‘Playboy’ magazine features a 'renegade' hijab-wearing reporter
“Playboy” magazine may have earned its reputation from publishing sexually explicit content but the 62-year-old men’s publication is now making history by pushing for modesty in mainstream media as it featured a hijab-wearing female journalist.
Noor Tagouri, a 22-year-old reporter for the online video news network Newsy, graced the pages of the recent “Playboy” issue as the magazine named her as one of the Renegades of 2016.
“Playboy” described Tagouri as a “badass activist with a passion for demanding change and asking the right questions, accompanied by beauty-ad-campaign looks.”
Born to Libyan immigrants who settled in West Virginia, Tagouri wore a headscarf, a black leather jacket, black pants and sneakers during her photo shoot with “Playboy.”
“Tagouri forces us to ask ourselves why we have such a hard time wrapping our minds around a young woman who consciously covers her head and won’t take no for an answer,” the article on “Playboy” reads.
“Americans have a long way to go when it comes to how we regard Muslims, but with Tagouri burning down stereotypes and blazing new paths, we’re a healthy stride closer.”
For her part, Tagouri said she felt honoured to be featured in the “Playboy” magazine, which embraced a nudity-free editorial policy since its redesign last year. The infamous men’s magazine still featured women in titillating fashion but stopped publishing images of nude women to appeal to a greater readership.
Tagouri reportedly wants to become the first hijab-wearing television news anchor in the United States, where anti-Muslim sentiments and anti-Arab stereotypes still abound.
“Being a hijabi Muslim woman helps me gain trust. I say, ‘I know what it’s like to be misrepresented in the media. I won’t do that to you,’” she told “Playboy.”
Tagouri’s #LetNoorShine campaign went viral in 2012 and her 2015 TEDx tax and YouTube channel drew thousands of viewers. She is also known for collaborating for streetwear brand Lis’n Up Clothing for a fashion line, whose proceeds partly fund the anti-human trafficking organization Project Futures.
