The only comparison I could find is that in both cases, many women are so concerned with their appearance, that they cover their natural features, either through a veil or modification.
However, the hijab for many Muslimahs represents, as you mentioned, respect – not being objectified, but wearing it is also a cultural and religious/spiritual custom that many Westerners do not understand, for the most part.
Some are perfectly happy wearing their hijab, others do not want to, but feel social pressure to.
Personally, I appreciate the flexibility for Muslimahs in places like Morocco, allowing women to freely choose. In Lebanon as well, and so on.

I believe arab women have the same worries about their looks and bodies as the western women. They still have to worry about this as they do have to face their man and still want to make their man happy with their looks and bodies. I don’t think arab women are any different from the western world. Anyone that’s travelled to the middle east would see no difference in this area.

It hurts less, that’s for sure.

A Hijab won’t explode on an airplane.
Oh wait ……

wow- powerful words. i believe, though, that it really depends on the generation u grew up in and ur culture.

Oh, you must be joking. Muslim women from the middle east flock to the west and Thailand for cosmetic surgery and botox “spas” and such. Rich Arab women are into the new “designer vaginas”. There’s even a tucked-away casino or two in the U.S. south for rich middle-eastern oil wealthy Muslim males to whore and booze it up while their women schedule day surgeries nearby. The majority of Muslim women do NOT do that. But, the majority of women in the west do not either. It’s mostly a practice among the wealthy and celebrity. Cosmetic surgery is expensive as elective surgery. As for “hiding” from the “judgement” of others, better than surgery or bags over people’s heads would be counseling for low-self esteem and body image problems and assertiveness training courses. There’s nothing to be “respected” for wearing a bag over your head to hide.http://archive.salon.com/sex/feature/200...

No, I don’t. A Hijab is worn for cultural and/or religious reasons. Yes, it is meant to ensure modesty – but it has nothing to do with not having to cave in to societal pressure.
From your quote – I would assess that the woman is not being sincere – as she wouldn’t be concerned with be measured against the standards of models in magazines, or even acknowledge them – much less suggest they are hard to live up to….
As for any woman who drives herself to cosmetic surgery to please others – or to attempt to ‘keep up’ as they get older….they will NEVER be happy with themselves. And imagine how much of a ‘high maintenance’ date they’d be???? Yikes!

Cosmetic surgery is expensive – few can afford it. And of course, wearing hijab does not mean you won’t have cosmetic surgery.
It’s a bit like a security blanket – you need the comfort of material to give you the confidence to go out and about.
I’m sure many hijab women in the street get abused, people are curious and make comments. They must be treated with disrespect. Or so they say, whenever the talk about the Muslim backlash comes up. So I find it hard to believe.
Girdles? Who wears a girdle??? And we know that anorexia is a psychological condition – again there is no guarantee that a hijab wearing woman wouldn’t have it.
I truly do not see how wearing a headscarf can mean you are treated with respect. Curiosity, yes, wariness, certainly. But not respect.
I’ve always been treated with respect, because I demand it. Not in an aggressive way, but certainly I allow no one to disrespect me.

I think this is a totally false argument that some muslims use to defend hijab as something “progressive”. When I see a muslim woman in hijab I see it as a barrier between me and her as a person. That barrier is just as distracting as excessive cleavage for example. Far from making me respect her, hijab makes me more dismissive of the woman because I see her as lacking adult female confidence. I see it as a sort of adolescent self consiousness. I don’t think a grown woman should have such psychological discomfort with her adult body that she needs to wear a hood or cloak in public to feel okay.

I think this is all a matter of perspective and personal or cultural outlook. As you note, some people are far more sensitive about how they perceive others see them (physically and otherwise too). Psychological tests have shown that people who often think this way usually think others are seeing them in a far more negative light than is actually the case. This sensitivity is often culturally inculcated into people, or derives from the persons’ formative experiences.
True, westerners and people who don’t subscribe to Hijab-style coverings, are conscious about what thier bodies look like, and are thus more likely to take a cosmetic path to acheive a better look. The other way of avoiding judgement based on apperance is the “cover it all up” method, but this also has issues. It is easy to pick at western style people and say we are vain/morally loose/overly body conscious or whatever, but this is how our culture has evolved: to show the body of the individual, in whatever way they see fit. We don’t usually consider being on display, as it were, to be a tiresome or invasive proposition, mostly. Even women who dislike being ogled for what they are wearing will keep wearing the same sort of thing.
Certain muslim cultures have evolved the idea that sameness is a solution. I don’t agree, but then it is not my belief system of culture either.
As for cosmetic surgery, well that is a choice. I find the comparison between surgery and Hijab to be quite fallacious really, but the latter still extols a freedom of choice, by the standards to which I am accustomed. The Hijab is worn willingly by many muslims and to them provides security.
Trouble can come when the two co-exist and there is a chance of cultural misunderstanding. Note also that such issues will almost only ever arise in western countries: western styles of dress for women earn harsh penalties in many places where the hijab is common. This woman identifies her mode of dress with earning resect: for the most part, that will be only among people who believe as she does though. Others (westerners) either view the hijab with suspicion, or accord a wearer with no more respect than anyone else: this being that it is a western idea to not judge people so much by what they are wearing, but hijab is sufficiently different that it raises some ire. I also do not believe the all-over covering should trump such things as the need to reveal ones head in places like banks.
I guess to me surgery has no effect on those around me unless I choose it. The Chadour can, and that is where I have some issues.
EDIT:
Keypoint: excellent points there. This is where many who favour this mode of dress fall down: they don’t realise that westerners see it as a barrier and we apply all sort of interpretations (yes, some are maybe pejorative preconceptions) to those who cover up so much. Sure, we can be criticised for this, but it is not as bad for the automatic judgement that western women are all whores and morally questionable just because they don’t wear at least Hijab style clothing.
Patois also makes extremely vald point on this too: they may cover up, but the surgery is still don. Not by all, but then it is not done by all western women either.
EDIT 2:
AYCORA- YOU GO GIRL! Excellent points, one and all!

