I hate wearing the hijab

Hi everybody,

First, I just want to clarify that my writing skills aren’t great, so I’m using AI to fix any typos. Also, not every hijabi is forced to wear it—you just watch too much Netflix. But at the same time, there are many who are. ‏ ‏I (17F) have been wearing the hijab since I was 8—fully covered with a black abaya and everything. First of all, why did my family think an 8-year-old should wear it? I hadn’t even hit puberty yet. At first, I didn’t mind it because I live in Saudi, where every girl have it on. Some were so covered you couldn’t even see their skin color. But whatever, back to my story.

‏At 11, I started hating it. It’s uncomfortable and makes me feel like there’s a rope around my neck. Whenever I vent about it, people just say, “You’ll get used to it.” dude, it’s been nine years—I’m not getting used to this ugly piece of cloth.

‏What makes it worse is that my family seems to care more about the hijab than my actual well-being. Once, my dad almost threw a brick at my face because a guy almost saw my heavenly hair. I’ve told my mom countless times that I don’t want to wear it, and she always responds with, “What will people say?” or “Are you a whore?” So other people’s opinions matter more than my comfort? They even tried to make me cover my face, but thank God I did not let that happen.

‏I can’t describe how much I hate wearing the hijab, and trust me, you don’t even want to hear my thoughts on niqab.

‏Don’t get me wrong—I love hijabs and my religion. But I’m not wearing it for my faith anymore. I’m wearing it for my safety because taking it off would have consequences I don’t even want to think about.