Fashion has always played a huge role in Muslim culture and identity. Most Muslims opt for modest fashion, which is designed to keep our bodies concealed and safe from unwanted gaze. Though there may be restrictions to keep clothing aligned with Islamic principles, they put no restriction on creativity. Muslims around the world use their own creativity and individuality to rock an outfit that keeps them covered up and fashionable.

An important topic of conversation when it comes to Islamic fashion is the incorporation of the hijab, a type of veil which covers the head, hair, and neck, but not the face. Much like the Muslim women that wear it, the hijab comes in many varieties that tend to be shaped by place, time, and current trends. Wearing a head covering is one of the most visible symbols of Islam in the West, and it is quite often the most misunderstood. There is huge controversy surrounding the idea of Muslim women wearing the hijab, though there shouldn’t be. The hijab is not a symbol of oppression; it is a symbol of faith and pride for the Islamic community, and no one is forced to wear it under any Islamic principle or text. The hijab means different things to different people. For some, it is a symbol of pride for their cultural, religious, or ethnic identity. For others, it is a demonstration of their modest nature and submission to God. For many women that choose to wear the hijab, it is an empowering choice, which strengthens their connection with God, as well as their own confidence. For these women, choosing to cover their hair has been a way of demonstrating assertiveness and agency, of being in control of their bodies. The same sentiment applies to dressing modestly.

Modest fashion also extends to the world of athletics. In 2017, Nike made big strides in inclusion with their “Pro-Hijab,” which was available for female Muslim athletes to wear when competing or practicing their respective sports or activities. On the cover of this campaign was Ibtihaj Muhammad, an Olympic medalist fencer from our own New Jersey, as well as the very first woman to ever wear a hijab at the Olympics. Nike’s Pro-Hijab was an important step in making the fashion world more inclusive for Muslims around the globe, and it really showed the power behind voices belonging to the Islamic community.

Modest clothing has been in increasingly high demand for years. There are 1.8 billion practitioners of Islam, which makes up 24 percent of the global population, showing that Muslim men and women are definitely not going to be ignored on the fashion front. As the Muslim community tries to modernize typical Islamic fashion, we see a rise in Muslim style bloggers, models, and designers setting trends on the Internet, such as Saufeeya Goodson, Rabia Zargarpur, and Habiba Da Silva.

Because Muslims come from so many different places across the world, Muslim fashion is varied stylistically, so it is interesting to see how different cultures have responded to the call for modest clothing in such drastically different, but equally creative, ways. Muslims in South Asia traditionally wear kurtas, long shirts with long sleeves made out of a light, flowy material to accommodate the hot weather. Both men and women wear kurtas daily, and they come in many different styles and colors. Men usually wear solid colors, the most common being white and blue. On special occasions, they may wear more vibrant kurtas with embroidery along the edges. Women wear more vibrant kurtas, often with a bright pattern or intricate embroidery pattern along the neckline. For more formal events, these kurtas can be made of more special materials such as silks, with more heavy embroidery and beadwork. The incorporation of a dupatta, or scarf, in these outfits is also important, both stylistically and Islamically. The dupatta will usually be made to match with the kurta so that the outfit is cohesive. Hijabi women will wear the scarf around their heads, while others wear it around their neck or on the side of one shoulder. In Arab countries, Muslims wear similarly long tunics, such as the djellaba or kaftan. Much like the kurta, people take creative liberties with their clothing and play with style and color. Women wear hijabs, niqabs (scarves that cover the face as well), burkas (full-body cloaks), or no scarves at all. Traditional clothing varies across Middle Eastern countries, but they are generally full-length robes made of breathable material, like an abaya. Men wear variations of a long white robe, often paired with a head covering like a turban. African Muslims have similar flowy, brightly colored traditional clothing as well.

The biggest buyers of modest fashion are those that come from Muslim majority countries. If you come across Muslim women in the Middle East, Africa, Europe, or Asia, you’ll know exactly what I mean; they’re wearing eccentric dresses and blouses, with colorful, detailed abayas. It’s more decadent than Western modest clothing because they have taken Islamic principles into account while using their own creativity and passion for fashion to assemble their outfits, which scream personality and vibrance. Dressing according to Islamic principles is a symbol of faith and devotion, not a sign of oppression. It shows that Muslim men and women are able to take their circumstances and make the best out of them, while showing the world the power behind fashion and faith’s collision.

The intertwining of faith and fashion


Phil Murphy managed to hold his spot in office for another term on November 3, defeating his Republican opponent, Jack Ciattarelli and becoming the first Democratic governor of New Jersey in 44 years to win a second term. Although a sweeping victory was definitely unexpected, few people thought that the race would be the nail-biter it turned out to be. In fact, the results were too close to call on election night itself, and ballots were still being counted in the early hours of the following morning. Whether or not PHS students agree with Murphy on topics like drug legalization or gun control, they should recognize that his education policies continue to improve conditions for all in New Jersey.

