POSTED RESPONSES TO A COLUMN IN TORONTO'S GLOBE AND MAIL
"That piece of fabric, however, negates years and years of fighting for rights and equality for women..."
I'm sorry, but that is complete nonsense.
The writer, and others here, has no basis for judging why a woman wears the veil.
For all this writer knows, the woman behind the veil is a tigress. Indeed, I have heard one interview with a conservative Muslim woman who struck me as a very forceful person.
A few decades back, in films, the niqab was viewed by our public as alluring and fascinating. There are many scenes exhibiting these aspects in old films and serials, scenes made to appeal to our sensibilities.
Now, it has completely turned around with people attributing the most outlandish motives. It’s just the backwash from America’s insane war on terror, fed by Bush’s lame stuff about women when what he was about was killing.
The picture the Globe uses to accompany this article, perhaps a staged shot, shows that quality in spades. The eyes – the face’s greatest communicator of emotion and intelligence – are brought into focus. It is a beautiful image.
These women were admitted as immigrants to Canada with their niqab. What right do we have to say high-handedly, after they have moved their lives here, they must do away with it? None.
This is the attitude of the intolerant and those who do not understand what they are talking about, using flimsy excuses like women’s rights. A woman’s rights include wearing what she wishes, does it not?
The reasons for this garment are complex - social, historical, and not just religious, but for devout wearers religion is very important, more so than its secular critics can understand.
At any rate, the number of Muslim woman who wear the niqab is miniscule. I've never seen one on the street, although the hijab (a handsome babushka) is common. So why this inordinate outrage over it?
Almost all immigrants eventually give up their native dress. It is up to them to decide on that, not shrill accusers in a newspaper column.
Those shrill demands are the way Americans behave. It’s one of their most unpleasant qualities. Live and let live so long as people are not being hurt – that’s the Canadian way, or at least I thought it was.
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"Imagine what even this newspaper would look like if all the pictures of women had their faces all covered up."
Sorry, but we get unthinking comment after unthinking comment.
A tiny minority of humanity wears the niqab, and a tiny fraction of them is in Canada.
You could also say, by that kind of "logic," what if the newspaper were full of people wearing the gear of Watusi tribes people?
Please, some tolerance and intelligence are needed here.
Ridiculous.
