Introduction

Following the 2001 terrorist attacks on 9/11 in the US, and 7/7 in the UK four years later, and, more recently, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) directed attacks in France, Germany and Belgium, the religion of Islam is associated with violence, religious fundamentalism and the global ‘war on terror’. In this context, the wearing of the niqab (face covering; hereafter called the ‘veil’) is often perceived as the key visual symbol of Islam in the West. Typically, media discourses about Islamist extremism are illustrated by the image of a Muslim woman in full veil. Through her clothing, this female figure is used to illustrate the ‘abnormal’, a ‘stranger among us’, as well as an extreme belief system, embodying the potential threat of terrorist attacks (Meer et al, 2010). The wearing of the veil is also seen as a ‘threat’ to notions of integration and national cohesion, as well as a visual embodiment of gender oppression and gender inequality.

According to Perry (2014), the controlling images of veiled Muslim women render them especially attractive and available targets for hate crime. Indeed, the research literature demonstrates that veiled Muslim women are particularly vulnerable as targets of Islamophobic attacks (see, eg, Wing and Smith, 2006; Githens-Mazer and Lambert, 2010; Allen et al, 2013; Zempi and Chakraborti, 2014; Awan and Zempi, 2016). The underpinnings of Islamophobic violence are the invocation of negative images and stereotypes associated with veiled Muslim women. At the same time, their dress code identifies them from non-Muslims and, to this end, marks them as visible targets of Islamophobic hate crime (Haddad, 2007).

Despite their vulnerability to Islamophobic hate crimes, veiled Muslim women are unlikely to be perceived as innocent victims worthy of our sympathy and support; rather, they are less valued and thus less protected in comparison to ‘ideal victims’ (Jiwani, 2005). Veiled Muslim women might be denied the ideal victim identity due to the criminalisation of the veil, especially in light of the banning of the veil in European countries such as France and Belgium. Additionally, they might be denied an ideal victim identity in light of national and international events whereby Islam and Muslims are demonised by political rhetoric and state policies. Against this background, veiled Muslim women are seen as hate crime victims on the margins.