The fact that some people wear veils has suddenly become an issue of debate lately. I find this rather petty and unbecoming public debate, but since it's out there anyway, here's a quick thought exercise to use to avoid becoming a hypocrite or an asshole when discussing this subject.
1. Recognize the fact that, in addition to whatever religious or cultural connotations it holds, a veil also has a functional purpose: it is an item of clothing that is intended to cover part of the body.
2. Using an item of clothing that you, personally, use to cover part of your body that you want to keep covered, create an analogy for the statement you're about to make. The analogous item of clothing doesn't have to be the same each time, but it should be something that you, personally, would conceivably wear. If your statement holds in analogy, then chances are good that you can make your statement without being a hypocrite or an asshole.
Some examples of fruitful trains of thought result from this exercise:
- Do you think a Muslim father should have the right to forbid his daughter from leaving the house without a veil? Do you think a Western father should have the right to forbid his daughter from leaving the house in a short skirt?
- Do you think it's appropriate to forbid people from wearing veils to work or as part of their school uniform? Do you think it's appropriate for a workplace or school to institute a dress code that makes a short skirt mandatory, with no option of wearing pants or a longer skirt?
- Do you think it was appropriate for Jack Straw to ask people to remove their niqabs before coming into his office to talk to him? If I went to meet with him wearing a camisole under a suit jacket, do you think it would it be appropriate for him to ask me to remove my jacket?
- Do you think a veil is unprofessional? If I wore a suit with long pants because I don't want to show my legs, even though most women in similar positions wear skirt suits, would you think that is unprofessional?
- Women in Ontario are allowed to walk around without their heads covered; women in other parts of the world are required to cover their heads. Do you think that makes it unfeminist for a woman to cover her head in Ontario? Women in Ontario are allowed to walk around without their breasts covered; women in other parts of the world are required to cover their breasts. Do you think that makes it unfeminist for a woman to cover her breasts in Ontario?
3 comments:
.......hmmmm.....wouldn't that get a little cold?
Wrong angle. Lets examine ski masks. It is perfectly legal to purchase and wear one. But would it be desirable, acceptable or even permissible to step into a bank with one fully covering your face? Or sit in a class room, attend a lecture, or conference with co-workers while wearing one?
Classroom/lecture/meeting, I'd probably briefly go "huh?" because I've never seen someone wear a ski mask in that context before, but I'd assume they have some compelling reason to want to hide their face (massive scarring, botched plastic surgery, etc.) I might make some discreet inquiries if I thought it would be productive, but I would never presume to coerce or convince them to take off the ski mask when they obviously want to hide their face so badly that they'd wear a sweaty, uncomfortable ski mask indoors.
In a bank, I, personally, would just laugh - like if you saw someone walking down the street in a cartoon robber outfit carrying a large bag with a dollar sign on it, you'd be "Look at him, he's all pretending to be a robber." Although I can see why some people would find that discomfiting. But that's basically specific to banks and ski masks (and cartoon robber outfits) - they're commonly associated with bank robberies. I don't even know if they're used for bank robberies in real life, but it's an archetype found in, like, Archie comics. The problem there is the ski mask specifically, not the fact that the face is covered. If the face were covered in bandages, you wouldn't find it off-putting.
Actually, now that I think about it, that's the great benefit of wearing the traditional veils rather than trying to replicate the effect with modern clothing. It's a simple visual shorthand that tells the onlooker that the wearer is hiding her face for modesty purposes, which likely have religious or cultural roots. It saves a lot of stupid questions or embarrassing comments or inappropriate attempts to get her to show more of her body than she's comfortable with. Just like a white cane says "Caution: I'm blind", or a cast says "I'm injured here", or a wedding ring says "I'm taken," the traditional veils say "I do not want to expose this part of my body in public."
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