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Hugh Hefner and hijab, controversy and commodification
In September last year, Hugh Hefner and hijab came together when Noor Tagouri, then 22, a first generation hijab-wearing Libyan-American journalist, posed in Playboy.
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In September last year, Hugh Hefner and hijab came together when Noor Tagouri, then 22, a first generation hijab-wearing Libyan-American journalist, posed in Playboy. (Shutterstock/360b)
H
ugh Hefner and hijab. Would you ever in your wildest dreams connect the two? No way! The first is the founder and editor-in-chief of Playboy magazine — the world’s largest selling male magazine — who died on Sept. 27 at age 91. The magazine was famous for its nude or seminude centerfolds, catering to men’s prurient tendencies. Hef himself, as he liked to be called, was a lascivious, lewd, libidinous lothario who claimed to have slept with 1,000 women (and a few men too, he admits).
The second, the hijab, is a piece of cloth worn to cover the head and usually the chest that some consider obligatory wear for Muslim women. It’s to do with modesty they say, and to protect themselves from the “male gaze” and unwanted (sexual) advances.
So obviously Hugh Hefner and Playboy are polar opposites, right? But believe it or not, in September last year, the two came together when Noor Tagouri, then 22, a first generation hijab-wearing Libyan-American journalist, posed in Playboy.
Shock, horrors! In the nude? No, no, don’t worry, she was fully clothed, in jeans, a shiny black leather jacket, bright red lipstick, an Elvis snarl, and of course, her trusty hijab.
Playboy wasn’t featuring Noor as their centerfold, but for an interview in their Renegade series, devoted to what they called risk takers and rule breakers. She was described as a “badass activist with a passion for demanding change.”
Unsurprisingly, Noor’s decision to argue for a “bold case for modesty” received praise as well as flak. But she believes, by using Playboy, the most unlikely arena for her message, was her way of “blazing new paths […] and burning down stereotypes” of women in hijabs. She has a point. I mean, why talk to the converted?
Back to Hugh Hefner and the hijab. Despite their obvious contrasts, they have a lot in common. How so?
