Man Of Straw

[poliphilo]

So here's Jack Straw- our weaselly former Home Secretary and Condi-groupie- doing his bit for community relations by saying Muslim women need to ditch the veil.

There's an intelligent debate to be had about this issue, but I don't want it initiated by someone indirectly responsible for killing Muslims in Afghanistan and Iraq.

And how come it's always the women who get in the neck? Why doesn't Straw have a go at beards or turbans?

What's this fithy war of civilisations really about? It's about two sets of blokes fighting over who gets to control  the women.

Comments

[qatsi.livejournal.com]

I'm not necessarily agreeing with Straw, but to provide some counter-argument and attempt an answer at your points:

1. When *we* Westerners go abroad, we are told to 'respect' local customs in terms of 'covering up' etc. In our culture, though there is a wide range of head-wear, generally we don't cover our faces, male or female.
2. Facial hair is no longer a discriminator in terms of race or religion (in the Cambridge Latin Course, one can always tell the barbarian Britons from the clean-shaven Romans in this way).
3. The turban doesn't cover the face.

One might say that if the women need to cover up to prevent temptation in the men, that is at least as much a problem of the men's self-control.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Like I said, I think there's a debate to be had...

But the people who should be having it are the women and men of the Islamic community.