Is it unreasonable to say you feel uncomfortable around people when you can only see their eyes

[SailAwayWithMeHuni]

This isn’t meant to cause any offence, I’ve just been asked the question by a 12 year old and I’m not sure how to respond.

Context is that a group of girls at school were discussing whether older people are racist and someone stated that they feel uncomfortable when you can only see someones eyes.

Then don't look at them Its their religion, they are not forcing you to look at them they 're just getting on with their business, you should too!

I'm Muslim and I feel uncomfortable not seeing someone's full face (niqab or not).

There's no real grounds for covering face in Islam - the Qur'an doesn't even clearly mandate covering of hair.

There are many Muslims who disagree with the Niqab - not even supposed to wear it for Hajj!!!

It is difficult because in British culture a lot of communication is through the face, so a face covering is being less open than normal.

I recently felt uncomfortable when faced with a family. Women boiling in full outfits, faces covered, men in shorts and T-shirt’s. It is showing values that I disagree with.

Racism isn’t feeling uncomfortable. It’s acting on those feelings.

I am happy with scarves, but not the niquab. It excludes others and doesn't enhance civic spaces IMO.

I think it's perfectly normal. Our faces are expressive for a reason. We have evolved to have expressive faces because we are communicative creatures. Hiding that is problematic. On many, many levels.

I accept that I am more uncomfortable because I am not used to it but candidly it's not something I want to get used to. Cutting off the means by which two people connect, see what the other is feeling and adjust communication accordingly is not something I want us to do more of.

I don’t like the niqab. I defend a woman’s right to wear it in public if she chooses but I don’t like it.

I wouldn’t say I feel uncomfortable to see it though. Maybe I would if I was being asked to place my trust in a stranger wearing one eg a doctor (not doubting their competence but when I am trusting them with my health and they won’t let me see their face I might not feel comfortable), but a woman walking down the street minding their own business and wearing one, it doesn’t.

I don’t think religion should be an excuse for anything or warrant special treatment.

Many places restrict entry while faces are covered. If people want an exception for religious or cultural needs, then the restriction must be dropped for all.

Places like banks will argue that facial coverings worn by customers present a danger. The reality is that they either present a danger from everyone and should be removed or they don’t present enough of a danger to ever restrict personal choice.

I don’t know if it’s acceptable. But I feel confused when I can’t see the expression on someone’s face.

Not unreasonable at all

We communicate through facial expression

Context is that a group of girls at school were discussing whether older people are racist and someone stated that they feel uncomfortable when you can only see someones eyes.

A double hit of racism and ageism.

It's none of my business. Doesn't make me feel uncomfortable at all. If someone wants to cover their face with a woolly scarf it wouldn't make me feel uncomfortable either.

No its not unreasonable to feel uncomfortable with people hiding their face. Noone should be allowed to get away with that

I don't actually know if I've ever come across/spoken to someone with a niqab. Obviously see them all the time just never had reason to speak to them. But I wouldn't like not seeing their face no.

But there are a fair few people at my daughter's school who wear one and it occurs to me how do the teachers know it's them?? Cos I wouldn't be able to tell from the eyes. Do they know?? Or do they just pass the child over cos they know it's someone wearing a niqab so it's probably them? I've actually wondered about this!

I don't see how covering the face is different to covering any other part of the body. It's up to each individual person what they choose to disclose in public. I respect that.

A tiny minority of Muslim wear the niqab yet people are always keen to talk about how much they hate.

I wish people would instead talk about how much they hate racist attacks on Muslim women wearing hijab and niqabs, with women having their hijabs ripped off them, being spat and sworn at and told 'Paki go home'.

No one ever wants to talk about that for some reason.

Having impaired hearing I find it difficult if I can't see the mouth.

I'm only uncomfortable if I have to communicate with someone with their face covered. I have autism so it feels like I'm being forced to make eye contact. Also, like many autistic people, I focus on the mouth and partially lip read. I can't 'hear' what someone is saying if I can't see their mouth. (This is extremely common in autistic people and is why we find it so hard to speak on the phone)

It's not unreasonable. I don't feel uncomfortable but I feel frustrated at not being able to read someone's face and therefore commicate effectively with them. The person behind the veil is, to some extent, shut off from society. That is not ideal. It's not surprising it makes people feel uncomfortable or uneasy.

I find myself more uncomfortable when I can’t see their eyes. I hate talking to people in reflective sunglasses, I don’t know where to look!

I have no issue with people expressing their religion like that and i will defend their right to do that but it does make me uncomfortable. I have ASD and can’t make eye contact so having that be all I can see stops me from being able to communicate, especially as I have an auditory processing disorder which means 80% of the time I also need to lip read. The way I combat it is to tell them right off that I’m autistic and can’t male eye contact and that I need to lip read so they may need to repeat themselves and give me time to process what they’ve said before I respond.

People commit crimes. We use faces to find the people who commit crimes. If everyone starts covering their face then it makes the job a whole lot harder.

I'd rather have that tahn talk to someone in obnoxious sunglasses. (Or worse, mirrored sunglasses shudder.)

I lived in Saudi Arabia for a while recently and I'll admit to finding everyday interactions significantly more difficult due to face coverings.
It's harder to hear someone speaking through fabric, and you'd be surprised how much lip reading/face reading goes into even simple conversation. So on a purely practical level, it does make it harder.
It also is "emotionally" harder as we rely heavily on facial expression for communication, you can usually tell if someone is happy, sad, bored, angry etc with what you're saying by their facial expressions and therefore adjust your conversation accordingly, but these social cues are not visible when a person's face is covered.

As a PP said up thread, there is no concrete rule in Islam to cover the face, in fact its debatable if hair covering is necessary.

I will fully support anyone's right to dress, speak, behave, work, move in any way they please because of their religion, sexual orientation, chosen gender etc up until the point where it negatively impacts others.

I think the niqab is on the line somewhere - making someone uncomfortable doesn't seem a good reason to ban it, but it could be argued that it decreases safety. A tough one.

I hate it when people wear sunglasses because it is difficult to read their face or see where they are looking.

"" Its their religion,""

No it isn't.

BishBoshBashBop, there's nothing racist in that statement. Depending on the nature of the discussion, it isn't ageist. They could have been in a Sociology class and been discussing themes.