Looking back on his first term, Murphy had already achieved significant victories for students and educators. For instance, he made New Jersey the first state in the country to mandate that public schools provide access to education in the arts, allowing students to pursue their passions in subjects like theater and art. On a different note, he’s also launched a “Computer Science for All” initiative that has provided grants to universities and K–12 schools to foster talent and interest in areas such as programming and engineering. Murphy’s administration also created a comprehensive climate change curriculum, as well as a racially literate history curricula to be taught in K–12 schools.

Unlike Murphy, who prioritizes improving opportunities for students, Ciattarelli’s campaign focused more heavily on rolling back curriculum that educates students about LGBTQ+ issues. At a campaign stop at a gun range in June, Ciattarelli emphasized this focus by controversially stating “We’re not teaching sodomy in sixth grade.” Using a term that has historically ostracized the gay community, Ciattarelli inaccurately implied that any discussions focused on LGBTQ+ issues would solely be about sex when, in reality, they are far more complex. It’s safe to say that Ciattarelli would have worsened LGBTQ+ discrimiation through perpetuating misconceptions.

Ciattarelli’s policies also promote unsafe COVID-19 policies; on his website, he claims that he would “eliminate mask mandates in K–12 schools,” despite the plethora of evidence that demonstrates the effectiveness of masks in reducing transmission of COVID-19. Someone who cannot educate himself or bother to do research about topics like gender identity or the pandemic is certainly not someone we can trust to govern New Jersey.

But, while it’s easy to portray Ciattarelli as a onedimensional demagogue reminiscent of a certain populist former president, some of his ideas are worth considering. On the topic of school funding, he’s made it clear that New Jersey needs a new method for assigning money to schools. Unsurprisingly, according to Carly Sitrin for Politico in 2021, New Jersey has one of the most complex funding formulas in the nation. In most instances, the less bureaucracy the better, but Ciattarelli seems to have little backing for the claim he makes. At a campaigning event in August, he said that his ideal school spending would be roughly $15,000 to $20,000 per student. According to Sitrin, the state average in 2019–2020 was just over $17,000. Another goal he has is to recalculate the education budget to take into account the English Language Learners program, which was a policy already implemented under the Murphy administration. So while his proposition may have seemed new, the end result wasn’t different from New Jersey’s current education policy.

For those that would still endorse candidates similar to Ciattarelli for future elections because of their stances on non-educational policies, think about what environment would be created for our LGBTQ+ peers if education about their identity was viewed as inappropriate. Think about your friends who would be putting their immunocompromised family members in danger by going to school every day maskless or unvaccinated. Think about PHS being adequately funded by property taxes while other high schoolers just like us struggle because they’ve been born in the “wrong” place.

Go do your own research; political apathy is part of the reason why we’re uneducated about issues, and why people are just voting for the most persuasive candidate. Learn more about different candidates, and try to throw away your preconceptions about them. In the end, you’ll hopefully realize that victories for candidates like Murphy are victories for New Jersey students as well.

The four years we avoided


97 percent is a big percentage, and when you hear it in the context of sexual assault, coercion, and harassment, you’re bound to be baffled. Yet data collected by UN Women UK for 2021 show that 97 percent of women aged 18–24 are sexually harassed, catcalled, assaulted, coerced, or made uncomfortable by men and that over 70 percent of women of all ages have endured such behavior. The results shocked the Internet and, as always, the study’s critics came running. But for the women who live in this world, surprise wasn’t our first reaction — it was disappointment. This is the terrifying reality we face every day. Being a woman in such a warped society is so difficult and unsafe that statistics like these are heartbreaking but not surprising. We live in a society that constantly devalues our basic existence and belittles our lived experiences, one that cannot afford us the same basic human dignity that it affords everyone else. The rules that we live by aren’t the rules that anyone else has to live by. If it were all the same, then 97 percent of us wouldn’t live in fear. 

Critics of the study often combat the numbers by pointing out how unrealistic the percentage is, yet one thing that needs to be made clear is that this statistic does not just cover sexual assault and rape: It covers every aspect of coercion and unwanted advances on women. Yet whether it was two percent or 97 percent reported, that statistic was still too high — it should be zero percent. But regardless of what the number is, attempts to diminish the statistic (without evidence) are just a thinly veiled version of normalizing toxic masculinity and serve as erasure of very real experiences for women. Another argument that the study’s opposers tend to present is that the portion of women surveyed is too small, and it’s impossible for it to represent the billions of women living on the planet. If you really think about it, 97 percent of 1,089 women in a first world country have gone through these terrifying experiences, so if anything, it’s more likely that the percentage may be even higher globally. Trying to debunk this statistic and remaining unwilling to listen to survivors reflect a societal disbelief that discourages and scares women from sharing their stories; because instead of believing the victims, the public will slut-shame and gaslight instead of accepting the truth and taking action. Our society would rather degrade a woman for the clothes she wears or the way she acts rather than directing that energy and anger towards her abuser — someone whose sexual desires overtook their senses and who dangerously took advantage of a defenseless woman.

