Well done Belgium. Veil banned

[Nuttybear]

I fully support this. Really wish the liberals would put aside there protection of these men and free the women here. I vote for bring the same law here. I despise the veil and all it stands for. I saw a woman trip and fall because she could not see the kerb!!! Her husband/uncle/dad then had to guide her over the next kerb. I saw them again in the supermarket I so wanted to throw eggs at him but it would only make her plight worse. I know a minority want to wear the veil. Well, there are countries that support that decision. I know it might make matter worse for some but there must be a stand to free these women of this 13th century habit. Wearing of the veil is not in the Koran. All for modest dress, if you so wish but, unable to look around your world freely is wrong.

I agree about the sunglasses. I find it irritating talking to someone wearing sunglasses and have asked friends to take them off before now if I'm speaking to them.

choosy - I have lived in Belgium for 4 years - I have only ever seen 1 woman in a Burqa (that was in the playground next to the mosque) and no-one at all in Niqab. On the other hand there are many, many headscarf wearers.

Modesty means different things to different people. I am western but I don't wear very short skirts or strapless things because I personally don't feel comfortable revealing that much of my body to strangers. I wouldn't wear this to a party even though its very nice but that is a personal choice. Other British women dress more immodestly than me and some dress more modestly than me according to their own standards and definitions and the occasion.

I have been brought up in a culture where women are usually covered from at least colarbone to mid thigh. If I move to somewhere where they dressed more like this then I would still want to stay covered. If the govenment legislated that I had to expose my breasts, which is generally taboo in my culture (but not universally), as by covering them I was being opressed then I would flout that and cover up. The women of Vanuatu etc may think I am a nut but its hard to shake off cultural taboos which are part of your heritage

juule I nearly posted that as well - I think indecent exposure laws should be looked at too. I'm profoundly uncomfortable with the idea of walking round Oxford with lots of naked people around me but really, why not, if they want to? There's nothing intrinsically wrong with nudity, if there is no intent to impose a sexual angle on it. Not sure how you'd prove that really.

I think in Oxford you would get many, many people with extreme facial hair, socks, sandals and perhaps a small tie-dyed fairtrade loincloth. And that's just the women. TBH I am coming roudn to the idea already.

How can anything like wearing all covering clothing really be a choice? Surely every woman that chooses to wear it is doing so out of deliberate or osmosis like coercion.

Cagedbird..... Who said lads mags were okay? And who said all uncovered women should be half naked?

It disgusts me that a girl of ten (that's when I hit puberty) would have to wear a garment to insure her modesty, or rather to protect her from the gaze of lust filled men...horrific in this day and age.

There's no point talking about naked women or western forms of oppression, it doesn't make any difference to oppression of Muslim women.

Posie, how can anyone like wearing high heels? but they do. Fools, IMO but it is THEIR CHOICE albeit constrained by their culture. I wear bras as well, which is also fairly daft. Don't ban high heels or bras, and don't ban flat shoes or bralessness either.

I sometimes wear heels but never for Jesus.

well done Belgium, I hope it's banned here too..and quick.!

There is no place in civilized western society for such outdated dress..

France don't mess about either....this counrty is so damn soft it's pathetic.

I wondered how soon it woud be before your piled in Daftpunk.

you

What's your problem...is it because half of Europe thinks the same way I do...

Do you really think I'm the only person around with my views..?...lol,

I'm the majority in the real world...

Nuttybear, out of interest, how can you be sure it was the lady's veil that caused her to trip and that she doesn't have co-ordination problems or a hidden disability? I've lost count of the times I have tripped up or down a curb due to my 'wobbly legs'.

"lust filled men" who said it's protecting her from men. If you hit puberty at 10, could it not be that a boy in your class also hit puberty? Wasn't it so recently that a 10 year old girl got pregnant (not that I'm blaming uncovered females for this - my point being some girls are sexually active at 10). It isn't about peadophilia as such, it's that puberty is the age when a muslim is supposed to start learning and implementing their relgion.

Posie are you or have you ever been a muslim woman? I know you aren't. Do you work for or with muslim women? If you do what do they say about it. As a muslim woman myself, I don't feel oppressed. I don't wear a burqa, or niqab because I choose not to. I don't even wear a head scarf because I prefer to wear a hat. My husband doesn't oppress me any more than yours or any other man just because of his religion I would guess.

My point about lads mags are many women find them insulting but there has been no legislation about it.

I actually agree with the sunglasses thing, I don't like talking to somebody who's wearing sunglasses because i can't see their eyes. I take mine off when I'm speaking to somebody because I find it rude but to make it against the law .

I do get the hypocrisy of the indecency laws however

Funny isn't it that if we pass laws about something we're a nanny state, and if we don't we're soft? Can't bloomin win. It really isn't very long since women in this country kept their hats on when they went out to lunch, weren't allowed in church with bare heads, and didn't go out without white gloves and stockings. Things change, and the quickest way for things to change is for everybody to be out and about and allowed to choose as much as possible.

Just out of curiosity ,is the burqa cultural or religious ? i work with quite a few muslim women who wear headcarves , so im guessing its not religious .Mind you im not sure it says anywhere in the bible that you should stick a fish symbol on your car or wear a cross ?

People should be allowed to wear what they want without it causing upset to anyone.

You dont know the person behind the veil, so how do you know if she is happy to wear it or not? You cant make sweeping suggestions that everyone who wears a veil MUST be forced to do so.

Also, going back to young children wearing a hijab. I dictate what my children wear. I purchase thier clothes then I pick out the clothes I want them to wear, how is this any different?

Riven - have just sent you a text

i think they have already banned headgear in french schools though havent they ? i remeber watching a documentary about it , they interviewed a algerian muslim who had a daughter at secondary school and asked him what he thought and he said she would still be going to school without a headscarve as he hadnt had an education and wanted her to do well and get a good job .

I agree with the ban tbh. I think it is opressive and extreemely isolating for the person wearing it and the people around. I woud not approach a women in a Burqua like I would anyone else and I find it difficult to have a conversation with someone who has chosen to cover themselves head to toe, it's distancing everyone else.

I do not think in liberal Europe there is a place for it.

I dream of a ban like that here, but alas this country is far too PC and franky, weak.

oh - you have a new one?

damn you woman you never told me

ooops x posts with the text you just sent me

will stop hijacking the thread and resend the text