Picture this: the place is Cairo, and two Egyptian women are eyeballing each other on the subway. One is dressed from head to toe in a burqa, and the other is wearing a hijab. The black clad woman asks the other why she is not wearing a burqa. The young woman points to her headscarf and says, “Is this not enough?”
The woman in the burqa responds, “If you wanted a piece of candy, would you choose an unwrapped piece or one that came in a wrapper?”
“I am not candy”, the younger woman replies. “Women are not candy”.
And with that, Mona Eltahawy, a Muslim feminist who had worn the hijab for nine years, decided to ditch it altogether.
Eltahawy detailed that exchange in a column for the International Herald Tribune in early July in which she added her voice to the call for a ban on the burqa.
“I detest the full-body veil, known as the niqab or burqa. It erases women from society and has nothing to do with Islam but everything to do with the hatred for women at the heart of the extremist ideology that preaches it.”
It’s no coincidence that women’s voices, including mine, are rising up in protest against the burqa and niqab at this time. Despite the garments sill being rare in Australia, the issue has surfaced because women – and men - have been watching with alarm as this extreme practice of subjugation has enjoyed a revival among pockets of fundamental Islamists. French President Sarkozy’s call for a ban simply wrapped headlines around the issue.
http://newageislam.com/burqa--cloak-of-silence-over-us/islamic-culture/d/1557
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