Boris Johnson pillar box comment

[stillamum22]

I'm just appalled by his comments on the Burka. In my opinion there's no barrel he won't scrape to get backing from sections of the British population to be leader of the Tory party. Really is Boris reflecting Brits opinions or just a nasty potty mouth racist? I'm curious to get the opinion of the good women of MN

I've heard lots of Muslims make fun of women in burkas.

Goodness you lot need to get on over to the feminist chat board! The whole place is full of nothing but threads about the trans ideology and the medical problems thereof, of which breast binding is one symptom. The male gaze which causes women to want to do these things is on there, and way before the current trans obsession clothing cane up regularly. Yes people do still talk about and protest these things! Unfortunately others get fed up with hearing us go on about it so we get consigned to specially limited places (as you’d know if you’d seen the trans threads or anything else feminist on AIBU)

Clothing came up. Crap typing.

Good old Boris; he 'lets' his wife and sister go out to work. Words fail me!!

The issue is millions of women are compelled to wear the burqa or have been brainwashed / indoctrinated into a culture in which women must submit to the will of males. The burqa symbolises misogyny . There will always be women that choose to believe it is their choice, it is a similar type of thinking that sex work is a free choice as well . Usually those from privileged backgrounds !

Insensitive the remark may well have been but worse than this "girls used and abused by Asian gangs in Rotherham and elsewhere need to shut their mouths for the good of diversity" tweeted by Naz Shah. Hardly a murmur the silence was deafening

Was that genuine?

This chap is talking some sense

"Imam Taj Hargey, from the Oxford Islamic Congregation said the Tory MP has nothing to apologise for and 'did not go far enough' in his remarks.

He branded the burqa a 'hideous tribal ninja-like garment' and said its has 'no Koranic legitimacy'. "

On a realistic note, how many people do you see on a day to day basis in a burqa? Or how many people do you know personally who wear one?

I know of 3 and they are the only 3 Muslim women who wear one from my home town. I’m from a small town in the midlands where we do have a large Pakistani Muslim community.

One lady I went to school with. No one in her family wears a burqa except for her. That’s her choice. Far from impressed.

The other two are elder ladies in their 50s. Again, far from oppressed. One lady is married to an Imam. Their daughters don’t wear them and they are in their 30s.

Omg Carbuncle !** Who is Naz Shah?

An MP - To be accurate it was re-tweeted and "liked" by her.

Gosh, British politics is so toxic now that Michael Hesltine on Newsnight appears to be voice of reason in the midst of all this. Not something I would have imagined when he was the Tory Golden Boy in his heyday.

On a realistic note, how many people do you see on a day to day basis in a burqa?

Well it depends where you live,doesn't it? I don't even need to leave my front door before I see my first one most days on account of several neighbours thus attired. It's a very common sight in these parts and getting commoner. It seems to be contagious and almost exclusively at the younger end of the age spectrum.

If you want to create a 'them and us' mentality this is a pretty effective way of doing it.

ps it's a niqab not a burqa that most wear. Same effect, I'll admit.

I work in a Northrn Town where the Burka is a vey common sight these days. However it wasn't lways like this. When I moved here 25 years go the Burka was.not seen. Women wore the hijab and occasionly the Al-Amira for sure but never the Burka.

What culturally changed for it to become popular
. From what I am seeing and understanding it pears to be more popular with women under 40. A lot of older women wear the headscarf.

Personally I do not like the disparity in dress between the men and women. I see men in my area in combat style shorts, Adidas slides and Nike t shirts while their wives are behind them in their regular clothes + the Burka on red hot summers day. It is not religious. I don't want to say I feel sorry for them because I accept it can be a choice but I am not entirely okith it. People my argue that it is nothing to do with me no tht may be true but I do find it hard to communicate with some one when I come into contact, which I do through my job.

I think it is hugely wrong for a Public figure, or indeed anyone to insult the women though.

On a realistic note, how many people do you see on a day to day basis in a burqa?
Seriously, probably 100s.
Walks through a neighbourhood on my way to work, go to the Mall at lunchtime, outside school, waiting for the kids to come from Mosque and so on.

Thirty five years ago I saw zero hijabi in the Pakistani Muslim community I lived alongside and spotted the first (l think it was blue mesh fronted but that could be some after the event memory swap as would that have appeared in West Yorkshire then?) burqa and a couple of niqabs, in 1989. Definitely niche at that point but frequency of all religiously inspired head covering has changed massively.

It's a social / religious phenomenon.

I'm also from a small northern town, and there are a lot of young women wandering around in niqabs. Every time I go into the centre I see them. Not burkas so often, although I did see one not long ago. I don't know the individuals personally.

If they are trying to make some kind of protest about the all-consuming importance of appearance in Britain and the over-sexualisation everywhere I agree entirely with them, as would most feminists, but this is absolutely the worst possible way of doing it!

Sorry about the terrible typos on my last two posts. I typed late last night and didn't have my glasses on. Never wise!

Boris claims he is provoking a debate. I’m fine with that except his letterbox comment is just a schoolboy insult that is designed to offend. You might as well say Nuns look like penguins or Jews look ridiculous with those jam pot lids on their heads. That’s not an intelligent debate.
How can anyone defend it?

Did a debate NEED to be provoked? Was he really the right person to provoke the debate?

With all the real problems UK has, let's just go for something socially divisive that hinges on aspects of personal freedom coz it's so important to talk about right now... NOT. BJ is a prat.

I live in Norfolk & can go many months without seeing anyone in burka in the flesh.

Just realised I was confused about terms! Here's a handy guide for niqab burka etc.

I see Hijab plenty (very international workplace, including a Saudi colleague), but not the others.

Wonder if the same people calling for Boris to be sanctioned would be as vocal when nuns are compared to penguins.
Seems that it’s ok to mock certain religions/ cultures and not others .

I thought nuns themselves thought the penguin comparison was funny (shrug). Some religions can handle a bit of self-deprecation. Others, not so much.

Nuns couldn't care less. If your religion is strong you stand up to all mocking. If it is weak and built on stony ground then you get yourself in a state over it. I was out today in London. I saw at least 3 people (presumably women but they might have been trans or male or people on the way to a fancy dress party ) totally covered other than eyes. Saw just one totally covered. It was never like this in the UK in any of the muslim areas. This total covering is a bad new trend that is not even necessary Islma. It is like a lot of the worst of the Saudi brand,

Well done to the Canadians in not kow towing to Saudi oil money and standing up for human rights.

Agree with you Xenia