Free to Wear?

"How dare you! Oh, if only YOU and all other men were compelled to wear this thing!"

But neither men nor women in America ARE compelled to wear "this thing" by law.

Nor can an adult woman be legally compelled, in America, to wear anything she doesn't want to, as long as she adheres to some basic standards of, y'know, actually being kinda clothed.

Now if she is being compelled by physical or verbal force to wear a burka when she does not wish to, that is called "abuse", and it is not legal in America. By all means, let us ensure that she has legal aid and basic support to protect her life and her freedom from such abuse.

But having the government step in and ban the burka completely does not change the culture or religious beliefs that motivate burka-wearing, it only convinces people holding those beliefs that the government is hostile to them. What if the government forbade married Orthodox Jewish women to shave their heads, or forced fundamentalist Christian women to wear pants? Would that alter the dynamics of male dominance in those two religions, or just make adherents fiercely angry at the government and all the more likely to cling to old traditions?

(Orthodox Judaism being a good example here of how religious change is affected by a freer environment - in Europe and the Middle East, where Jews were persecuted for being, acting and dressing as Jews, they clung to Jewish tradition fiercely in order to maintain their identity against an outside enemy. In America, where Judaism has the same rights and freedoms as any other faith, and where Jewish men and women may choose freely how to worship, often they leave behind many Jewish traditions, finding them oppressive or even just inconvenient, to the point where many Orthodox fear for the future of American Judaism due to over-assimilation. Their children, on the other hand, often come back to old traditions, sometimes re-interpreting them in novel and liberating ways. It's all a natural cultural process, in which government intervenes at its peril.)

Some women actually do make the free choice to wear the burka - in America, it IS a choice. I don't see how taking that choice away from them makes them more free - it just pits the government telling them what to wear against their family telling them what to wear. In America, it is an adult woman's responsibility, no one else's, to decide what she wears, and neither her family nor her government should have the legal right to dictate her clothing to her (again, beyond government imposing laws requiring SOME minimal covering in public places).

How dare you! Oh, if only YOU and all other men were compelled to wear this thing! Then, I'm sure it would be banned as cruel and inhuman...what's lawful and reasonable for one would seem entirely different if others were compelled to live with the consequences also...
What a big man from your protected ivory tower! Why not start wearing your own burka today in solidarity? Go ahead, we're waiting...

Obama said in Cairo, "It is important for Western countries to avoid impeding Muslim citizens from practicing religion as they see fit, for instance, by dictating what clothes a Muslim woman should wear."

I say, "It is important for Eastern countries to avoid impeding Chrsitians citizens from practicing religion as they see fit,for instance, by dictating what clothes a Christian woman should wear."

"can't see how a garment that promotes modesty is so debasing if one is choosing to wear it. It is more debasing to me to take away their right to do so."

And, hey, speaking of 'totalitarianism,' how about Catholic school? I can understand, in that context, wanting skirts to be *long* enough, but what's with the demanding bare knees? :)

I think in America, the problem is more one of certain authoritarian religion turning public schools into turf wars for religious fanatics ...apparently the only thing religious conservatives concerned about 'modesty' seem willing to spend time or attention on, while they wonder who else to blame for declining educational standards.