This is a clip from my talk at Harvard University, where I demonstrated just how isolating and disempowering the hijab and niqab can be.
On the rare occasions Muslim women are allowed to leave their fundamentalist homes, they are forced to interact with the world through a veil of isolation - even expected to hide their voices from “strange” men.
And yet, many in the West insist the niqab and hijab are apparently “empowering”.
Just one day inside this body bag would undoubtedly change their minds.
It could only ever be empowering if you were hiding.
In the West, we are not cowardly women.
We do not hide.
And our men, for the most part, are not men we need to hide from.
Aug 20, 2026 · 6:38 PM UTC


