INTOLERANCE
I am not in favour of banning the burqa or the veil, to start banning items of dress, no matter how bizarre, is part of a slippery slope, where would it all end? We legislate far too much in the area of free expression already. Burning poppies on remembrance Sunday may be offensive, certainly as offensive to some as burning the Koran, but I disapprove of convicting people of a criminal offence for doing so, both actions would rightly be protected by the 1st Amendment in the US.
This said I would require restrictions on a person’s right to remain hooded. Obviously in airports, banks and in all areas respecting security there should be a requirement to show your face. I would also make a similar requirement respecting school premises, including school playgrounds; children should not be subjected to the spectre of hooded adults wondering about the place. A mere polite notice would suffice:-
Persons entering school premises are requested to uncover their face at all times. Failure to abide by this requirement will result in your being asked to leave. Thank you for your cooperation.
This acceptance of the right to walk around hooded should not imply approval or respect; indeed I would openly encourage disapproval. The ground between a person’s right to wear or believe what they will and respect for these beliefs and attitudes I have already trodden too well already, the one does not imply the other. Indeed the desire to spend your public life hooded is a subject for ridicule, it is bizarre.
Now in all of this I have treated with the reality that for the majority of Muslim women the Veil and the Burqa represents a clear and conscious choice, an exercise in personal freedom,* a mix of religious and political statement, ironically often intended to be ‘in your face.’ However there is a minority for whom an element of coercion is involved, from husbands, brothers, or family. And it now that we enter less innocent territory, moreover the more these dress codes become accepted within the Muslim subculture the harder it becomes for other Muslim women to choose a more contemporary western style of dress. Indeed in some parts of London young Muslim and even non Muslim women have been harassed on the street by young Muslim men and called whores for sometimes no more than the ‘offence’ of having their hair uncovered. On the more extreme end of the spectrum it has led young women who do not fit the veil clad stereotype as being seen as easy prey for sexual exploitation and violence.
So I would defend the right to walk about hooded, but for the ideology underpinning this statement I reserve the right of ridicule and indeed fierce intolerance.
This said I would require restrictions on a person’s right to remain hooded. Obviously in airports, banks and in all areas respecting security there should be a requirement to show your face. I would also make a similar requirement respecting school premises, including school playgrounds; children should not be subjected to the spectre of hooded adults wondering about the place. A mere polite notice would suffice:-
Persons entering school premises are requested to uncover their face at all times. Failure to abide by this requirement will result in your being asked to leave. Thank you for your cooperation.
This acceptance of the right to walk around hooded should not imply approval or respect; indeed I would openly encourage disapproval. The ground between a person’s right to wear or believe what they will and respect for these beliefs and attitudes I have already trodden too well already, the one does not imply the other. Indeed the desire to spend your public life hooded is a subject for ridicule, it is bizarre.
Now in all of this I have treated with the reality that for the majority of Muslim women the Veil and the Burqa represents a clear and conscious choice, an exercise in personal freedom,* a mix of religious and political statement, ironically often intended to be ‘in your face.’ However there is a minority for whom an element of coercion is involved, from husbands, brothers, or family. And it now that we enter less innocent territory, moreover the more these dress codes become accepted within the Muslim subculture the harder it becomes for other Muslim women to choose a more contemporary western style of dress. Indeed in some parts of London young Muslim and even non Muslim women have been harassed on the street by young Muslim men and called whores for sometimes no more than the ‘offence’ of having their hair uncovered. On the more extreme end of the spectrum it has led young women who do not fit the veil clad stereotype as being seen as easy prey for sexual exploitation and violence.
So I would defend the right to walk about hooded, but for the ideology underpinning this statement I reserve the right of ridicule and indeed fierce intolerance.
* Such a choice of course is denied to women in great swathes of the Muslim world. I do not see these women demonstrating in favour of women being allowed to adopt ‘western’ norms of dress in say Saudi Arabia Morocco
