Can wearing the burqa be a free choice?

Yes, but how do we tell?

Can a woman with bruises on her face genuinely have run into a door? Yes she can.

While I agree with the premise that a women should have the right to choose whether she wears the Burqa, given that a woman coerced to wear the burqa is unlikely to state this, a ban gives her the right not to wear the burqa.

Interesting piece. Other than the over simplification of the gender aspects I liked it. Eg some see the full coverings as a statement of male inability to control themsleves rather than disgust at women's bodies.

Society does limit the freedom's of individuals based on others discomfort, try walking nude in a public place and see how well that freedom which does not "harm" others lasts.

It is clear that some of the full covering wearers in our society do so by their own choice. Some of those who do so have been raised as non-muslims and have converted so most of the arguments about culture etc become a big stretch.

If society has the right to impose minimum covering standards then it has the right to impose maximum covering standards. We certainlty have the right to impose some limit's on other activities (in the same way drink drivers don't belong on the road, those deliberately limiting their vision by the wearing of burqa's etc should not be driving motor vehicles).

I'd prefer not to see them banned but make it clear that it's a choice with logical consequences.

R0ber

Well said, Sascha:

Having experienced oppression for yourself, you had to arrive at the right conclusion. Today it's about something which you don't like; consider foolish; or don't particularly care about, but tomorrow it could be about the apple of your eye.

R0bert,

"If society has the right to impose minimum covering standards then it has the right to impose maximum covering standards"

- Indeed! It has neither!

There is a big difference between France and Australia. Our Polly's are gutless wonders in the end. Neither side has anybody of substance let alone someone of Conviction. I'm a lefty but I would rather see little Jonny back then the current lot.

The Burga should be banned full stop

I find it ironic that feminists lie Sascha once demanded that women should burn their bras, yet get all coy and enigmatic about whether women should burn their burkhas.

The only reason why Australia has not joined other European countries in banning the burkha, is because the problem of Muslim extremism in Australia is not as bad yet as in Europe. Burkhas are a symbol of militant Islam, in exactly the same way as the Swastika is to signify German racial superiority. I am sure that Sascha would be horrified by Nazi women walking down the street wearing swastikas armbands, so why is she so fuzzy about where she should stand about a symbol of Islamic cultural superiority?

It beggars the mind to even try to understand how an avowed feminist could in any way defend Islam. It is a religion which not only instructs its male adherents on the benefits of beating their wives, it even gives dimensions for correct rod size to use to beat her. Toss in "honour killings', the forced marriages of young Islamic women, and the fact that Bankstown hospital treats two Muslim girls every month for infections from forced circumcisions, and Sascha should be screaning her head off about Islam.

Everything she believes in as a feminist is diametrically opposed by Islam, yet all we get from Sascha is 1000 words of prevarication and philosophical musings.

The reason why you were sexually assaulted in Iran, Sascha, is because you as a woman do not behave in accordance with the dictates of Islam. This means that for Muslims, you just a "cat meat" slut who deserves to get raped by believers, and when that happens it is all your own fault.

Why you would want people who think like that to inhabit your own country is something which you might explain to kme?

"I am sure that Sascha would be horrified by Nazi women walking down the street wearing swastikas armbands"

And so would I - but that's no reason to make the practice illegal.

Ultimately, everyone is horrified by one thing or another, but if I ban what horrifies me, others may ban other things which may be crucial for my own life and principles.

"Why you would want people who think like that to inhabit your own country is something which you might explain to kme?"

I certainly don't want that, but what has my wants to do with legislation?