I don't find the wearing of the head scarf threatening so much as sad. Women round the planet are fighting for equal rights and autonomy but here we have women who want to advertise the fact that they are submitting to the patriarchy as per the Koran, where husbands are given permission to punish disobedient wives, or to marry multiple women etc etc - never vice versa of course. Women, including myself, have worked hard for decades to win the vote, equal pay, right to keep children after divorce, the right to work in any chosen profession, and so on, and I personally find it tragic to see women who want to reverse the progress we have worked for. In a way, the wearing of the head scarf looks to me like an affront to women who want to live as full human beings, not as chattels. Our struggle has not been easy and is not over yet, but these women want to go backwards. Pity their daughters ! Also I know that Muslim women who do not want to wear the head scarf may often be regarded as sluts by Muslim men and certain other Muslim women, therefore I know that in many cases it would take some strength of character to refuse. So congratulations to those with courage enough not to be pressured into adopting the badge of submission.

This seems to be more about a need to be accepted within their own communities than an effort to be different or to set themselves apart from the wider community. However, being unwilling to come to terms with this reality only causes them to be shunned and denies them the opportunity of becoming more fully integrated.

Anyway, I have chosen to likewise ignore them along with catholic priests, rabbis, clergymen, nuns and all the other overtly religious weirdos in our midst. I feel sure the sentiment is mutual which only gladdens me.

I don't see strength in covering up. The wearing of the regulation scarf appears intended to discourage those who are not similarly attired from approaching and, like nuns they are normally seen only in the company of their own kind.

Isn’t it strange that in our society, women are free to use their bodies to sell cars, magazines, clothing, sex and cosmetics but if they want to appear modest in public, then they have somehow become a threat and have obviously been oppressed by men?

I don’t recall feeling that way about those nuns who chose to wear a habit.

I actually feel less intimidated by group of women in scarves than a crowd of yobbos in beanies or with Aussie flags draped around their shoulders.

Headwear is not universal among Muslims and more cultural than religious, and more widespread in parts of the Middle East than in other Muslim countries. It’s actually banned to be worn in Turkey and Tunisia on State premises and the former President of Indonesia was often seen in public without a head covering.

I suspect the recent increased popularity of the hijab among younger Mulim women is more a sign of their defiant independence than their oppression.

The head scarf may be a symbol of "independence" for some female Western Muslims but the fact remains it is a symbol of state-enforced opression for most Muslim women throughout the world - see Saudi Arabia, Iran and many other countries in the Middle East and Africa.

Those women don't have a choice about whether to wear it.

Also, I have lived in a Muslim area in Sydney and in my experience if you have it drummed into you since birth that good Muslim girls cover themselves, then whether you are really making a free choice to wear it as an adult is a moot point.

Here we go again - hordes of presumably non-Muslims prattling on about Muslim women who choose to wear head scarves. What business is it of theirs anyway? I have always been under the impression that, within the bounds of common decency, Australians are pretty well free to wear whatever we like.

Isn't that exactly the kind of 'freedom' we're supposedly defending when we send our soldiers off to far-off lands to participate in the so-called 'war on terror'?

Personally, I'm far more worried by men in ties than women in headscarves :)

IT IS A DILEMMA, ISN'T IT? TO ME IT LOOKS SILLY, IN MY EYES, THESE LADIES MAKE THEMSELVES LOOK SO SILLY AND LOW CLASS. IF I WERE TO GO AROUND WEARING SAY: "BUCKETS" ON MY FEET, I'D BE STARED AT AS WELL. THAT WOULD BE QUITE LOGICAL. BY WEARING ONE'S "NATIONAL" COSTUME FOR EVERYDAY WEAR IS SO STUPID THAT IN THESE INSTANCES, THE LADIES MUST EXPECT TO BE STARED AT AND LAUGHED AT. THESE COSTUMES SHOULD ONLY BE WORN IN THE HOME OR AT THEIR OWN CLUBS OR FUNCTIONS.
ARE THESE PEOPLE HARD OF HEARING OR BLIND OR DUMB? DON'T THEY KNOW THEY RESIDE IN AUSTRALIA? I DON'T GO AROUND WEARING MY LACE CAP AND MY WOODEN CLOGS EITHER, DO I? I WOULD IF I DID NOT WANT TO BE ACCEPTED INTO AUSSIE SOCIETY FOR THAT IS WHAT THEY ARE DOING AND IT IS PURELY THEIR OWN FAULT, NOT OURS!