Please uncover your face-Matthew Parrish

[mrsruffallo]

Interesting article here
I have noticed that there are more women covering up in the last few years.
Any opinions?

riven i have only EVER been discussing the veil and burkha - not your choice of clothing. i have made this perfectly clear several times.

The Koran does NOT require women to cover their face.

Kingcanute - 'it just does' - yet another valuable contribution.

Night Nancy

It's a slippery slope though, first you ban face veils, and then the scarves will be objectionable too, I've had people tell me they feel sorry for me for being oppressed ....because I wear a pretty scarf upon my head, which clearly follows that I am oppressed and forced agaisnt my will to harbour a huge collection of headcarves, and pins, then each morning I'm forced to co-ordinate my headscarves with ym outfit dammit

Different schools of thought, have different interpretation about the extent of the veiling required, the women who I know who wear face veils do so for no other reason than that they believe it was commanded by God.

As an aside, exh used to force me to remove my headscarf and abaya in public too, he said I looked stupid, and uneducated and oppressed..... it was the one thing he never ever managed to force me to do, remove my covering.
I like it, it works when I'm being lazy, and it's cool and airy in summer, and it is a religious requirement, and in england at the very least I am thankfully free to wear it.

I don't think anyone who has no understanding of Islam itself can tell me the way I dress is not part of my religion, study the quran then let's discuss what you make of the requirement and why your view differs from mine.

I don't think any form of female dress should be regulated by law, be it overexposed or, er, underexposed.

I do find both extremes to be incompatible with any notion of feminism though.

I do think the scarf and veil can be an indicator of a suppressed woman. I remember going to look at a house owned by a family of Pakistani origin, the woman answered the door but she evidently wasn't allowed to speak to people and ran off to get her husband.

There are lots of women, chiefly of Pakistani background, who are basically hidden away and never learn to speak English and scarf/veil are just one indicator of that. It's very unhealthy.

My m-i-l has worn scarf in the past, but she doesn't live in the UK and she's a strong personality and did so out of choice because she converted to Islam, and it certainly didn't separate her because it's mainstream where she lives. In this country though I've no doubt it would serve to further isolate her (beyond the isolation she already felt when she spent a couple of weeks here).

Obviously there are two sorts of people that wear the scarf, those that do it by free will and those that face severe pressure to do so. If you do it out of free will, fine, but I don't think it's reasonable to complain that people don't understand it, or that they find you unapproachable. It's not them, it's you.

My experience of countries and cultures where female modesty is usual is that anyone who doesn't abide by it is putting themselves at a great deal more risk than would be the case in this country.

For instance Western women in such countries are often seen as 'easy', sexual harrassment is very common, and despite the feminine modesty, men tend to be have very unreconstructed attitudes to women.

Very true SG.
I have lived and worked in many predominantly Muslim countries and the grief you suffer for dressing like a human as opposed to a lampshade is staggering.

I don't think the veil should be banned, it is after all a free country.

However, I veils make me feel uncomfortable as I like to see someones face when I look at them.

A woman who wears a veil makes me think tow things:

1 she has a very controlling DH/dad/brother

or

2 she is very religious.

Both, for me, have negative connotations.

SomeGuy is including the scarf as a symbol of oppression there. I thought we were only talking about covering the face?

Rasputin, how can you say that with such certainty? I know men are big in most religions now but the roots date back so far that it is impossible to know who was actually involved in setting them up in the beginning isn't it?

"I have lived and worked in many predominantly Muslim countries and the grief you suffer for dressing like a human as opposed to a lampshade is staggering."

What an offensive post. Would it be ok for a muslim woman in headscarf or veil to say 'I have lived and worked in many western countries and the grief you suffer for dressing like a human as opposed to a slut is staggering'?

Would it be ok for a muslim woman in headscarf or veil to say 'I have lived and worked in many western countries and the grief you suffer for dressing like a human as opposed to a slut is staggering'?

Some of them do say that, what's your point?

But it is not acceptable is it? I'm sure it wouldn't go unchallenged if someone were to post something like that here. My point is that moondog is showing her prejudice by her choice of words.

The way I see it, it is fine to not like it yourself, we are all entitled to our view. I just object to people imposing their view on others in the way that has been suggested here or behaving in a prejudiced way towards those people.

Moondog is right.

I have also lived in a predominantly muslim place and would get a lot of hassle for my normal choice of dress, which although conservative by many people's standards (I never wear miniskirts or high heels), has never included a headscarf or veil of any kind.

Is the attitude of those who hassled me and moondog somehow better or more acceptable than those opposed to a face veil? I don't see how.

And I don't see how it is prejudiced to state that this happens, either.

I don't think anyone has said that it is prejudiced to say that this happens have they?

Saying that wearing a veil is "dressing like a lampshade" is pretty prejudiced though, or offensive... either way, not nice and not needed.