets off campus, people?s reactions are different.
?They just kind of don?t know how to react in the ?Bubble? because they?ve never really seen something so different,? Gordon said.
She said she has received some interesting looks.
?I was sitting on the bus and two gentlemen sitting across from me were having a very loud conversation about how they didn?t like foreigners,? Gordon said.
During another instance, a woman at Deseret Industries tried to be a missionary and convert her to the church.
At the bus stop one time, Gordon discussed the traditional dress with a Muslim woman, Shereen Salah, who wears the hijab.
Salah, who is the secretary for the Arabic Club, said it was interesting to talk to Gordon about her project. She said use of the hijab by a non-Muslim for a project wasn?t offensive as long as the person didn?t mock the Muslim dress.
Gordon explained how the Western media portrays the hijab as an instrument of women?s subordination.
?For those who choose to wear it as a symbol of their religiosity, their piety, their love of the Lord ? that?s not a symbol of oppression at all,? she said. ?It?s a symbol of devotion. It?s what it should be. And just because some people twisted it, doesn?t mean that we should take away from those people their right to define the meaning of their own sacred objects.?
Usama Baioumy, the Muslim leader of Utah County, said the purpose of the hijab is to respect a woman for who she is ? not what she looks like. He said in the Islamic religion, wearing the hijab is required when the woman believes the time is right. However, he said the dress standard is not enforced.
Baioumy said Muslims would encourage non-Muslim women to wear the hijab, or another conservative dress style, because it shows a respect for women.
He said in his religion it is required for men and women not to look at the other sex ?in a bad way.? He said when he sees a woman with little clothes on, he has to turn his eyes away.
?I?m really degrading her if I look at her,? he said. ?Out of respect for her, I shouldn?t look at her.?
He said people should respect a woman in the way they would want them to treat a family member.
?I really get offended by seeing a woman treated as a sex object all over in the media, in the magazines, in the billboards ? all over the place,? he said. ?It?s not right for a woman.?
In Muslim countries, there is a mix between women who wear or don?t wear the hijab. He said harassers are less likely to touch a woman who is wearing the hijab, because she respects herself.
Baioumy said one of the misconceptions in Western culture is to believe Muslims force women to wear the hijab, taking away their right to choose.
But he said it is actually the other way around.
?Nobody forces the woman to wear the hijab,? he said. ?But she wants to wear the hijab.?
BYU student Hanna Shihab, 20, a senior from Jakarta, Indonesia, who began wearing the headscarf about seven months ago, said wearing it is a choice, and for her, it has a meaning beyond the physical covering.
?There were some things I wanted to get right in my life before I started wearing it,? she said. ?So it?s very spiritual because I know that it changes my whole life after I wear it.?
She said it was a big step and doesn?t think she?ll ever stop wearing it.
Being at BYU, she said people have been nice, and she hasn?t been discriminated against. Some people think she can?t speak English very well, stare at her, come up to her and ask questions or give her weird looks. But she said these reactions don?t bother her.
?I actually wanted to wear the hijab two years ago, but then I decided to come here and I didn?t want to be different ? I didn?t want people staring at me all the time,? she said. ?But I guess throughout the year and a half that I?ve been here, I grew as a person and learned a lot more about my religion, and I decided that it?s okay to be different. If I?m a Muslim, then I?m going to wear it, and it doesn?t matter that I?m different.?
Shihab said in a way, being at BYU inspired her.
?Mormons aren?t the majority and you guys are very strong in your faith,? she said. ?I admire that. I learned a lot from that and thought, ?You know, I should be stronger in my faith.??
As for Gordon?s project, she is recording her observations in a journal and said she is planning to write about and possibly get her experience published in a student journal. She said she plans to wear the Muslim attire until the end of September and then further observe people?s reactions after she removes the Muslim hijab.