How Islamophobes missed the joke in Malaysian hijabi parody-ad

This week, social media united to mock a supposed shampoo advertisement in Malaysia which depicted a woman shampooing her hair with her hijab on.

A screenshot of the advertisement showing the exact scene of a woman shampooing her hijab was widely circulated, as it was met with both laughter and anger, while typically sparking an orientalist debate on whether Islamic norms and values are oppressing women in Malaysia, with absolutely no context.

Islamophobic comments began flying, and so did racism against Malaysians.

For the Internet, context seemed unnecessary. In fact, how dare anyone ask for context when seeing this image of this poor woman in a shampoo advertisement not being allowed to show her hair? Where is the justification for this?

Except, it was not a shampoo advertisement.

The excerpts came from a skit produced by Mr The All Shared Production, which advertised a local Malaysian hijab brand Escarves, by parodying a Sun Silk advertisement from 2006.

The fact that this had happened, and caused such an erratic global reaction should not be a surprise. Now that Malaysians are starting to speak out and fact-check the ridiculous rumours and address the racist comments against them, much of the blame is leaning towards the “fake-news” culture that the nature of the internet has fostered.

Gust of orientalism

However, the reactions behind this particular piece of fake news has shown that one of the reasons behind spreading the news is quite simply motivated by politically charged sentiments against Muslim women who wear the hijab.

Many shared the videos and images without knowing anything about Malaysia beyond the fact that it is a Muslim majority country. There is no legislative dress code in Malaysia that forces women to wear a hijab.

Veiled Muslim do not need to be condemned for wearing a hijab, nor saved from covering their hair. The autonomy of a woman, and what she chooses to do with her body, will remain hers, even if she refuses to adhere to so-called “Western” norms on how “free” women should dress.

A woman is only oppressed when her agency is taken away. Just as a woman who is forced to wear a hijab against her will is oppressed, orientalist generalisations against Muslim women refuse us our agency and patronise her for showing, or hiding as much of her body as each one of us chooses.

To Muslim women, coercion is coercion, regardless of the means behind it. Whether it is men around us pressuring us to liberate ourselves by wearing the hijab, or men pressuring us to liberate ourselves by taking it off, the fact that it is the men who control our micro and macro communities which dictate the means of our “liberation” is where the problem lies.

Those pedalling such a racist narrative, in an attempt to portray Malaysians as cavemen and women trapped in what Islamophobes have described as “archaic practices of Islam” have not only achieved the opposite, but have become one with what they claim to want to save Muslim women for: a part of a system that condemns and controls women.