Should the Burqa be banned in Australia

[nero_bolt]

Should the Burqa and Niqab be banned in Australia?

[iapetus_rocks]

A lot of people commenting in this thread see Muslim women (in burqa's) in passing when out and about, they don't need to talk or interact with them (same as they don't need to talk to any other people passing by), yet they still say they feel intimidated or confronted by them.

I can choose whether to interact or not with a person who conceals their face but who can see mine.

Shopkeepers for example, and others who come into contact with buqa-clad women in the course of their daily business life, have not such a choice.

And if someone says they feel intimidated, then we have no right to condradict them and call them foolish for feeling that way.

[Anonymous]

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@am*3 wrote:

The average Aussie doesn't wear a burqa, and some of us are going to feel a little uncomfortable or intimidated around you if you are wearing one.  

Very few women at all in the whole of Australia wear a burqa.

The women I have seen wearing a burqa are with their children (and husbands sometime), walking along, like everyone else.

I really can't see how that could be intimidating or even uncomfortable. Their could be dozens or hundreds of people out that day and 1 or 2 women wearing burqa's.

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lets see if this opinion from human rights

website can help you understand why people

have different views about the burqa; why they

may see it as a symbol of oppression - which

naturally would make some ppl feel uncomfortable.

For many men and women, the burqa, the niqab, or any clothing that covers the whole female body including the face, is a powerful symbol of the oppression and subjugation of Muslim women. It is an obvious reminder of how the Taliban, who required women to wear the burqa, systematically abused the fundamental rights and freedoms of Afghan women, leaving them with the lowest life expectancy in the region and highest rates of maternal death.

A legal ban in Europe on the wearing of the burqa in public life would be just as much a violation of the rights of those women who wish to wear it as is the forcing of the veil on those women who do not wish to wear it in, for example, Iran or Saudi Arabia. Muslim women should have the right to move around dressed as they choose, to make decisions about their lives and religion, whether we understand or support those choices or not.

There is no doubt that many Muslim women are forced to wear the burqa or other forms of veil and are unable to make decisions about the most fundamental aspects of their lives. But there is equally little doubt that many other Muslim women have made a free and informed decision to wear such coverings, and value the space to practice their religion in public.

To say that no one should feel uncomfortable

seeing women in burqas is suggesting that all

those women are wearing them by choice. 

how can you possibly tell?

you need to start considering different points

of view.  just because someone feels uncomfortable

seeing a woman in a burka does not automatically

mean they will demand her to take it off.

[cherry*135]

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@iapetus_rocks wrote:

A lot of people commenting in this thread see Muslim women (in burqa's) in passing when out and about, they don't need to talk or interact with them (same as they don't need to talk to any other people passing by), yet they still say they feel intimidated or confronted by them.

I can choose whether to interact or not with a person who conceals their face but who can see mine.

Shopkeepers for example, and others who come into contact with buqa-clad women in the course of their daily business life, have not such a choice.

And if someone says they feel intimidated, then we have no right to condradict them and call them foolish for feeling that way.

---

I based my comment on the comments made here. No one has claimed to be a shop keeper or any other type of businesss owner, dealing with women wearing burqa's.

They mostly state they don't like seeing women out in public wearing burqa's.

Those people who feel intimidated or confronted by passing a women wearing a burqa on the street, I don't see any problem with me asking why that is.?  What are they scared of, why is it any different to passing another non muslim person on the street?

How many women wearing burqa's have abused or attacked a person on the street or a business owner? Don't those women just want to get from A to B, deal with a business the same as you or I?

How much of a persons face can you see if they are wearing sunglasses and a cap? Or a hooded jacket and sunglasses?

[cherry*135]

lets see if this opinion from human rights

website can help you understand why people

have different views about the burqa

My question was to the posters here who say they feel intimidated or confronted by women in burqa's ( mostly ones they just 'see' out in public). If they can't elucidate why they feel like that, no one else can do it for them.

[iapetus_rocks]

Those people who feel intimidated or confronted by passing a women wearing a burqa on the street, I don't see any problem with me asking why that is.?

Well, for me, it's the reminder of what Islam preaches; the second-class status of women. (see sura 4 of the Koran), coupled with the fact that while they can see my face, I can't see theirs.

Sunglasses conceal the eyes but not the mouth or the cheeks.  There's a wealth of non-verbal communications to be observed in someone's facial expression which is denied when dealing with someone wearing a mask., and to have that communication deliberately blocked is unsettling for me.

[cherry*135]

To say that no one should feel uncomfortable

seeing women in burqas is suggesting that all

those women are wearing them by choice. 

Show me where I said  or inferred that.

how can you possibly tell?

you need to start considering different points

of view.  just because someone feels uncomfortable

seeing a woman in a burka does not automatically

mean they will demand her to take it off.

Show me where I said  or inferred that

I have asked why posters in this thread feel initimidated or confronted, nothing more. For reasons unkown, they don't seem to have an answer.

Should the burqa be banned because a small minority of the population feel 'uncomfortable' about Muslim women wearing them?

[cherry*135]

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@iapetus_rocks wrote:

Those people who feel intimidated or confronted by passing a women wearing a burqa on the street, I don't see any problem with me asking why that is.?

Well, for me, it's the reminder of what Islam preaches; the second-class status of women. (see sura 4 of the Koran), coupled with the fact that while they can see my face, I can't see theirs.

Sunglasses conceal the eyes but not the mouth or the cheeks.  There's a wealth of non-verbal communications to be observed in someone's facial expression which is denied when dealing with someone wearing a mask., and to have that communication deliberately blocked is unsettling for me.

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How many Muslim women in burqas do you pass in the street when you are out or deal with in business?

The eyes 'speak' more than the mouth or cheeks, wouldn't you say?

[lionrose.7]

I dont stop and talk to every one passing me on the street so it does not worry me at all.

I have seen a few ladies on holiday on the Gold coast dressed like this, not worried or intimidated at all.

[iapetus_rocks]

Well, I had an answer.

A ban on someone's ability to dress as they please is distasteful and oppressive, but what if that form of dress is also  distasteful and oppressive for those who have to deal with people wearing the burqa?

[lionrose.7]

Like all things we dont like in life people just have to drink a cup of concrete and get over it