Feminism is against the hijab

I'm not muslim, but I used to believe what they said about women wearing the hijab.
*Its their choice!* Their expression of themselves, and their devotion to their religion, etc.
But to understand the argument better, I started listening to mullahs talk about why its
important for muslim women to wear a hijab. In a word, its modesty.

Listening to Shaykh-ul-Islam Al-Hidayah answer a girls question about why women should cover up, the Shaykh said that its for their own benefit. A muslim women should cover up so she is not hassled by men; its about protecting the women from unwanted attention. He goes on to say that women get *in touble* (ie raped) when they are not modest enough.

Putting the whole *blaming the victim* aside for another rant....

But lets look at this argument more closely. "A women should cover up so she is not hassled."
One basic principle of humans, is that we ostracize that which is different. Being social creatures, we're designed to look for the black sheep.

So let say a good god-fearing head-covering muslim woman, living in a country where the majority of the women do not cover their heads, goes out for some shopping. In this society, her headscarf makes her stand out and hence noticed as different. She is actually being the opposite of modest, she is attracting attention BECAUSE she is wearing something very differnt.

Having attracted all that attention from everyone (she notices people looking at her, and maybe even staring), she more likely to attract the attention of a person with bad intentions, making her the prime target for a person looking for trouble.

How is that protecting the women?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7IrvkhUb3Y