A Muslim journalist has posed for Playboy wearing a hijab in a first for the magazine.
Noor Tagouri, 22, makes a “bold case for modesty” in the October edition of the magazine, which until recently favoured nude models.
The Libyan American journalist wore a hijab, black leather jacket, white Converse trainers and black trousers for the photoshoot.
Playboy called Ms Tagouri a “badass activist with a passion for demanding change” with “beauty-ad-campaign looks”.
“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 magazine article continued.
She is featured in a series called Renegade, celebrating people prepared to break new ground in their respective professions.
But Ms Tagouri came under fire from critics shocked to see a Muslim woman in a magazine that was filled with nude centre-folds until earlier this year. Some attacked her on social media with the hashtag #hoejabi.
Ms Tagouri, who lives in West Virginia and works as a video reporter for Newsy, said she was not troubled by her criticism.
“It’s just negative energy and unhealthy. I make sure to keep a great circle of people around me who keep me grounded,” she said.
The journalist, who says she dreams of becoming the first hijab-wearing presenter on US television, added: “Whether it’s at work or at home, the people who have my best interest at heart voice their concerns and their critiques, and I work on them. Besides that, I just do the best I can to not worry about people who get upset because they don’t like something that I wear or say.”
She won praise from Aymann Ismail on Slate, who blasted critics, saying: “Sadly, it’s just another example of a Muslim woman being told how to live her life.”
