How does a veil strip a woman of her dignity.

Should she rather walk around half naked like most of the west and our acting local westerners do. Jumping from bed to bed and man to women and man. Is that dignity? Revealing clothes – IS THAT Dignity? Stop acting like what you are not and be yourselves. If you all practice your prospective religion correctly (not selectively) the world would be a better place simply for that

When they make that choice it’s fine. it utterly laughable. that they only reference you have for islamic barbarity is in poverty ridden countries.

Have you seen how barbaric us muslims in South Africa are? My word, some close their face completely, others only their heads. god forbid those of us who don’t cover at all!

we’re everywhere!

honour killings are not islam based but cultural it has f—all to do with Islam. don’t confuse it!

Islamic theology is a whole other kettle of fish.
THERE IS NO COMPULSION IN ISLAM
Women CHOOSE ( you familiar with that word) to wear Purdah/Niqab/Veil. Not all of us have that choice, but thats man isn’t it.

We have mufti’s saying you must wear it and French presidents banning it.

where’s the balance?

The “Amish” are a religious sect whose members have the opportunity to choose their way of life when they reach age 16 (in some communities) or 18. Most choose to stay. They are, like Quakers and Mennonites, officially ‘conscientious objectors’ to war and to violence in general.

Their communities (mainly in America and Canada) live within a ‘dispensation’ with regard to civil society. The “Amish” generally eschew any technology that is not ‘in the Bible’. Hence, the absence of electrification on their farms. They are “communitarian” sharing in any surplus produced on their farms and decide collectively how to spend funds gained from selling their produce to ‘the English’ (all non-Amish).

Men and women both wear handmade clothes, coloured with natural dyes which are considered ‘plain’. The focus of the community is on simplicity and living in accordance with ‘biblical’ principles. They do not proselytise. They do not seek converts. They live what they believe without inflicting it on others.
Theirs is a basically subsistence culture in which everyone has an equally important role to play in sustaining their way of life. The role of the male ‘elders’ is controversial to outsiders and I admit it bothers me. But when any male becomes too dominant the community remind him of his fallibility and ‘duty to humility’, an aspect of their culture rarely witnessed by ‘outsiders’ but an effective deterrent to tyranny in practice.

Compare that with the Islamist ideology. Spot the differences?

Other cases involve throwing acid on the faces of women who object to wearing the burqa or who just disagree with a male on any issue. One recent case was documented by a journalist in Pakistan. A young woman qualified as an air hostess and was overjoyed to have landed her first job. Her father disapproved and threw acid in her face. She was in hospital with 3rd degree burns over face, head, neck. chest and arms (she tried to protect herself) at the time of the filming of the documentary (which was actually a travel doccie,not an ‘issue’ doccie). That poor girl is only one of thousands of cases per year.

This is not ‘religion’. This is not ‘culture’. This is pathology. Sadistic, misogynist, evil. If these crimes were being perpetrated by one racist group against any other race, the outcry would be deafening. But when it is men inflicting a living death on their daughters, wives, fiances, or even strangers in the street, it’s a ‘religious’ or a ‘cultural’ matter.

Yeah. Right.

Lyndal Beddy: What you do not realise is that many of the muslim women wearing a burka in France are not visitors, but second and third generation French citizens…if the West is a pluralistic society that grants freedom to their citizens this is a strange way of showing it and completely inconsistent with the Liberty, Equality, Fraternity motto of France. The big east west divide that you are referring to is slowly eroding and muslims in Britain, France and South Africa for that matter, are citizens that are no longer ‘them’, but are steadily becoming a part of ‘us’.
Sentletse: It is religion. Whether you think it is fair or not that women have to cover their face (and they don’t ‘have to’- dependent on interpretation), their right to follow their religion should be respected. Just as a nun has a choice to don a habit if they want to, as orthodox jewish women can cover their hair and orthodox jewish men can dress with hats and long sideburns, as traditional african women cover their hair and as various cultures can slaughter animals. It is a choice that should be respected.

However, I find it ridiculous that someone can compromise their dignity by dressing conservatively. They have CHOSEN to do this in the MAJORITY of cases….taliban situation is different I admit. Please realise that you are NOT these womens’ protector. Your track record is pathetic in any case, with 1 in every 4 South African men being a rapist. May I suggest a few blog topics for you to work on…..

THE REED DANCE: TAKING AFRICAN WOMAN’S DIGNITY AWAY!

PORNOGRAPHY: HOW COULD WE CHRISTIANS LET THIS HAPPEN?

SOUTH AFRICAN MEN: RAPING AWAY IN THE NAME OF CULTURE AND TRADITION.

PARIS HILTON: SO NAKED YET SO DIGNIFIED.

Waiting with excitement.

Personally, I’d love to rid the world of burkhas. To many people they’re a horrible and depressing sight as they are to me. They compromise public safety because anyone could be under there carrying anything, and kids (Western kids, anyway) are terrified of the ugly “black ghosts” with the hidden faces. I’ll put space between myself and a bulk in a burkha whenever possible, which maybe is what that person wants, anyhow.

For me, burkhas speak of paranoia, distrust and hate of the non-Islamic world; they cut off friendly communication and the kindly civilities that many of us consider important, and they also offer a creepy perverse identification of the woman as a sexual object, unfit to be seen. Wherever she goes, her gender is projected as the most important thing about her…and I don’t want to live in a country where this becomes normal. Personally speaking. But others will differ.

In a liberal democracy, there might be valid practical reasons for restricting this divisive garment, but there’s no excuse for patronising attempts by Western or African men to tell Islamic women what they should feel. Any more than Islamists can tell me how I should feel or react to that black, shapeless, faceless, voiceless hulk that might or might not be a woman.