Abuse of Characteristics of a Particular Culture

Culture is a paramount part of our lives. The attitude and behavior characteristics of different social groups vary based on their individual culture. However, there are some people who often try to misuse the characteristics of a particular culture because they don't know the value of it. Muslims have their unique culture where they follow their particular dress code. Muslim women use veils as a part of their religion. Since religion is a part of a culture, covering face for a Muslim woman is also her own cultural pride.

However, Muslim women often face segregation because of covering their face and are characterized negatively in every sphere of their life. In 2006, an artwork was published by Scott King as a cover for VOGUE magazine. The artwork shows a woman covering her face and wearing all black indicating Muslims with a subtitle on her left side stating, '6 expert tips on how to get that Taliban look this summer". Taliban is a terrorist group. The representation of a woman covering her face as a Taliban totally contradict with Muslim culture because covering face and wearing black is a part of the religion Islam for all Muslims and just because a woman covers her face can't mean she is a terrorist. When Muslims think covering face as pride, Scott King characterized it in his artwork as a Terrorist look. By his artwork of a woman with a veil on VOGUE magazine, Scott King linked Islam to terrorism which has complicated the legitimacy of symbolic representation of Muslim Identity in the public sphere of the Western nation; such linkage is inappropriate and can cause a collision between different cultural groups because this portrays the characteristics of Muslim culture wrongly.

In my research paper, I'll analyze how King's artwork is an example of cultural harassment and the impact of this. I will analyze how people involve into conflicts based on culture by describing that artwork. Based on Muslim's religious belief system, women can't show their face to other people who aren't their relatives. Moreover, using a woman's covered face on a magazine like VOGUE is not permitted by Muslims. Still, King used that as the cover which represents Muslim culture in an inappropriate way. After that, the subtitle he wrote was totally an oppressive sentence towards Muslim culture which indicates persecution towards the Muslim clothing system. I'll also analyze why does it matter? I'll discuss the impact of it. The representation King exhibits can change the attitude of other cultural groups towards Muslims. Many people will start to think negatively about Muslims and their culture. King's artwork is also a symbol of brainwashing people against Muslims. Because of such activities, people get the misconception on Muslim culture and Muslim women face struggles in society. Such activities also create conflicts.

For evidence, I'll include the article 'Hijab in the West". The article describes a scenario of conflict when Government of France banned wearing hijab in certain places. France has faced several terrorist attacks and most of the French people think Muslims are all behind of those attacks. However, it's a matter of regret that because of the terrorists, who are a certain group of people, all Muslims got the blame in France. It specifically affected Muslim women the most. Here the mindset people have about Muslims is based on some false propaganda by some people around the world like Scott King. Those messages harm the legacy of Muslim culture.
I'll also describe why King's artwork is inappropriate and make an argument about does King have the right to do such artwork which creates misconception among other cultural groups with the Muslim. I'll use the article 'Religious freedom and section 116 of the Australian constitution: would a banning of the Hijab or Burqa be constitutionally valid?" to support my claim. The article talks about different court cases in different European countries on Muslim cloth ban. Those cases symbolize King's artwork because all of those cases particularly claimed against Muslim dress codes especially hijab, veil or burqa as improper just like how King portrays wearing veil as a terrorist act.

Muslim women face discrimination even in their everyday life, even in their workplaces because of some inappropriate mindset about Muslim dress code. That often creates conflicts and those women feel insecure in their way of life. I'll use the article 'HIDING UNDER THE VEIL OF ?DRESS POLICY': MUSLIM WOMEN, HIJAB, AND EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES" by Harrison to illustrate some daily life struggles of some Muslim women based on their opinion because of how some people believe them as dangerous and how they face segregation in their workplaces. The article shows a conflict between different social groups based on their cultural identity. Along with it, I'll share a practical life experience from the article 'Western Treatment of the Muslim Veil: French and American Sociopolitical Constructions of Hijab". In this article, a woman describes her work experience by wearing a veil every day. She states her respect and affection for her culture but also mentions a conflict based on sexism and gender inequality and scares she face off because of her covering the face. People misjudge her because of the way she maintains the norms of her religion and culture. She feels uncomfortable around people who aren't Muslim because of the treatment she gets from them. I'll analyze how attitude can change based on the cloth a Muslim wears.

Lastly, I'll discuss possible solution of cultural harassment. People often seem to misuse other cultural aspects when they have lack knowledge about that culture. Different multicultural programmes can solve this problem by increasing cognition on other culture. I'll use the news article 'Hijabathon showcases Muslim culture, traditional head covering" for the evidence which discusses an important part of Muslim clothing 'Hijab" and tells the importance of the cultural program. The article differentiates different types of hijab and different style to wear it. It also describes why Muslim women wear hijabs. That will stand as a counterclaim against King's artwork because he represented a woman in black hijab as terrorist style.

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