Honestly, I don't have anything against veiling. Until fairly recent times, it was the norm for women. In my youth, Central European immigrants would wear babushkas on the street. Nuns wore full habit (just like Sister Act). In church, for years, I wore a hat or the Jackie-Kennedy veil or mantilla.
I've had friends who wore various head-coverings, from religious sisters to Islamic women. Never bothered me. In fact, I envied their freedom to not fuss with their hair.
But, all that was voluntary. Today, in many Middle Eastern and European cities, a woman who is NOT veiled is a target - for rape, for the "smiley" (a scar that is used for unveiled women - a knife slice from the corner of the mouth to the ear), for whatever abuse roving groups of men chose to inflict on her.
Read the link - get the facts about why the burka ban makes sense.
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2 comments:
Maybe we should ban people from carrying wallets because that makes them a target for robbery.
Maybe we should ban cars because that makes us a target for carjackers.
Maybe we should ban houses because they're a target for burglary.
(All three of those examples happen MUCH more frequently than a woman being raped or sliced because she's not wearing a burka.)
I'm assuming you're getting the utter ridiculousness and sheer stupidity of your argument now.
All of those examples have monetary goals - I doubt that banning displays of ownership will deter criminals.
But, the burkha cuts to the core of our modern world - should women be targeted simply because they don't wear a bag over their entire body?
Apparently so - when it's not female identity that makes the non-burkha-wearers a target, it's their choice of clothing. One could even argue that it's their religious status (i.e., non-Muslim) that is the object of that attack.
Oh, no - couldn't classify that way - might make them eligible for protection from the HATE CRIME of being an infidel.
No, I'm actually more in favor of allowing the covered to have the freedom NOT to be forced to don that total identity-erasure guise. Too many are pressured, forced, and bullied into the clothing.
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