Comments on: Welcome to the real world http://www.whydontyou.org.uk/blog/2009/06/28/welcome-to-the-real-worl/ Challenging the Zeitgeist Sat, 20 Mar 2010 18:49:07 +0100 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: TW http://www.whydontyou.org.uk/blog/2009/06/28/welcome-to-the-real-worl/comment-page-1/#comment-21257 TW Mon, 29 Jun 2009 08:51:41 +0000 http://www.whydontyou.org.uk/blog/?p=2634#comment-21257 Very well said. Very well said.

]]> By: romulusnr http://www.whydontyou.org.uk/blog/2009/06/28/welcome-to-the-real-worl/comment-page-1/#comment-21251 romulusnr Mon, 29 Jun 2009 00:13:49 +0000 http://www.whydontyou.org.uk/blog/?p=2634#comment-21251 There is a common perception among Western women that burqas are inherently misogynistic. It's true that there are fundamentalist nations where women are forced to wear them. We (Westerners) find this offensive, though see no problem with forcing people to wear clothes in the first place, or forcing motorcycle riders to wear helmets, etc. We feel very strongly in the West that women should be free to let themselves be ogled by random men on the street, etc. I think it goes a little far though to be anti-burqa. Are we so sure there are not women who would choose to wear the burqa of their own free will -- see aforementioned ogling comment -- that we can assert an anti-burqa stance as pro-female? It's not the burqa that is the problem, but those cultural paradigms that impose them that is. Of course, the popular debate over the burqa is less to do with womens' right to show skin, and more to do with the government's right to identify you in a crowd. There is a common perception among Western women that burqas are inherently misogynistic. It’s true that there are fundamentalist nations where women are forced to wear them. We (Westerners) find this offensive, though see no problem with forcing people to wear clothes in the first place, or forcing motorcycle riders to wear helmets, etc. We feel very strongly in the West that women should be free to let themselves be ogled by random men on the street, etc. I think it goes a little far though to be anti-burqa. Are we so sure there are not women who would choose to wear the burqa of their own free will — see aforementioned ogling comment — that we can assert an anti-burqa stance as pro-female? It’s not the burqa that is the problem, but those cultural paradigms that impose them that is.

Of course, the popular debate over the burqa is less to do with womens’ right to show skin, and more to do with the government’s right to identify you in a crowd.

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