Covering the Face

Well said Jack Straw:

Muslim women in the UK who wear full veils make "better, positive relations" between communities more difficult, Commons leader Jack Straw has said.

Failing to show the mouth and nose was "a visible statement of separation and of difference", the MP wrote in the Lancashire Evening Telegraph.

Now he asks women who meet him if they would consider taking off their veils. [...]

[H]e told BBC Radio Lancashire that this was "an issue that needs to be discussed because in our society, we are able to relate, particularly to strangers, by being able to read their faces, and if you can't read people's faces, that does provide some separation".

He said he understood why some women wanted to be covered, citing a recent meeting with a constituent who "said she felt more comfortable when she was outside wearing the veil and she was less troubled by people".

"What I'm saying on the other side is, would those people who do wear the veil think about the implications for community relations," he said.

That seems to me to be exactly right: it is indeed a visible statement of separation and of difference, and it's also an affront to an unspoken understanding that in public places, where people interact, you should be able to read their faces. I posted about this some time ago, and used the phrase "democracy of social interaction".

The number of women wearing a niqab (if I've got the terminology correct) has increased dramatically in my part of London recently. A couple of years back they were very rarely if ever seen; now I may see three or four in a day. And yes, I find it offensive. Not because it's a visible sign of difference, or because it functions as a symbol of female subservience - though it is and it does - but because it shows a lack of respect for the open social interaction of the streets.

And despite the expected blather from Muslim spokesmen, the comment from the MCB guy suggests that at least a debate can be had on the subject:

Dr Daud Abdullah of the Muslim Council of Britain said it was up to individual Muslim women whether to wear the veil, adding he understood the matter "does cause some discomfort to non-Muslims".

"Even within the Muslim community the scholars have different views on this.

"Our view is that if it is going to cause discomfort and that can be avoided then it can be done. The veil over the hair is obligatory."

Comments

[Bob-B]

It's a good job it's 'scholars' who get to decide how much of a woman's head should be visible and not dirty old men.

[Fabian]

I have never seen a woman in a niqab in Israel. I could faint. They look like ghosts.

[Marin]

I wonder whether the dress has exclusively religious connotations; after all, historicaly, uniforms have traditionaly been associated with political movements. Is it religion or politics? Or both?