To think banning the burka

[hairytriangle]

Is a waste of time? If people want to wear it then they will. Let them be!

This has also been done on 'in the news' and we got to 1000 posts on that thread.

melikalikimaka - do you read the Daily Mail by any chance?

Reasonable doubt - it being France they might, or there will be fines. There has already been an incident of 'Burqa rage' in a shop in France.b

I am all for wear whatever you want, with the one exception of covering the face.
It's a security and communication issue.

Shade of....- I have my own mind, I don't need a paper to indoctrinate me. I grew up in a muslim area and worked in it, so I think I know what I'm talking about. Some of my relatives have muslim ancestors.

Religion aside, I would love to put one on for the school run, TBH.

Maybe they are actually quite emancipating. No need to worry about outward appearance.

I suppose none of us can really comment until we've tried one. I'd love to have a go.

They have cultural, geographical and practical meaning too, not just religious, don't they?

Sorry I don't mean to sound flippant, just think you need to walk in someone's shoes before you can comment.

We bought galabeya's in Egypt for an evening organised by the local Egyptologist, couldn't stop wearing them at home, comfort, coolness, ease of use, loved it.

Good for you - most of my family come from Gypsies - doesnt mean I know shit about how they choose to live.

Yes, when I've got a bad hair day, or I feel fat that that day! Ifancykevin, that really made me laugh.

"Oh come off it, who would choose to look like that?"

I've thought the same about people with regard to other things too. Eg. Exposing too much of themselves, excessive tattooing, manky grey trackies etc.

People do have minds of their own you know. Not everyone has to have one uniform look.

Oh well, next time, when you are sitting on a plane and a woman wearing one sits behind you reading and chanting the Koran, I bet you don't feel so smug. I know because it happened to me.

The fact is that 'honour' killings do happen in this country. It is also a fact that some British women are forced into arranged marriages and some women are forced to wear a burkha. Something needs to be done about this, just as something needs to be done about the fact that women are being murdered by their partners every week in domestic violence situations. It is sometimes very difficult to establish whether a women has chosen to wear a burkha of her own free will and I too am very uncomfortable seeing a woman covered head to toe while the man with her is wearing shorts and a tee shirt. This is not equality. Unless it can be established beyond doubt that women are making a free choice, then I feel the best solution is to ban the burkha. Otherwise we are saying that feminism and equality only esists for non muslim women. How fair is that?

exists not esists

melika- How did that affect you? A woman in burka sitting behind you reading the Quran I mean.

It wasn't long after the 7/7 bombings and it terrified me.

Mega, Ummmm maybe suicide bomb might have sprung to Melika's mind. It would have made me very uneasy also.

OMG what the hell is wrong with a woman reading the Koran. Perhaps it was a prayer, that happened to inconveniently clash with her plane journey.

What the hell did it matter that she sat next to you on a plane? Could you not have the decency to quietly ask her to not disturb you and possibly find a quieter area in the cabin to do this. Or were you afraid because she was the "bogeyman" all in black?

A baby screaming and kicking your seat would be acceptable though? Drunken hen/stag night party singing "Father Abraham"? Bunch of Nuns or priests heading to the Vatican?

Yes, because the way to integrate women into society equally is to alienate them completely?

Oh do fuck off Melika - your talking absolute shite and it says more about you and your attitudes than the woman in the Burka

Ok. So it wasn't the burka itself that terrified you but the fact that it identified her as a Muslim. Poor woman.

Oh well, next time, when you are sitting on a plane and a woman wearing one sits behind you reading and chanting the Koran, I bet you don't feel so smug. I know because it happened to me.

This is the stupidest thing I have read in a long while.

IFKE - my brother brought me back a Burqa from Kabul, which I used in my classroom. It is the most horrid garment - there is a knotted mesh where your eyes are, so no part of your face can be seen and it drapes you from the crown of your head downwards. It is suffocating and restrictive.

Do christians purposely bring out their bibles and read out loud in an unknown language, passages and sway to it? ON A PLANE? No, I hate drunks and there has been no report of nuns blowing up things. Don't be so stupid! Babies screaming please any time!

Did you wear it out Scare? Get a reaction?

Was it for a class discussion? What a brilliant idea, get the boys and girls to try for a day and see how they both feel.

That's what I mean, you have to walk in someone's shoes don't you?

Whether they choose to wear or not, I still don't think alienating people on the basis of clothing is the right message to send to other women. The only way to understanding is to integrate into society.

Scary, yes it is the most horrid 'thing'. I wouldn't even call it an item of clothing. Designed by a warped man with a warped view of women.