The new veiling phenomenon - Is it an anorexic equivalent? A polemic

The paper deals with the new veiling phenomenon that initially began two de cades ago in countries like Egypt and was taken up in increasing numbers by young educated and working women. The new veiling, however, is no longer r estricted to the Middle East. This form of dress is now being adopted by ma ny young Moslem women of various national backgrounds all over the world. T he new veiling is an individual choice made by those women and therefore re quires a deeper analysis beyond the apparent Islamic revival or the simple re-activation of tradition. An analogy is drawn here between the Western anorexic position and this new veiling. The psychological similarities between both situations are illust rated using the social predicament model. The paper argues that both respon d to a number of pressures that are now placed upon women globally includin g conflicting cultural messages and contradictory cultural expectations. Th ese global social changes have their impact on women's sense of their 'self ' and 'body' and therefore need to be seen in terms of women's pursuit of s elf-definition, development and power negotiations within the progressive d ifferentiation of society under change. Copyright (C) 1999 John Wiley & Son s, Ltd.