<p>A burka is a sign of slavery. It is another example of men trying to control women’s sexuality. The French President is a good man for trying to prevent the spread of slavery.</p>
<p>The West likes to hand-pick things that are exotic and criticize them separately or out of context with the larger culture. I had an Iranian anthropology professor. She’s lived in the States since the mid-90s, has an American husband, and a decidedly Western lifestyle. We had an exchange about the context of the situation.</p>
<p>Me: Do you think hijab constrains a woman’s identity?</p>
<p>Professor: Yes, but so does not being allowed to take your top off at an American beach. Why shouldn’t a woman be allowed to bare her breasts?</p>
<p>Me: But we’re talking about Iran.</p>
<p>Professor: Are we? Or, when Westerners discuss wearing hijab, are we discussing one exotic facet of a much larger problem? “Off with Hijab?” How about, “down with the execution of minors?”</p>
<p>When in Rome…</p>
<p>Wearing a burqa in France is as inappropriate as wearing a bikini in Mecca. Good on Sarko. Maybe it’ll make some of the less desirable potential newcomers go to Britain or Sweden instead…</p>
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<p>I wouldn’t call it common, but I’ve certainly seen it. Why would I blink an eye? How is it any different from how Orthodox Jewish women wear extremely modest dress and the men wear very specific dress and hats and hairstyles?</p>
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<p>Orthodox Jews have the same separatism – they WANT to signal “I’m not one of you.” Same with the Yearning For Zion folks. That’s fine – it is a free country. I think Sarkosy’s wrong.</p>
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<p>Evangelical, fundamentalist Christian teenagers are equally “coerced” to wear purity rings. Don’t see the difference.</p>
<p>Should France ban the wearing of sheitls in public, because they don’t allow you to see the hair of the woman who’s wearing them? </p>
<p>Should it ban the wearing of all masks in public, even if you’re on your way to a masquerade?</p>
<p>How about banning the wearing and display of crucifixes in public, by children below “the age of reason”?</p>
<p>Only if the crucifix is life size.</p>
<p>Why aren’t men also wearing the Burka? Maybe France should also force muslim men to try it to see whether they like it before they protest.</p>
<p>There are probably young women in hijab in most of our US public schools. Has anyone seen public high school or middle school girls in a full burka, with either her face not showing at all, or only her eyes showing? I haven’t. Most of the muslim girls in our school don’t even wear hijab. Some wear a scarf and long pants/long sleeves. But I haven’t seen a school girl (or teacher) in a full burka.</p>
<p>Some of the inner city schools around here prohibit kids from wearing hoodies, for security reasons (hoods can obscure identity.) I wonder if any US school districts have had to make rules about full burkas.</p>
<p>"Should France ban the wearing of sheitls in public, because they don’t allow you to see the hair of the woman who’s wearing them? </p>
<p>Should it ban the wearing of all masks in public, even if you’re on your way to a masquerade?</p>
<p>How about banning the wearing and display of crucifixes in public, by children below “the age of reason”?"</p>
<p>The burqa is fairly unique in its level of public obnoxiousness. But I’m pretty sure the things you mentioned are all banned from public schools by the 2005 law (Sikh turbans and Kippahs certainly are)…</p>
<p>That’s why I brought up Orthodox Jewish attire, Pizzagirl. It is a form of separatism that you find in some cultures, both internally in the U.S. and elsewhere. But I don’t think you can paint every “separatist” culture with the same broad brush. If you try to engage a woman wearing a sheitel in conversation, I don’t think it’s the same thing as trying to communicate with a person whose face is entirely unseen in a burqa.</p>
<p>We live in a culture that works on a currency of communication, verbal and otherwise. People dressed like the Amish or Hasidim or Catholic clergy or in hijabs/niqabs or any other “religious” dress may be “separate” and live with different mores, but I think we can all agree that this modified dress still leaves open the possibility of communication with the wearer, wheras the burqa rather obviates that.</p>
<p>I’m too lazy to look it up now, but I remember there being an issue with the outfit because of it covering identity completely. I think it had to do with someone refusing to take it off for a passport photo or TSA or something. Don’t remember how it was resolved.</p>
<p>A lot of Scandinavian countries are also very secular, to the point where they condemn Islam because of its nature. As a Muslim who has been raised in America, I feel as though I am the “bridge” in-between, choosing whether I adopt a secular lifestyle or a religious one. There is no doubt that my decision among millions of others will have a direct affect on the future of Islam in western society. Having a fundamentalist mother, and a liberal father, I have been raised with polar opposite views on a lot of issues. While my mother wants me to get an arranged marriage, my father’s only requirement is that my potential wife has an open mind and a prestigious college education. ( <em>sigh</em> Pakistani parents lol) I just feel at loss sometimes when I try to weld western ideals with traditional ideals. </p>
<p>The burqa should not exemplify Islam as a whole, rather a discreet paradigm of one country, where women certainly cannot choose the path they with to take. My cousin’s wife works at Goldman Sachs and wears a hijab everyday, and she never receives any problems whether it is from her boss or from her colleagues. Sarkozy is a little naive to think that eradicating the pious act of wearing a hijab will ameliorate the problems associated with organized religion. There is no qualm in my mind that this will supplement the problems there already are with organized religion. Of course, the fact that I don’t want my wife to wear a hijab confuses me, certainly multifarious beliefs have created my confusion of who to believe. My mother tells me to marry a “hijabi” while my friends and colleagues are totally unrestricted in their choice of who to be with and pressure me to have pre-marital relations. Should I believe my own fundamentalist mother or follow the footsteps of the likes of Sarkozy and my colleagues?</p>
<p>Where I live there is a very large Muslim population, also a lot of Mennonites. There are a few Muslim women in my college as well some Mennonites. The Muslim women in my school and around town dress like this:
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<p>I never once thought to ask why they would do that here. Really none of my business and I don’t think if you live in another country you have to dress like the people of that country you are now living in. If you feel more comfortable dressing in your native country (or religious) trends or whatever fine. Who am I or anyone else to say no one can’t.</p>
<p>One of the women in my school is married and expecting a child. I have no idea if she is married to someone in the same religion as her or not. But she is always happy and smiling no matter where I see her at. We are majoring in the same thing so we have many classes the same and she is a very smart student that works very hard.</p>
<p>Why are so many governments so hell bent on dictating every aspect of people’s lives. What people wear is none of the governments business as long as they are not breaking any laws. And the country in this article sounds like they will be regulating what people wear.</p>
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<p>Exactly. How about if men start being required to wear burkas? Let’s see how many seconds it takes to end the burka practice.</p>
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:eek:
Whether or not you’re right about the “coercion” factor… try swimming, running, crossing the street, or even just walking around on a summer day while wearing first a purity ring and then a burqa. Then I think maybe you’ll see the difference a little more clearly. You won’t see it through your peripheral vision while wearing the burqa… but all the same.</p>
<p>Also, geek_son just pointed out that none of his evangelical Christian friends have been beaten in the street for not wearing a purity ring…</p>
<p>Perhaps she is a pious and observing Christian? </p>
<p>1 Corinthians 11.</p>
<p>“The burqa is fairly unique in its level of public obnoxiousness.”</p>
<p>All a matter of opinion. Women who wear burquas probably think that wearing shorts and halters is indecent.</p>
<p>France can blame Charles DeGaulle for this whole problem. If he hadn’t let the Algerians into France there wouldn’t be any burqas to ban.</p>
<p>I fail to see how this is an immigration issue, as some posters in this thread seem to suggest. Not all Muslims in France come from outside. This should be considered an internal cultural issue.</p>