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Oh, man, even though it's not something I'd ever do, I have some feels about this. heyalma.com/secular-jewish…
On one hand, from an intellectual/feminist perspective, I'm aware that the entire ancient Mediterranean practice of covering women's hair (which was not specifically even a Middle Eastern thing--it was all OVER the place) comes from gross-ass ideas about female sexuality.
At the same time, emotionally--when I was being sexually harassed at Microsoft, I stopped wearing makeup, let my highlights grow out, started wearing baggy colorless clothes, and intentionally put on weight.
The entire emotional point of which was, "I am not here to visually gratify you. Don't look at me, don't ENJOY looking at me, my sexuality and femininity are not FOR you, put your fucking eyes somewhere else."
And I have some very negative feelings about the idea of covering one's hair, in a highly patriarchal society, if one's married, to essentially say, "my sexuality isn't FOR you... because it belongs to my husband."
Because the flipside of that--if I'm not married, my sexuality is up for grabs--is really gross as a default state. I mean, yes, if you're actively looking for a sexual partner, like right now, sure. But you don't have to be partnered to be Not Available, Not Interested.
And there are more days than not when I wish it was possible to wear some sort of sign that indicated "I AM NOT INTERESTED, MY SEXUALNESS IS OFF-LIMITS TO YOU." And that that was completely divorced from what I was wearing, if I make eye contact, if I smile, if I joke with you.
Because, news flash, it's possible to want to wear clothes that you like--maybe even brightly-colored, attention-getting clothes--without wanting people to assume you want sexual attention from them. (I want people to admire my outfit, sometimes, without making it about my body.)
So, while I'm grossed out by the idea of hair covering being a sign of your sexuality belonging to someone else, the idea of a visual symbol of "I am not sexually available to you and not interested in being sexually available to you" resonates with me.
Because ultimately, it's only FOR you if I'm actively, explicitly OFFERING it to you, and that state shouldn't have to be the default for women and other femme-presenting folks.
(And I dunno, my feeling on people who cover their hair for religious/cultural reasons and how that intersects with feminism is: let's focus on creating a world in which people don't get unwanted attention/punishment for either covering or not covering.)
(And once we're actually there, and we know people actually have real freedom to choose, let's stop fucking worrying about it and let people do what they want.)
But anyway, I think it's cool for people who do it as an assertion of identity. I'm not sure you can divorce it from its roots, and what they say about female sexuality, but I even get the attraction in embracing that.
