Perhaps people avoid muslim women because we don't want them to get in to trouble. I'm surprised to see women dressed like that out in public on their own, because I've been led to believe they need male escorts, and assume that one might be around. if I make eye-contact, I might be contributing to an honor-killing, or perhaps some acid-splashed on her face.
I want to be clear I never had a problem with any of the dudes beyond a conversation. I think they were confused too because they wanted to defend their culture, but really had no moral objections.
That's a very, very small subset of hijab wearers, and you're unlikely to see any of them at a Western mall.
Do you not look at all women because they might have insanely jealous boyfriends who will then kill them for that too, hey it's technically possible right, so you should err on the side of caution?
No, I don't think every time I look at a woman in a hijab she will be killed, but it does come in to the back of my mind more often than it does when seeing other women in local shops/stores/malls.
Is it prejudicial, as in pre-judging? Yes. People wearing certain types of garb send out signals intended to portray specific meaning. Sometimes extra meanings they didn't intend are also inferred.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honor_killing_in_the_United_Sta...
Women who wear head scarves while being perfectly happy to make eye contact are statistically higher than both, by a huge margin.
Many American-Muslim women wear a hijab by choice and are very friendly/social people who would be glad to interact with others.
There is a difference between culture and religion. A person who practices Islam in America might have entirely different cultural customs than a person who practices Islam in Afghanistan. (i. e. male escorts, eye contact, etc)
Please don't rely on FUD to inform your opinions/prejudices/judgments. And when in doubt ask.
Posted elsewhere: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honor_killing_in_the_United_Sta...