How is the Iraq War affecting Muslim women in the United States?
YH: More Muslim women in the U.S. are wearing the veil because there’s a feeling that we’ve imposed a war on Islam, not only on terrorism. “Islamization” is all over these days. In Cairo, Egypt, it used to be one-third covered and now its 98 percent. They’re covering willingly in rejection of the Bush doctrine, which they see as “Impose American values or we’ll bomb you.” DI: Do you see this “Islamization” as affecting U.S. Muslim women in college? YH: The opposite, if you wear a scarf, you’re saying “I’m not available sexually” and you are insulating yourself and not indulging in campus life, which is drinking and sex. DI: You conducted a study of Muslim women in America — what did you find? YH: The younger women talk about marriage; they want to marry someone in their culture. The problem is that the younger Muslim men can marry Christians and Jews, but women can’t. So there’s a surplus of women and a feeling that, if you’re past 25, you are old. DI: Is the experience of Black Muslim
