Rants on the burqa

Looking at me, you would not think I would have much to say about the burqa, or the hijab, or any of the other religious vestments of the Islamic world. I appear Caucasian, with dark brown hair and green eyes. But once a new acquaintance learns my name, the questions start. Where was I born, when did I arrive here, and so on. I would say about one out of every two white men, when they discover I am Arab, inevitably ask me about the Veil.

Well, I say, the subject is an emotional one for me. Many women in my family have struggled with the question. Some don't wear the veil at all. Other's wear it gladly. And one or two, they refuse to wear the veil at home, but when they go to France, or visit the United States, they wear it proudly. They wear it when they come to the West because it means something different here. It is a way of declaring their solidarity with their people, their determination to resist colonialism and cultural imperialism. They wear it not to submit, but to deny submission, to refuse to bow to the cultural and religious dictates of the West.

Typically, at this time the white guy says something stupid. Here are a few examples:

• "What about clitorectomy?"
• "Yes but you see, the Nuns who used to teach in our schools wore veils."
• "But you stone women!"

For the record, I have never, personally, stoned anyone. Although I did once throw some gravel at my nursery school teacher.

These statements are stupid, not because they are untrue, but because they are excuses - often parroting newspaper editors and other founts of wisdom. The truth is that western culture obsesses over the veil and the misogyny and sexism of Islamic culture to distract itself from the uncomfortable truths of the misogyny and sexism of their own culture. They feel superior to their barbaric, lesser cousins. That's right. Western men are ready to affirm that beating, stabbing and shooting women is superior to stoning them. That vaginoplasties are preferable to clitorectomies. That forcing a strange woman to cover her own body completely is somehow more oppressive than treating her like a piece of meat that should be available to vicariously satisfy your sexual urges. Western men are enlightened. They respect women. Or at least, when they fail to respect women, they feel guilt. Sometimes. When they aren't justifying their abominable actions by talking about the behaviors of chimpanzees.

Of course, these arguments are emotional, not logical. But they are also presumptive of some kind of right of western men to judge the failings of other cultures. This "right" has another name: Imperialism. The good old notion that the British made famous, that the West is in a state of grace and that everyone else isn't, until they are like the West.

I am not going to pretend that the misogyny of many Muslims is anything other than abhorrent. But I firmly believe that if you are not Muslim, if no one you care about is Muslim, if your understanding of Islam is mediated by the western media and academy: It. Is. None. Of. Your. Business.

Now in the name, but not the spirit of women's liberation, France is seeking to ban the burqa. What will happen to those women who are forced to wear the burqa when it becomes illegal? Will their families and husbands suddenly change their minds? Will they simply decide that it is alright to go out of the house with their faces bare? Some possible outcomes for individual women:

• They do go out, but still wearing the burqa, and pay fines and avoid public spaces for the privilege.
• While they no longer wear the burqa, they must now carry the shaming of their families on their shoulders.
• They are simply not allowed out of the house at all.

But at least they will have been liberated.

For a much better article on the potential consequences of the burqa ban please see Anushay Hossain's piece for the Huffington post, For France Banning The Burqa Is Not The Answer.