Are Hijabs Hot? – The Nonverbal Effect of The Hijab On Attractiveness and Intelligence Ratings
Christopher Philip
Researchers Yusr Mahmuda and Viren Swami set up an experiment to test the nonverbal effects of the hijab on women’s intelligence and attractiveness among Muslim and non-Muslim men.
A series of images depicted women either wearing or not wearing the hijab were presented to men.
Results showed that attractiveness and intelligence ratings were both negatively affected by being veiled.
No effect occurred when religion was taken into account although non-Muslim men rated unveiled women significantly higher for attractiveness than veiled women. Though, the more religious the men tended to be, the higher men tended to rate the women on intelligence and attractiveness.
Non-Muslim men also provided higher ratings of women’s intelligence under both conditions.
The scientists point out that wearing the hijab is believed to make it more difficult to judge women’s relative attractiveness – however, as shown in this study, the nonverbal message of the hijab does not inherently covey positive characteristics – quite the reverse.
As a matter of oppression or religious freedom, the role of the hijab has been widely discussed with no general consensus formed.
It should be noted however, that Muslim men did tend to offer higher ratings when the women wore the hijab although not in a significant way. This lends support to the idea that we all hold cultural and ethnic perceptions of intelligence and attractiveness.
Nevertheless, the study shows us that religious nonverbals have a significant impact on other attributes not directly related to the specific attire. As seen in this study, wearing a hijab (by choice or otherwise) can significantly hamper desirable impressions along at least the two factors studied.
Elective nonverbal signals, which are worn by choice, whatever they may be, should be selected carefully such that they yield results which are desired.
Image Credit: herman yahaya
Resources
Mahmuda, Yusr and Viren Swami. The Influence of the Hijab (Islamic Head-Cover) on Perceptions of Women’s Attractiveness and Intelligence. Body Image. 2019. 7: 90-93.