really interesting discussion..
I certainly don't agree with the French ban on headscarves in schools, because what is better, to have little Muslim girls in scarves studying alongside everyone else, or to force them out of the mainstream system.
However, I do think that the whole issue of covering up women's bodies is rooted in culture as much as religion, it seems a bit suspect to me that it's all about the woman exciting lust of the man and designed from a man's perspective, (like all major religions), and the problem is that it is not up to the individual: girls are pressured by their families to wear the hijab, and in those countries where Islamic law prevails, women don't have the choice.. so it is not God telling them to wear the scarf, it is the state and the police! That is where it becomes a problem for me.. when religious law is made into the law of the land for everyone. (stoning, wife-beating etc justified). It's not just Islam: any religion, Christianity, Judaism or whatever would be scary if enshrined (as it used to be) in daily law. That's why, thank God, we have secular laws and the respect of human rights as being the highest good (or at least that's the way it's supposed to work).
So the essence is, when I see a woman in a headscarf, I think 'you are probably a Muslim, either convert or by upbringing, and I respect your choice to cover up, but I hope you cover up because you want to, not because you were coerced into it as a 7 year old or you just did because everyone else in your family did'.
Though it's no different from the sort of judgement I'd make (secretly to myself) if I saw a little girl dressed in very tarty clothes. I would also make a judgement and think 'Have her parents dressed her like that? Haven't they thought what's best for her?'
it's an endless and very interesting discussion anyway...!