Niqab Quotes

“There is a face beneath this mask, but it isn't me. I'm no more that face than I am the muscles beneath it, or the bones beneath that.”
― Steve Moore, V for Vendetta

“My face is my identity. No one will cover it. I’m proud of my face. If my face bothers you, don’t look. Turn your own face away, take your eyes off me. If you are seduced by merely looking at my face, that is your problem.
Do not tell me to cover it. You cannot punish me simply because you cannot control yourself.”
― Manal al-Sharif, Daring to Drive: A Saudi Woman's Awakening

“Her skirts, sleeves, collar, and hat saw to it that none of the young ruffians of the Leased Territories would have the opportunity to invade her body space with their eyes, and lest her distinctive face prove too much of a temptation, she wore a veil too...

The veil offered Nell protection from unwanted scrutiny. Many New Atlantis career women also used the veil as a way of meeting the world on their own terms, ensuring that they were judged on their own merits and not on their appearance. It served a protective function as well, bouncing back the harmful rays of the sun...”
― Neal Stephenson, The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer

“This is what happens when the state intervenes in a person’s private life; it creates two separate personas. It compels you either to lead two separate lives, or to violate what’s imposed on you
when the state isn’t looking.”
― Manal al-Sharif, Daring to Drive: A Saudi Woman's Awakening

“If you ask Muslim women why they cover up, ninety-nine percent of them will say it's to avoid arousing men. Fuck that, where's your self-accountability?”
― Michael Muhammad Knight, Taqwacores: A Novel

“The niqab represents a bizarre reverence for the disappearance of women. It puts on a pedestal a woman who covers her face, who erases herself, and it considers that erasure the pinnacle of piety.”
― Mona Eltahawy, Headscarves and Hymens: Why the Middle East Needs a Sexual Revolution

“Sob aqueles véus negros parece não haver mais mulheres de carne e osso. Parecem pássaros negros, misteriosos, inabordáveis.”
― Ugo bertotti, O Mundo de Aisha: A revolução silenciosa das mulheres no Iêmen

“J’ai porté le voile intégral en reportage lorsque je n’avais pas le choix. Dès que je le mettais, j’avais l’impression de disparaître, d’être dépouillée de mon identité. Je déteste la burqa ou le niqab. Le voile intégral est encombrant, étouffant, humiliant.”
― Michèle Ouimet, Partir pour raconter