We always hear stories and phrases about how a woman should cover up. Some of these stories and phrases are really outraging and disrespectful to both men and women. And the problem is, many Muslims use these phrases, share it with others, and even use it in campaigns to show how covering up is great, without realizing that these ideas are suggesting the exact opposite and are not in anyway showing the real treatment of women in Islam.
"A guy asked a Muslim: Why do your women cover up their body and hair? The Muslim guy smiled and got two sweets, he opened the first one and kept the other one closed. He threw them both on the dusty floor and asked the guy: If I asked you to take one of the sweets which one you will choose? The guy replied: The covered one. Then the Muslim said that's how we treat and see our women."
The story above is just totally the wrong way to tell a non-Muslim how women are treated in Islam. In fact, if anything it only shows that Muslim men are very disrespectful to Muslim women. The story suggests that Muslim men think of women as an object, candy, just a 'treat' to be enjoyed. I really don't understand how the story shows the point of Hijab. Women aren't things that are used or consumed by men, and they certainly shouldn't be thrown on dusty floor! I honestly think that trying to explain the point of Hijab by talking about throwing candy in the dirt is exactly why the rest of the world thinks that Islam is disrespectful to women! That is really unfortunate, we need to use better analogies when trying to explain something about Islam if we really want non-Muslims to truly understand how great our religion is.
Another phrase that has totally outraged me is: "A woman is like candy, if you remove the wrapper the flies will swarm around her."
I am not candy, and men aren't flies. This analogy suggests that a woman is candy, and an uncovered woman is candy that will attract filthy flies around her. I think this is very disrespectful to both men and women! I am not candy, because the only use of candy is to be consumed and enjoyed. I am a human being and Allah didn't create me just for the man's pleasure. And men aren't flies, flies are insects for god's sake! I don't understand how, to many people, these kinds of phrases aren't insulting. How can a man describe himself as an insect and describe women as objects and be proud of it?
I wear the Hijab and I am very proud of that. But I don't think that an uncovered woman is 'unclean'! And I refuse to be referred to as candy! And I certainly refuse that men are referred to as flies or insects!
