The Islamic headscarf has always been a powerful symbol of Muslim women's defiance against the male gaze, against colonialism, and against Islamophobia as we know it today. Now in the West, it has become a racially politicized garment; there is every reason to think it will sadly remain at the center of a sociopolitical tug-of-war for the foreseeable future.

DEFINE: Explains the headscarf's historical symbolism as defiance against male gaze, colonialism, and Islamophobia, and its current role as a politically racialized garment in the West.

Arsalan Iftikhar, Fear of a Muslim Planet_ Gl…, loc. 454