(CNN)  -- Rowaida Abdelaziz doesn't want your pity. Rowaida Abdelaziz says wearing the hijab sometimes interferes with usual U.S. teenager activities, but that it's worth it to her faith. She doesn't want your frosty public stares; the whispers behind her back; the lament that she's been degraded by her father. What the Muslim high school senior wants you to understand is that she doesn't wear the hijab, the head scarf worn by Muslim women, because she is submissive. "It represents beauty to me," says Abdelaziz, the 17-year-old daughter of two Egyptian parents living in Old Bridge, New Jersey. "My mom says a girl is like a jewel," Abdelaziz says. "When you have something precious, you usually hide it. You want to make sure you keep it safe until that treasure is ready to be found."
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The hijab is the head scarf worn by Muslim women
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Wearing one as a Muslim teenager in the U.S. may offer challenges
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Some wearers say they get strange looks and sometimes angry remarks
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But those who voluntarily wear it say it can help them in their faith and teen life
But there's a form of religious profiling that some young Muslim women in @placeholder say they endure whenever they voluntarily wear the hijab.