We live in a society that over-sexualizes women, where women are seen as sex toys before they are seen as fellow people, where they are reduced down to lingerie lovers, where the value of their lives is downplayed because the male gender’s fragility means men cannot fathom the idea of a woman being more successful than them. Women are constantly forced into a role that the majority of them do not want to be in. Women are also living, breathing human beings who are not here to satisfy the sexual pleasures of the men around them. We are living in a world where young women are constantly forced to modify their behavior and clothing just so they can walk peacefully throughout town. We live in a world where we gaslight female victims instead of reprimanding the abusers, and we live in a world where women face larger consequences for wearing a tube top at school than men do for publicly harassing their female classmates. Instead of blaming women and trying to change them, we must teach the abusers in the room how to control themselves and accept the grim consequences for their unwelcomed behavior. Abusers need to stop using random and feeble justifications such as having a difficult family life, receiving poor education, or lacking emotional maturity. These excuses do not erase the fact that an abuser is an abuser no matter who that person is. From a young age we are taught to respect each other, no matter who that person is, so using sad living conditions to save oneself will never make up for the trauma and pain that is inflicted upon a victim. 

To the adults in the room and those in power: Do better. Young girls live in constant fear of becoming the next victim, survivor, or data point. When only three percent of a population hasn’t experienced violation, there’s an issue. Young girls come to school to learn, not to be assaulted, but it seems like even this is too much to ask. Women of all ages are targeted whether they show their skin or not, whether they’re flirting or standing off, whether they’re drunk or sober; female victims are not at fault here and will never be at fault. Abusers and perpetrators need to learn that no means no. They need to learn to respect boundaries and accept the consequences of their actions. When women share their stories, the bare minimum is respecting them. The only way that we can progress past these events is by doing a better job of educating the upcoming generations. The fact of the matter is that most abusers are raised with an abuser mentality. That abuser mentality is dangerous and reeks of toxic masculinity, and it entails the ideas of male dominance and using force to achieve desires. All women deserve your respect. All women deserve safety. All women deserve humanity. So let them have it.

Debunking the debunking of the 97 percent

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Over the years, some of America’s favorite influencers and celebrities have fallen victim to social media’s cancel culture, which is an internet phenomenon that aims to destroy the careers of public figures, all because of one offensive statement or action from their past. James Charles, Nikita Dragun, J.K. Rowling, and Lana Del Rey are just some who have been negatively affected by this system. This practice, though revealing the true colors of many high-profile public figures, is ineffective in promoting substantive change. Of course, people should be held accountable for insensitive offenses and remarks, both past and present, but attempting to end their careers and livelihoods is not the way to go about it.

When “called to action,” an army of “cancelers” often comes forward with full strength and speed, and offenders find themselves receiving everything from nasty comments


Graphic by [credit name="Caroline Xie"]
to death threats.  Whether they have meant to say something offensive or have made an unintentionally offensive joke, the offenders receive no mercy from the online community. The thing is, you don’t have to be an A-list celebrity or influencer to be canceled because the practice is ruthless and demonizing and doesn’t care who or what is its next victim. Regular high school students can be victims of cancel culture as well because if a student has controversial ideals, most of his or her peers take that as an open invitation to what they see as “constructive criticism,” though their criticism lacks the constructive aspect.

For example, if someone at PHS were to share ideals considered offensive by most liberal students at PHS, many who consider themselves “progressive activists” would immediately hop onto social media to post videos and insult the offender in any way possible. These past months, with the rise of Black Lives Matter and Stop Asian Hate protests, various students who voiced objections to these movements were called out and cancelled by their peers. Though it may seem to be an easy way of teaching somebody with different beliefs that their ideas can be offensive, it’s important to realize that if cancel culture doesn’t work on celebrities and public figures, there’s a high chance that it won’t work on high school kids either. Attacking people with full force isn’t going to change anyone’s mind, and you can’t have healthy conversations with people who don’t want to converse. Either way, if you want someone to learn from a situation, “canceling” is simply not the way to go about it.

