Noor Tagouri becomes first woman to wear hijab in Playboy
WASHINGTON - A local journalist recently made history by becoming the first woman to wear hijab in Playboy magazine. Noor Tagouri, a journalist at Newsy, was featured in the magazine's October issue, titled "The Renegades Issue," which featured several cultural rule breakers.
Noor joined FOX 5 in studio on Tuesday morning to talk about the reaction she has received since appearing in Playboy, which she says caught her a bit by surprise.
"The reaction has been not what I expected. We definitely expected a little bit of controversy but I didn't expect the story to kind of hit all over the world the way that it did," Tagouri said. "So it's been an adventure everywhere and really (I've had) every kind of reaction possible."
Her appearance in the controversial magazine has divided opinion. On one hand, there have been many supporters who have praised Tagouri for breaking the mold and shaping her own narrative through her appearance in Playboy.
"I am talking about combating the women and the sexualization of women in media, and this was a chance to bring my message to a platform, and so this for me was a chance to bring my message to a platform that otherwise wouldn't have a voice that's similar to mine - and kind of taking back my narrative," she said.
Taguori was originally approached by Playboy for an online piece, but the deputy editor of the magazine later asked her if she would consider being featured in the actual magazine. She says she didn't take making the decision to appear in the magazine lightly, telling FOX 5 she spoke with family, friends and her mentors before ultimately deciding to move forward.
"I prayed about it, I talked about it with my parents. I have no regrets, but the discussion did take a lot of turns, and I'm really happy that certain narratives were taken on and talked about, because these are discussions we need to have. I think I was more worried about if people were going to be respectful or not."