Do women who wear hijabs, burkas or chadors realize that in Western countries, they get stared at and objectified MORE because they stand out so much? People notice their presence even if they don’t make it obvious. A woman wearing a hijab, especially a chador, will be the main focus of attention in any room. How is that modest? People see Muslim women not as individuals, but as non-persons who would rather be ignored, hidden in the background, standing as a shadow more than as a person. The ones who cover/conceal their faces even moreso… if they are hiding their faces, why see their individuality at all, whatsoever? Perhaps Muslim women mistake bewilderment, fear, confusion, awkwardness and “surely if she’s covering herself up like that that must mean I have to pretend she isn’t there.” with respect.
And please tell me that Muslim men have absolutely no standards when choosing a wife. Is that true even in the land of topsy turvy “Western Muslim woman’s take on feminism” make believe? Please tell me that a Muslim man wouldn’t care what his future wife looked like, regardless if she didn’t wear the hijab or not? Men still care.
I know what people will say, that it’s okay for the Muslim husband to devour his own wife with his eyes, and his eyes only. She’s no object, but she is his for his eyes to devour. Except for relatives, too, some of who are sometimes marriage prospects. Yes, you say Muslim women are not meant to be vain or to be objectified, but she is the ultimate trophy wife to her husband. You don’t have to connect many dots to see why women are often blamed for being raped in Islamic cultures.
I could go and on forever with this topic, but I’ll stop here because I’m just way too tired. To be quite frank, I think it’s ridiculous how Muslim women can walk around in Western countries concealing their face when it would not be socially acceptable for the KKK to walk around in the mall in that manner. Absolutely no one, wearing religious dress or otherwise, covers their face in that fashion aside from Muslim women. No one else is allowed to “hide” themselves. The government spies on us, but let them make an exception and allow pious Muslim women to conceal their identities because it is their religion. I’ve only seen a handful of Muslim women my entire life in the US who covered their face, but even so, I know it is more common in other Western countries. The disparity between the freedoms Muslims have in the West compared to the freedoms (or lack thereof) that non-Muslims have in Muslim countries is a *huge* disparity. As Muslims grow in influence in the West and become even more self-righteous than they already are (if that is even possible), they want to bend the rules and play the game with an assurance that they will win.
Everyone is free to have their own opinions. It’s when Muslim get self-righteous about their so-called piousness and modesty, and how they want to be an exception to absolutely *everything*, is when I insist that there needs to be a line drawn.

Doesn’t compare. I am a firm hater of the hijab, i have friends whose husbands make them wear them.. have yet to meet a woman wearing one who likes/ enjoys it (straight off anyway, most take a long time to get used to being in it). I would much prefer to look any way than in a hijab hiding from the world.. very sad way to live.
On the other side of this debate is the fact that a lot of arab men are hmmm trying to word this right, but meh lets just say it, disrespectful to western women for not wearing them, but give them the first chance & they’ll screw one. LOL Also comes the rape case over here in Aus not long ago where a guy actually argued that he thought she wanted it because she wasnt covered.. grrrr..

No I don’t think it’s the same as plastic surgery. I also think this generalisation on the basis of “Arab” and “West” is silly. Men don’t always look and compare – these wome have problems if they think all men are looking at them like that. Also I hear them complaining more about how when they wear hjab they get treated like terrorists, then saying they get treated as an individual. Additionally I see many Muslim women in headscarves but still make-up etc because “it makes them feel confident and well-presented”, I’m Western and never wear make-up, I hate it when people have an attitude that they are automatically better, but hey religions are like that.
Harriet

I think that’s a bizarre attitude.
However, it has been my personal experience that Arab and Middle Eastern men are far more likely to leer at, make sexual comments and attempt to grope me than Western men. Perhaps the men of her culture aren’t (generally) particularly open-minded.
I don’t think most healthy women in the West are that sensitive to how others see them. Most don’t get acid thrown in their faces for not getting breast implants, anyway.
Edit
I agree with Keypoint about finding the hijab a barrier. Isn’t that actually what the word means?