A Norman Park woman who wore a hijab for the month of October says she had surprising results from the social experiment.
Nursing student Sally Rutter said she decided to wear the headscarf in support of the Islamic community after anti-terror raids swept the country last month.
The month quickly turned into a social experiment for the 32-year-old.
“I used to be an English teacher and I had dozens of Muslim students, they were lovely and I kept in touch with few of them,” Ms Rutter said.
“I was reading the newspaper and all this backlash from people that were saying really awful things about Muslims and it really upset me because I thought if you actually knew a Muslim you would not say such a thing.”
She said she thought it was going to be a hard month the first time she wore the headscarf.
“The only negative reaction was literally within five minutes of putting it on. I went to a bus stop and a woman refused to speak to me,” she said.
“She would not give me the time of day and was pretty rude.”
Despite this, she said her other interactions had been positive, including being asked out on a date.
“Some say nothing because I’m just a normal person with a hijab … some will speak Arabic to me … and I have to explain what I’m doing.”
Holland Park Mosque spokesman Ali Kadri welcomed the experiment.
“This is something like that we support and want to promote,” he said.
“We all know the success of this nation lies in social cohesion.”