The method is mainly ineffective because being ostracized by classmates and peers causes one to be isolated from those with differing beliefs. It’s hard to want to learn from people who openly hate and look down on you. When someone says or posts something offensive, it is important to hold that person accountable while still having empathy and recognizing his or her humanity. Though one's actions may be offensive, this doesn’t mean that the offender is inherently bad — a person’s views can change with education. It’s crucial to remember that high school is a time to learn. Teenagers have their entire lives to change their views and grow as people, but when they are pushed into isolation, crucial learning opportunities are lost. If students ostracize one of their peers who has different views, that student will only seek out those who have the same opinions as them, and offensive behavior will be reinforced. Especially in the age of social media, people live in filtered bubbles where online they only see ideas that correspond with theirs. “Canceling” people you know from school, work, or your own family allows this filtered bubble to extend to the real world.

Admittedly, the idea behind cancel culture can be beneficial, but its execution is almost never productive. It has turned into a game, with people finding entertainment in digging up dirt on celebrities and posting it on social media. Those rising to popularity become fearful of their words being taken out of context or their past mistakes resurfacing and being misconstrued, which can cause some to avoid online attention in general. Even when something does come up, the offender’s immediate reaction isn’t to acknowledge where they went wrong and learn from it, it’s to craft an acceptable apology to the public and do some damage control, sometimes effectively, sometimes not. They don’t want to learn; they want to move on and leave it all behind. This reaction will often bring more attention to the person, negative or positive. When the scandal blows over, they are left with a larger platform than they initially had because it’s likely that their supporters never cared about malicious behavior from the start.

Next time you disagree with someone’s beliefs, think carefully before you take action. Attempt to educate them or have a conversation about why they think what they do, but if they are not willing to listen or if you do not have the capacity for a civil and productive conversation, it may be best for you to simply ignore them. You do not owe anyone your time, and you are not obligated to teach someone or try to change their beliefs. Yet even just trying to have a conversation with someone, though it can be hard, is far more constructive than spending your time making an angry post to further cancel culture and create deep divides between people.

The Toxicity of Cancel Culture

If you’re a person of color living, working, or learning in a predominantly white town, you’ve definitely felt the pressure of white people staring you up and down, noticing and taking note of your every move; this is what we refer to as the white gaze. The white gaze is something that weighs down on people of color every single day. Not only does it feel like we are backed into a corner, but it causes POC to feel as if their voices don’t matter. As a Pakistani Muslim at PHS, I have to take extra action when it comes to amplifying not only my voice but the voices of my peers.

PHS is not safe from ethnocentrism just because Princeton is a liberal town. We’ve had our fair share of racist scandals, all committed by white members of the student body. A community circle will not heal the souls that have been damaged at these predominantly white institutions (PWI), and neither will an email from the principal. Talking to friends after these events helped me actually understand my experiences; being a person of color in Princeton is HARD. Over 70 percent of the student body is white, so it’s hard to see yourself represented anywhere, and it’s even harder to make friends because ethnic and racial groups tend to unintentionally self-segregate. My friends of color have said they feel defeated; they hate going to school at a PWI like PHS because students are let off the hook for their racism and ethnocentrism. It’s terribly uncomfortable to know that the person sitting next to you in your math class is a white supremacist. In terms of looking for guidance during these situations, finding the right person to talk to when you’re struggling is difficult because it's extremely rare to find someone who mirrors your experiences.

The concept of the white gaze relies on the idea that people of color must take account of a white person’s feelings and reaction while existing in a predominantly white space. With that definition in mind, it is absolutely no surprise that Black rappers, like Noname, have taken to Twitter to explain how the white gaze affects their ability to perform. Noname tweeted about how she gets uncomfortable performing in front of white crowds, even going as far as to telling her haters to check their “liberalism.” If your liberalism only focuses on your individual freedom and isn’t focused on helping out those who are suffering, you do not follow the principles of liberalism. What Noname meant was that white liberals scream, protect, and care for Black women until it’s time to care for and listen to their perspective. Just because you like one song by one Black artist doesn’t mean that you aren’t normally biased towards white artists. As Ta-Nehisi Coates states in his touching essay to his son, “Between the World and Me,” “In America, it is traditional to destroy the black body — it is heritage.”

The severity of the white gaze has essentially destroyed not just the Black body but the body of every person of color it touches. It starts with destroying our identity’s validity and ends up leaving us hurt and confused. This line alone proves that people of color have felt the burn of constantly being watched and undermined by their white peers. These standards are upheld everywhere, especially in PWIs. The only way we can truly attempt to fight these standards so deep into our journeys is by unlearning to take what white people say to heart, un-internalizing hatred, and realizing our true worth; this process is a fruitful experience that helps us stop pandering for white validation and will show us that our lives are not a plan that needs to be approved by our white peers. Our lives are ours to live equally and freely, without having to worry about what others feel they know about us.

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