A children's book promoting road safety has been dropped because one young cartoon character is wearing a hijab.
Transport for London has axed images of a four-year-old Muslim girl used in its £2million campaign for schools and nurseries after religious groups said they were 'sexualising four-year-olds'.
More than 65,000 'Little Londoners' have joined TfL's young Traffic Club but its key cartoon character Razmi has caused controversy because she always wears a headscarf.
But it has caused outrage because a hijab is usually only worn by young women after puberty and in front of men for modesty reasons - not by four-year-olds.
Gina Khan, an equalities campaigner, toldThe Times: 'You are sexualising a four-year-old girl. It is as simple as that. The reason a female is covered is so men don't look at her. How can you integrate in society if you have a four-year-old girl wearing a hijab?'
Campaigner Aisha Ali-Khan said: 'If you are a Muslim girl and look at these images and see this girl is Muslim and she is wearing a hijab and you aren't, you will think there's something wrong with you. It is far too young. You are a child. What are you being modest for?'
The book was created in 2015 when Boris Johnson was Mayor of London and depicts children from London's main cultures, nations and religions.
An Irish child wearing a green hat with shamrocks on it goes to celebrate St Patrick's Day in Trafalgar Square with 'hundreds of happy people all dressed in green' having safely found his way there on public transport.
The book was created in 2015 when Boris Johnson was Mayor of London and depicts children from London's main cultures, nations and religions, but it will no longer be used.
But the hijab row now means Transport for London, now run by new Mayor Sadiq Khan, has dumped the campaign.
A spokesman said: 'We apologise for any offence caused by this content and we will not use these designs in future.'
-------
What do you guys think? Were they reading too much into it? I mean, despite not HAVING to wear hijab, some little girls do wear it sometimes, either for a number of different reasons and sometimes just for dressup or a picture a parent may put a hijab on a little toddler etc. Not for the sake of "oh you must cover up, it is obligatory!" But just whateber.
Plus, the illustrator of the book may have been trying in their way to make it inclusive and they figure tje most immediate way to make a character recognizable as a Muslim is for her to be in hijab. I mean, whatever your stance on the issue is, you have to admit, hijabs are one of, if not the, easiest identifying symbol for a Muslim in general. So maybe that was the excuse. Whatever. But idk, I just feel jumping to the immediate conclusion that by having a kid character in hijab it's suddenly perverted and meaning something sexualized, that's a reaching. That's really reaching. Whether you agree or disagree with a child ever wearing hijab before adulthood, still, it's a big assumption. But what are your thoughts everyone?