¹Department of Cultural Studies, Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, CA, USA

Correspondence: Henry Krips, Arts & Humanities, Claremont Graduate University, 121 East Tenth Street, Claremont, CA 91711, USA. E-mail: henry.krips@cgu.edu

Abstract

I examine Ragland's thesis that, within Islamic Society, the Hijab may function not only as a marker of sexual difference but also as a signifier in a "feminine" strategy of what Joan Rivière calls masquerade – one of the two ways in which, according to Jacques Lacan, human beings (men or women) may cope with the psychic state of lack, that is, a condition of their entry to subjectivity. I then examine Lacan's further claim that through such a strategy human beings may gain access to another form of Jouissance, which, in breaking with the dull, tedious phallic rituals of imposture, goes "beyond the pleasure principle." I also differentiate the Hijab from the Veil of Hollywood fame that has been so strongly criticized by Laura Mulvey and other feminist authors.