There’s a phenomenon played out over & over on Facebook where non-Muslims, male & female, go absolutely ballistic over the hijab. Their vituperations are so over the top that it can only be explained by misogyny combined with Islamophobia. Why the hell does anyone care what other women wear? In the early days of US feminism, there were some who thought feminists should wear boyish haircuts, combat boots, hate on lipstick, & go lesbian. I said hell no. Women can wear what the hell they want in this movement & love who they want. I was scornfully called “perfumed & powdered” & was once booed in a video interview for wearing mascara. So I take these condemnations of the hijab very personally. Feminism is about standing together against women’s oppression, not dictating to other women what they should wear. Now some rabid women Islamophobe from India tells me I’m trying to ‘atone for my colonial guilt by enabling the Islamic hijab patriarchy.’ It may appall her to learn I don’t have any colonial guilt. Am I supposed to? Guilt is a counterrevolutionary emotion that constipates you politically & makes you inert. What’s important about their rantings is that they have no cogency to their opposition, only rabidity. And when something that doesn’t affect them personally rouses them to such fury, it can only be explained by competition with or the need to control women & hatred for Muslims.