Banning the Burqa!

The burqa is not addressed in the Islamic holy texts as such, however it states that both women and men should dress modestly. Coming from Arabic countries, where it is extremely hot, that is what most Muslims have taken it to mean after all these centuries. I don't think it should be banned. Orthodox Jews also cover up pretty much every part of their body, except for their face. They wear wigs to cover up their hair when they aren't in the presence of family or just women. Sure, this may be a lot harder to stop, and they don't stand out as much in public, but I think that this is all pretty much the same thing.

Also, I believe in freedom of clothing. I mean, I understand how for a lot of women it symbolises oppression, but by banning the burqa, do you think it's going to stop? I think the oppression will just get worse, with Muslim leaders banning the women from going out in public. I don't think the law will make any difference to the oppression of women, and therefore I think that it is pointless, and an invasion of people's rights.

 

Basically, this.
Wear whetever you want, but don't force or ban it by law.

Personally, I think that the hijab is beautiful and a religious article, but the burqa is often an article of nothing but power (and often, the niqab is the same).



Note: The differences between each:

 

I voice my opinion, at the risk of offending everyone (as is usually the case voicing an opinion on anything related to religion). It is after all a very complicated issue and one that can't be resolved in a simple forum post.

I'm not a fan of the burqa, for some of the subservience stuff that it entails. Also as a reason on my list of reasons I dislike organized religion. I have no problem with religious headdress, but I have a problem with covering your face.

Lychee mentions the texts state both women and men should dress modestly. And mentions how Orthodox Jews, both women and men dress modestly. I don't see guys walking around with burqas on. Where's the equity?

Next to address freedom of religious expression type stuff. First I believe in freedom of religious expression, if it doesn't impede cultural norms / rights / security of others. People (in Western countries) don't normally go around with their faces covered. It's against our cultural norms. And by doing it you're going to isolate yourself. There is also security concerns. I can get on the bus wearing a hat no problem, but if I'm wearing a mask, it will undoubtedly be met with issue.

Look in some Islamic countries where burqas are found. In some countries it is required for women to wear them (or other restrictive forms of clothing). Why can't we require them to not be worn? And require that your face be visible.

 

Well, how about a law that bans going out in public with something that hides your face? It solves the burqa problem, the hoodie (however you spell it) problem, and random bad guys with ski masks problem.

 

Wow I hope you dont agree with the first video because he is an ignorant bigot. I thought he was starting with some good points, but when he started on the insulting bearded muslims line....I stopped listening. The burka is a symbol of female oppression in the middle east and I dont understand why any woman in the west would choose to wear one. However I dont think it should be banned. In the west we are fortunate to live in a democratic society with freedom of speech. If a woman chooses to wear a burka then that is her decision, what right do we have to stop people for expressing themselves. If we ban the burka...then what next...kids cant dress up as spiderman...where do we draw the line. There is an immense amount of anti-islamic sentiment since the terrorist attacks in 2001, and the French are stereotypically infamous for being rather xenophobic. Sarkosi is playing on their sentiments...its a political tool.

 

The Qur'an verse about "covering what is apparent" was aimed at Mohammed's wives anyway.

Ultimately, the issue of whether women should wear coverings is a human rights issue where it is law that they should have to wear them.
By taking away the right to wear the Burqua in response to women's rights, he is taking away human rights from certain people. This is hypocritical to the point he is trying to make.

Do I agree with the Burqua? Not at all. Do I think it should be banned? Definitely not.

Just my opinion.

Edit : Just to add, the verses in the Qur'an about women and coving are entirely ambiguous and interpreted in different ways by different Muslims. It is not made a big issue in the Qur'an and above all Mohammed came in a time of severe sexism and was (for his day and age - obviously not in modern terms) a feminist. I think modern Islam should (and is beginning to) contextualise the teachings.

