The Veil of Discretion

The Veil of Discretion

“During times of universal deceit telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act”– George Orwell

• The Tresses of Forgetfulness.
A time remembered is a period of historical films on British history when to see a woman veiled was quite normal. To surf on the ‘Net, one could be led to believe that the veil begins and starts with Islam or as a wedding dress accessory. The event of banning the veil in France has only served to show how much is based a gut reaction so deep that there is a past to it. Another misnomer is the underlying reason President Chirac banned all religious symbols of expression form all religions as a desperate man trying to quell the growing uncontrollable tide of anti-Semitism in France. The last time…

• The Emperor’s New Clothes
This is a tale by Denmark’s Hans Christian Andersen, which I have much reason to recall lately. For me, it is very much a story of today, even though it was first published in 1837 for children. However here, I present it as a story for adults, because it quite clearly demonstrates the extent to which we as humans will go to make a lie seem appear to be the truth, which in psychological warfare Hitler called the “The Big Lie”…

• Sexuality Beyond the Veil
In April 2008, there was a flurry of media activity around former sex queen of French cinema Brigitte Bardot, who was found guilty of a thought crime against Muslims. For the fifth time, Bardot was charged of inciting racial hatred. An animal rights activist and an icon of French feminism, Bardot is known for her views on immigration. Not long after, in May 2008, we found French feminists making a public meal of a Muslim whose annulment of the marriage took place because the bride was not a virgin. The bride willingly accepted the annulment by the French court in Ille, as she admitted she had …

• Society Says Your Body Not Your Mind!
Self –objectification is the process of viewing one’s self and one’s environment through the eyes of others. Some people live their lives like this never really holding their own opinion/thought/belief about an experience, a person, an event, themselves, the people they know etc – they will only echo what they have been told to see/believe. And then there is Sexual-Objectification when a person (more likely a woman though increasingly men), sees themselves through the eyes of others which only see’s only their bodies…

• Can Common Sense Prevail Over the Veil?
Egyptian writer Mona Eltahawy’s argument in the Washington Post (From Liberals and Feminists, Unsettling Silence on Rending the Muslim Veil) over the French vote to ban the full veil in public begins “the right move by the wrong group”. The basis of this point of view I simply cannot fathom. I cannot comprehend, and will never comprehend what parliament has to do with what women chose to wear. If there has to be a political debate about what women choose to wear surely…

Banning the Niqab Gains Momentum in Australia

The United Muslim Women Association Inc, as an organization representing Muslim Women in NSW for nearly 30 years would like to take this opportunity to state its position on the proposed “community rally”, to take place on Sunday 19th September 2010 at Parry Park, Lakemba. Whilst there is no doubt that Muslim minority communities all over the world are facing fierce opposition to the free practice of their faith, we do not believe that a community rally in Lakemba will address…

Strauss-Khan and the French Battle of the Sexes

It was with exasperation that over the years, one observes the manner in which the French elite set about the issue of the visible aspects of Muslims, i.e. women, revealing an entrenched manner, far from political, in which France sought to unveil the Muslim woman. Not that there was high percentage of veiled women in France, as the culture is very demanding of sameness. The vocal attack which sought to ensure that veiled Muslim women ‘obey’ and ‘submit’ to the French view of…

78 Comments