Veiled: Perspectives 1 | Page 76

VEILED: PERSPECTIVES Growing up in Toronto where diversity is so high and people are more acceptant of other ideas and ethnicities, her personal experience of the hijab within her communities have been nothing but positive. Ginella and her sister were amongst the first hijabi girls in their school. When people recognized them as Muslims due to the headscarf, several students approached them and bonded over the same beliefs. Other girls grew inspired to trying hijab as well. Hijab does make certain things and activities slightly difficult due to the male-female physical body visibility discouragings. Ginella’s mother was someone in the community that would always be organizing activities such as swimming lessons and sports groups so her daughters and other women within the community would not feel left out because of the hijab and the requirement for female only areas. Growing up, they never felt held back from the things they wanted to do. Certainly hijab does make some activities difficult but especially with the help of her mother, Ginella and her sister were never held back becuase of the hijab. As a visibly Muslim woman living in Toronto, Ginella has always felt safe. Following 9/11 marked the first time they really started to consider their place in society. Up until that time, Muslims were fairly unmentioned and not a central focus in the media. Then arose all the questions and comments regarding Muslims and the practice of Islam. Her mother worried and reassured them if they wanted to take off their hijab to feel safer they should do it, but the girls held strong to their beliefs and motives. You hear about hate crime in the news towards Muslim women, and that was the worst part for her to hear because Toronto always felt so safe and that wasn’t the Toronto that she knew growing up. This is not what Canada is about and it is not okay to harm someone based off their religious beliefs and choices. She didn’t want to give in to the fear rather she fended off the negativity by holding her head up high for herself and other Muslim women. Along with the negative backlash there was also a lot of positive outcome. There formed a lot of groups standing up for the truth and supporting Muslim women. 65