It’s not a free choice
How dare she.
Women and girls are whipped, beaten up, imprisoned, killed for not wearing that loathsome snuffer. What is the purpose of it? To keep men from getting erections because a woman has hair on her head. How about forcing men to wear iron underpants instead of forcing women to wrap blankets around their heads?
‘Celebrate’ the hijab? No, I don’t think I will. I get that many Muslim women end up being isolated (and thus more vulnerable to abuse) if they are discriminated against because they would rather wear a head-scarf than risk being burned with acid. So I don’t advocate French-style bans, even though I believe the world would be better off without this religious practice, much as I do most others.
But no, I will not ‘celebrate’ it.
To be fair, Freemage, my personal religious belief is that I shouldn’t be burned with acid.
I understand that point of view, but I think laicite is one thing les Gaulois get right. You can unban that sort of thing when it is an element of fashion rather than a control and deliberate mark of otherness
Blood Knight in Sour Armor: My biggest concern there is that Muslim women in areas where the hijab is banned will end up being forced to stay at home entirely, or only allowed out with a male relative–essentially, furthering their isolation and vulnerability. Honestly, the parallel I’d draw is to the sex trade–it takes some degree of nuance to work towards ending prostitution and sex trafficking, and not harming the actual prostituted women in the process. I admit, I’m not sure what a “Nordic Model” for the hijab would be, but I fear for the women who live in areas where the ban exists.
Not really. France is full of women showing their independence by wearing veils. (Full hijabs are not common, but anyway, if they’re banned one would never guess it.)
A few years ago we met the former Spanish ambassador to Tunisia. He said he didn’t understand the timidity of the Spanish and French authorities in enforcing a ban in public places, whereas in Tunisia they took the ban seriously. (That was about ten years ago, and I have the impression that Tunisia has been moving in the wrong direction since then.)
Athel Cornish-Bowden @5:
I admit, I don’t know the current status of the bans in France, either in written laws or in practical enforcement. I do remember the stated goal of those bans when they were first being discussed, though, and it was very clearly a case of ‘helping women without asking them what would help them’.
I don’t think that’s a fair way to put it. There’s a built-in tension: bans will make life difficult for some women, but that fact doesn’t remove all the harms done by the obsession with concealing women. Women who fight hijab laws are not failing to ask women what would help them.
Ophelia@7:
Oh, I agree with you that there are harms in the idea and practice of the hijab. All I’m saying is that I’m not sure that legal bans on wearing one (which are generally only proposed in areas where there is no law, only social pressure–albeit often extremely coercive pressure–to wear one in the first place) are the way to go to try to end the practice. That’s why I referenced ‘prostitution’ in my other post–it’s a practice I would dearly like to see eradicated, but prohibition seems to be no better than legalization in terms of actually helping the women being prostituted. A more nuanced solution would, I think, be better–an aggressive social services campaign, particularly in immigrant communities with language-trained social workers who can assist Muslim women who needs aid ending their subjugation seems like a better (albeit more expensive) way to go.