 

^ what sexy benji said

 

What sort of 'free' country bans clothing. Whatever their reasoning, don't ban the burqa. I know it is used to disempower [is that a word?] woman, but the shitstorm banning it would create, coupled with the sheer ridiculousness of banning an item of clothing... don't ban it.

 

Banning the burqa is only clipping the hairs of the problem. What we should be doing, instead, is getting rid of the problem that this superfluous garment represents, the root of it. And the only way that can be done is if we convince the women in these Islamic nations (who don't want to wear the burqa or live under this oppression) to rise against it THEMSELVES and thus making the women over there empowered. We'll only be pushing water around at this rate.

This ban is only provoking unneeded aggression from Islamic leaders and some of the women as well (because they have been sucked into these laws for most of their life). We should be empowering women not to fall into these pits, not masking it with leaves and muddy dirt. Whether you ban the burqa or not, women will still be stuck in it.

 

I think it is very difficult for anyone who lives in a western country to even comprehend what those women are going through. I think that your idea is fine in theory, but middle eastern countries are very different. When women wanted the vote in the west they werent at risk of being killed for their outcries. The suffrogettes were fighting for freedom, but their husband werent going to kill them for embarrasing them. In places like afganistan, its a completely different world and those women would need to potentially give up their lives for their cause. How can we convince them to rise above when we dont understand their lives. Reading "A thousand splendid suns" really shocked me in some ways and made me cry about the predicament of women in the country. What will change that is if a MAN stands up and fights for women's rights.

 

Cultural attitudes are an important thing here, for both sides of the argument.

On the one hand, women might well be under immense social pressure to wear the Burqa. Family, culture and society shape what a woman may or may not be able to do. So to what extent does a woman have the "choice" to wear one or not? Sure, she might be able to wear one without any physical rammifications, but the social ones might still happen; and these are unenforceable. Isolation, ostrasization. All these are just as dire than any of the other possible reactions. So do women really have such a free choice? Perhaps not.

On the other hand, cultural aspects go both ways. For some Islamic women, westernized dress is seen as quite degrading to women. Looked at rationally, they have a point. Is a really short skirt and a tube top a matter of choice, or is it something that sexualises women and objectifies them? Certainly, neither is completely true, but both are valid.

Essentially, the problem of dress and image and culture won't really be solved, until we're all wearing the same neutral and functional sacks.

Either that, or wearing nothing at all.

 

:roflmao:I like the sounds of that!

 

banning them is wrong. requiring woman to wear them is wrong. but wearing them by personal choice isnt.

all I know about the issue is from studying islam as part of a series of religion classes, is that the burka was a garment worn to show that a person is modest, and that they are not concerned about how they appear to others. it is something that is abused in some countries, but just because it is abused in some countries doesnt mean it is wrong when it comes to a choice.

We had students who wore them even at my last college. they wore them as a expression that they were pledging to live a life of modesty, away from the vanity that society expects of them.

they had a point; we live in a incredibly vain culture.

if they choose to wear it, to express something they believe in, i say let them.

should we ban aprons, rubber kitchen gloves, high heels, makeup, bras, and the like, as all of these are considered by many to be symbols of female oppression?

 

But you are deciding for person if they can choose to wear a burqa. Like I said, I went to a college that had female students who choose to wore it. I have met some of their parents, and their parents arent opressive, nor do they choose to wear it. in western countries, it is a matter of choice. woman arent being killed because they dont wear it, but some women do choose to wear it by their own choice.

banning it takes away that freedom of choice.

It is a article of clothing. you merely attach a negative meaning to it, when people who wear them by choice dont.

thats like saying we need to ban wearing the color blue because it promotes depressions or something silly like that.

just because we use the expression that someone is "blue" to refer to them being in a depressed mood doesnt mean someone who chooses to wear the color blue is depressed.

so by extension just because a woman chooses to wear a burqa doesnt mean they are forced to (hence the word choice), or being opressed.

my friends in college who wore them werent even in a relationship. they werent forced to wear it by their liberal islamic parents, they choose to.