Hi Big Nanna

I agree with your thoughts.

However, I ask a question to all posters - how do you think the Sheriff Officers feel when confronted with a person wearing the burqa seeking to gain access to the Court system across the Nation?

I haven't heard any media seeking to hear of their concerns.

The Burqa has been established as "not" a religious garment, and in times of "terrorism alerts" - I believe we ALL should be able to walk about anywhere, whilst as the same time - show our face!

When Kimberle Crenshaw penned the term “Intersectionality” in 1989 it allowed feminists to umbrella a whole range of new groups of people who believed themselves to be discriminated against. If a person believed that they were discriminated against then they intersected with feminism and therefore granted victim status. Wearers of the burka fit into at least 4 feminist victim groups – women, muslim, the peculiar notion of race and minority in the population.

This is far too dangerous a topic for feminists to discuss.

A face covering is a face covering whatever the reason for its existence. If one kind of face covering is banned then all types should be. No exception should be made for religion.

If Muslim women want to be subordinate to men then they have a right to. That is the freedom we guarantee in this country. Whatever we might think about such subordination it is outweighed by the right to freedom that such women should have.

we should also ban those left wing cowards Antifa who cover their face, commit acts of violence and destruction and then claim victim status. I suspect a lot of getup clowns belong to these thugs. Strangley enough they have the hide to call others nazis.

//I cannot think of any (legal) custom, that is more confronting to Australians or more overtly signifies rejection of our values, than the practice of women having their faces secreted by a burka or niqab.//

Really? I can think of lots.

What about neo-nazism? Surely burqas are better than neo-nazis?

//Puzzlingly, the women's movement seems entirely absent from the debate.//

Yeah, funny that. For some reason it's always old men telling young women what they ought to wear. It wasn't so long ago that I can recall reading opinion pieces from old men railing against the loose moral standards of scantily clad women revealing their midriffs and exhorting them to cover up. Now they're telling them to take it off... you can leave your hijab on ;)

Trigger Warning: the following music video is not suitable for people with strong feminist sensibilities.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOotsq4soug

Maybe 'the women's movement' - whatever that is - is reluctant to stick its oar in because it believes in the Golden Rule (treat others as you would like to be treated), and it thinks it is big enough to dress itself without anybody else's help.

//The burka and niqab truly are medieval garments//

As a former medieval re-enactor, I dispute that claim. I was a younger man at the time, and I have distinct recollection of ample bosoms in low cut bodices :)

//and is widely perceived as a signal that the wearer seeks minimal interaction with those outside her family.//

Yeah, I think mind-reading is probably something best left to the experts, like Derren Brown.

//it must also be pointed out that failing to implement such a ban also affects the freedoms of those Islamic women that don't want to wear a burka or niqab.//

Nope, if they don't want to wear a burqa they don't have to. There is no authority that can force them to: this is Australia, not Saudi Arabia.

//Australia should also take a stand and ban the wearing of face covering garments in public places.//

The Government telling us how to dress? Sounds like the definition of a Nanny State.

Moslem men that favour the burka probably lost out in the arranged marriage raffle.