Burka prohibition

[noracharles]

It's horrible that it even got that far in the Spanish parliament, but I'm glad that respect for women narrowly edged out the islamophobia, and wearing the burka was not prohibited by law in Spain.

If you think islamist men are forcing their female family members to wear the burka, and that that is wrong - how can you defend the state mandating how women can dress?

I'm not a fan of any sort of socially mandated "modest clothing" or religiously symbolic gender-specific clothing. But you know, Spain: You have an awful lot of nuns wearing restrictive habits to be starting with the Muslim women. Just saying.

Comments

[kaz]

Go Spain!

Add in the fact that there is the distinct possibility (probability?) that those women being oppressed and forced to wear the burka will end up not allowed to leave the house. Yeah, *that's* sure to help them.

[noracharles]

I know right? How can anyone think punishing the victims is a good way to stop injustice, and why must we assume that women wearing the burka are victims in the first place?

The only way to go is to fight islamophobia and give Muslim women access to information and resources appropriate to their circumstances, because then they'll have free choice. Putting people between a rock and a hard place isn't a good idea.

[kaz]

Exactly! And give them the tools to integrate into society and support and help them access the same resources wrt getting out of abusive relationships and women's shelters and so that the native women use. It's, the fact that this is a perpetual problem means that you have to do *more* to integrate people, not less.

[noracharles]

Amen.