Muslim Journalist Poses for Playboy Wearing a Hijab

Noor Tagouri, a 22-year-old Muslim journalist appears in the October issue of  Playboy  magazine wearing a hijab. This is surely a first for the publication that until a year ago favoured nude models.

Noor Tagouri, a journalist for Newsy, appears in the infamous magazine as part of the October issue's “Renegades” spread, which features a diverse group of fully clothed millennials who the magazine credits with compelling change in their respective fields.

Noor Tagouri, a first generation Libyan American from West Virginia hopes to become the first hijabi anchor on network television.

“I will have succeeded in effecting change when all girls realize they can do anything they want without having to sacrifice who they are as a person,” Tagouri told Playboy. “I may dress a little different—I’m a reporter who happens to wear a head scarf and I live in my hoodie—but being a story teller, motivational speaker, entrepreneur and unapologetically myself has opened so many doors for thousands of people.”

Though she has received backlash for her appearance in the magazine, she told  Playboy she didn't pay heed to the negative comments. Some people were utterly shocked to see a Muslim woman in the magazine,

'Do we really need to go down the route of associating with an institution based on the objectification of women in the name of challenging perceptions and celebrating female empowerment?' asked blogger Nishaat Ismail, who also wears a hijab, on The Independent's website.

'Is this really how we reclaim our own narrative?'

Some critics even went ahead and created a hashtag that they used when they spoke about her; #hoejabi.

However, Tagouri seems to be unaffected by such comments as she says,

“If by backlash you mean hate and criticism, I don’t read or pay attention to any of it,” she told Playboy. “I constantly remind myself to just do the work I believe in and ignore the angry people behind computer screens.”

'Whether it’s at work or at home, the people who have my best interest at heart voice their concerns and their critiques, and I work on them. Besides that, I just do the best I can to not worry about people who get upset because they don’t like something that I wear or say.'

On the other hand, others like Slate video producer and editor Aymann Ismail, applauded Tagouri's decision to pose in Playboy.

'Far too often, Muslim women are being told how to dress and behave by groups who are neither women nor Muslim,' Ismail wrote. 

'For Muslim women who choose the hijab, the outward presentation of their faith makes them vulnerable to both sides of an increasingly polarising and politicised conversation about the rights of women.

'That is why when someone like Noor Tagouri speaks out and treads new ground as an individual, she deserves the full support of the entire Muslim community.'

Other people in Playboy's Renegades series include Baby Cobra comedian Ali Wong, novelist Paul Beatty and ballerina-turned-porn-star Stoya.