Rayann, one thing you and your fellow train passengers share in common is your ignorance of Islam. To say that Islam was once viewed as a religion of peace means you haven’t read the blood-stained pages of your Qur’an lately. And don’t be disappointed at people whose views about the wearing of the hijab remain set in concrete because your views about the wearing of the hijab are likewise set in concrete.

It’s time your group stepped out of the shadows and became a stentorian group. You need to conduct a speaking tour of muslim enclaves in Australia. You should address male muslims and tell them that just as your group thinks its OK to wear the hijab, it’s also OK for women to find no attraction to wearing the hijab.

You’ll need a very generous slice of good luck because the male-dominated religion of Islam doesn’t share the rostrum with its female members

"Western feminists are cultural imperialists and would use multiculturalism as the trojan horse for their own brand of conformity and tyranny against those who are seen to quibble with them."

Come on now cornflower. I'm a "western feminist" and I have no dreams of cultural imperialism. I'm not a cultural relativist though if that's what you mean. I don't think culture is ever an excuse to oppress and enforce tyrrany, whether it's in "Islamic" countries or on Australian soil with people preaching that women shouldn't wear the hijab because it's going against "our" values.

I also don't think less of any woman who chooses to be a stay-at-home mum.

Then we've reached a connundrum. Either your stereotypes are wrong, or I'm an exception. I would go for the first one. Bashing feminists as a coherent group has the same problems as bashing muslims as a coherent group.

The real issue is,I believe not about dress but about personal freedom. In Islam a woman can be forced to wear particular clothing and this brings the religion into serious conflict with the values of the west. A conflict where it is hard to see a middle ground as the Islamists believe the directive is the very word of God.

I have no real problems with the hijab- while I don't think that women need to cover their hair to be 'modest', I do respect the choices of those who wear it due to their religious convictions, much in the same way I don't see the point of the Jewish skullcap but I have no problem with someone wearing it.

However, I do find the burqa and any other form of Islamic dress where everything but the eyes are covered as troubling and confronting. My workplace receives a lot of overseas tourists, and lately I have noticed an increase in women wearing such clothing. As much as I try not to let it bother me, it does in a way because whilst the person may be standing right in front of you, it is like they are not really there and I find it impossible to interact with them.

Cornflower, enough with the feminist-bashing already. I am a feminist, and I want flexibility and choice- to marry whom I want, when I want, to have as many children as I want, to use contraception if I wish, to have a satisfying and fulfilling career if I wish. But you can’t have flexibility and choice if your only option in life is to marry and have children (not that I think those are the only options open to young Muslim women in this country). Nor do I hate all men. When are you going to stop using inaccurate generalisations and start engaging in real debate?

Excellent to hear from a Muslim woman...thank you! And: for me, there is a vast difference between a headscarf and the Ned Kelly look, where all you can see is eyes, and those barely. Scarf....fine; Ned Kelly helmet...wierd, disconcerting, don't like.

Not rational, of course, but visceral nevertheless.

Would love to hear Rayeed's commentary on this distinction.

"...why would anyone bother..."

Another valuable contribution from Citizen Leigh, who must have been champing at the bit for his first curmudgeonly spray of the week.

On topic: nice, insightful article that provides an all too rare Muslim woman's voice in the current 'culture wars'. Muslim women, like all people, are allowed to wear what they like in Australia. People who disapprove of the hijab are perfectly entitled to refrain from wearing them.

Indeed, such freedoms are integral to my understanding of our much-touted values.