Humans have evolved to have expressive faces. You can tell a lot about a person's emotional state just by looking at their face.

When a person seeks to have a conversatin with me in which their face is covered, but mine is not, they are putting me at a disadvantage. If we're using the phone then at least we're both in the same position.

Maybe I should start carrying a paper bag with me. If a veiled woman wants to talk to me, I'll put the bag over my head first. That will put us in the same position, and she would hardly be in a position to be offended.

Sylvia.

This article is almost criminal. A religous leader stands up and says rape and adultery are women's fault, and all you can say is 'Of course the comments by the Sheik are impertinent'.

That's it? If your daughter was gang-raped you'd say they were being impertient?

'face veils are so inoffensive they are ignored'.
No Mr. Bagaric they are a symbol of ownership and oppression, and to me equate exactly to the Nazi Yellow Star.

gw
'

Get used to it for christs' sake - Sylvia Else - that goes for the rest of you as well! If you are offended by what others wear the problem resides in you.

There is little more to say on the matter.

Apart from this

Give it a while - maybe a decade - people will then be squealing about something else that offends their pathetic sensibilities - my guess is it might be the Melanesians - but hey! what would I know?

Once we were pissed off at the greeks and Italians for their "weird food", then it was the turn of the asians who were "taking over" and now its the turn of the hapless muslims all because some of their compatriots turned a few westerners into pink mist - this is turning into a pogrom

I doubt that most Muslim women prefer to wear a total face covering, they wear it subject to their males wishes. They are not acting without duress of males or culture.

Western women have personal choice to wear as they please; this is hardly the case among Muslim women. The constant harping by Middle Eastern Muslim Immams and males that Western women are nothing more than a peice of meat put out for maurading animals [males] to eat hardly encourages personal choice in dress. It rather presents Muslim males as sexual perverts acting as maurading animals not able to restrain their sexual appetites.

Comments like this are both insulting to honourable Western women and to sexually restrained responsible Muslim men. Both these sections of our society deserve a public apology. The Immam is an insult to good people and is divisive to good attitudes in society.

Let's cut to the chase here.

The need for Muslims men to order their women to "cover up", is because; for hundreds of years these same men couldn't keep their penises to themselves.... and they'd use force on any woman who wouldn't give in! After any such woman was sexually abused (for her transgressions of the male laws) she would be accused of adultery and then stoned to death in the village centre - because she was using her feminine charms to "entice" men.

Barbaric ? ABSOLUTELY !!

Such are the wonderful foundations of modern Islam. Go figure for yourself.

Debate over the veil should be separated from other issues regarding Islam and the treatment of women. The veil is offensive for reasons which are entirely unrelated to religion and philosophy.

It simply is not acceptable to go with one's face covered in an open society like ours. It is sinister and insulting to those who wish to communicate openly and freely with other members of the community.

No one would tolerate scores of people shopping, dining out, or using public transport with balaclavas on, and the veil should be viewed no differently.