"But if wearing one is the only way that a woman can get out of the house and experience the outside world, then leave it alone:"
Dear Loudmouth
I was at the Kelvin Grove shopping centre in Brisbane last Saturday. There were two young/old women unaccompanied wearing the niqab doing their shopping.
They were experiencing the outside world? I would have thought more experience watching the telly.

I have seen the burqa worn twice by the same women in my regional town.

When I looked at the women in question as it drew my attention of course, head scarfs are regularly worn by Muslim women and students in our town, and I find no problem with them.

But the eyes of those women looked apprehensive and I'm a woman too. I diverted my eyes from them immediately to not cause offense.

One wore black down to her ankles, the other a more fashionable head
gear with only the eyes visible. Very pretty eyes too.

As a liberal feminist, I found myself being slightly irritated I am afraid. And I felt sorry for the women as I didn't know how to interpret that apprehensive look. Some may feel it was a defensive look too? And possibly it was drawing attention they were not used too, and embarrassed by it?

And I think the burqa promotes and encourages isolation of the wearer from the Australian cultural convention or discourages uninvited contact.

Remember, Australians look for eye contact and facial expressions as an important part of human interactions and communications. If this is the case,women are being stopped from communicating with others but a selected few. This to me is an inhibiting social convention I do not approve.

Maybe that is what they wish? I noticed the husbands or male family members of these women were doing the shopping and paying the checkout girls and men. And the husbands were wheeling out the trollys with the women walking behind them, but the male children of one were walking beside their father. And a young infant girl sitting in the trolly.

But would banning the burqa, condemn these women to further isolation
from Australian society.

Thanks Blairbar,

Yes, I seriously think that by getting out, no matter how they might be dressed, women see some of the real-life interactions between men and women, real people, not just the stuff on TV. My hope is that they may come to see that men and women can freely interact without necessarily any dreadful consequences, and that this might be more persuasive on very hot days.
Are we moving from birqas to nikabs now ?

Bush bunny !
Engage them ! Don't worry about bullsh[t about not looking people in the eye - if you do it in a friendly way, you will get a friendly response (at least in my experience, but being a handsome guy, I suppose I should expect that sort of thing). A lot of that apprehension may be precisely their worry that you won't want to acknowledge their existence, a power thing. Try it: be friendly and you'll be pleasantly surprised. Somebody wisely wrote, "Remember, Australians look for eye contact and facial expressions as an important part of human interactions and communications." Exactly ! Doesn't everybody ?
Frankly, I think that change will come much more quickly than we realise. But only if women can get out and experience the realities of the world.

Joe Lane
rmg1859@yahoo.com.au

'The truth shall set you free, but sometimes it can be a real b...'

Loudmouth: If you (as a handsome guy etc) walked up and communicated
with these women wearing burqa, with the male partners nearby, you were transgressing their conventions at your peril. LOL.

I think you are bullshhhing mate. Or being very very Australian male of the type I rather like but just that cheeky approach could embarrass
a woman and spark off an International incident. LOL.

Next thing you might advise is lifting the veil to see what is underneath.

Tell me Loudmouth, would you go up to a strange woman not wearing a burqa and 'engage her' however friendly? If you did that to me (being a shapely, considered pretty female who doesn't wear a wedding ring) I would interpret it as a openly, yet cheeky, come on or a pass.
And depending on my mood, and the circumstances or venue (a dark alley
with no one around I'd be very worried, like most women)

Unless I knew you of course. Or you were trying to sell me something, or collecting for charity. I would be rightly suspicious of a stranger however, appealing to look at, who approached me or picked me out of a crowd especially if my clothing could become a
talking point? LOL

Women have been told from early age, beware of the stranger who offers
you sweets, etc.

Bush Bunny,

Well, of course, interaction has to be done sensibly - if I lived in a small town, and saw those couples often, of course I would say 'g'day' to the guy directly at first, and later to them both more generally. And of course I would back off if (most unlikely) I got a frosty response. But there are a lot of possibilities in between a polite 'hello' and hitting on someone.

I worked in the local Sunday market for some years (25,000-35,000 customers some weeks) so I saw the same couples often - one of them at first, as you point out, the woman walking behind the guy, then a bit closer, then alongside him, and after a couple of years, on her own. I saw them through two, maybe three, pregnancies. Beautiful woman too, the long gown didn't do much to conceal that. She'd give me a wave and that was it, friendly and just person-to-person, human-to-human interaction, nothing more than that. Other woman were also very friendly and relaxed, but of course no touching - 'haram!' That's okay, clear boundaries make good friends. Many of them got into long conversations with us, all above-board. I guess it's a matter of building up trust, which is easier if you treat people as if they were people, no matter how they are dressed. I saw plenty of Greek and Yugoslav and Russian women too with head-scarves. I just don't know why it bothers other people - a fear of difference, I suppose.

So you're not married, Bush Bunny ? Whereabouts do you live and what do you do on these cold Friday nights ? I might want to sell you something ;)

Joe
Adelaide