Ban the Bombqa

I'm (re)reading The Women's Room by Marilyn French at the moment. Mira, the heroine, got married to Norm and lived the 1950's life of perfect housewife. Despite having a brilliant mind, her husband didn't want her to work but to look after him, have and then look after their two kids, and to keep the house immaculate. This she did, and cooked and entertained his friends and guess wot, he still asked her for a divorce after 15yrs or so of marriage.

He wouldn't let her drive until he really had no choice, and said that if he could lock her away and keep her all to himself he would. Basically she was a service centre, she and many women like her at that time. What's changed now? Well, now many women are still service centres but they have to go out to work too. I suspect many men secretly think like Norm.

In the Muslim world, many men think like Norm but, unlike Norm, are able to do what he couldn't - lock away and keep their wife all to themselves. If not totally literally, then semi-literally by imposing the burqa on her.

The liberation of women in the west from being nothing more than a dependent appendage to independent individual is one of the greatest achievements of the 20th century, and we should fight with every means possible ANY threat to this liberation. At the moment, in France, the UMP députés are quarrelling about whether to ban the burqa in France.

In my opinion, and from what I gather from the comments in Le Figaro's article, it's a no-brainer. It should be banned. Now. The burqa is an insult to all women and an indulgence to the most extreme of men's secret desires. No one should be locking any free person away, not in a room, not in clothes and not on a slippery slope.

If there are those who insist on imposing it, then they should go where wearing it is accepted, like the Middle East. I don't want to go to places where I'm made to dress in a certain way, and my liberty is shackled, but I wouldn't dream of going there and trying to impose my rules and my culture. Likewise, it's deeply offensive to see imprisoned women walking around here imposing on us the way they dress elsewhere.

I know that offence only works one way, and you have to be a minority for it to be considered. But let me say right here, on my blog, that I am offended by the site of women in all forms of veil. Religion is all about power and control, especially the control of women, and anyone with half a critical neuron in their brain should reject the submission of women by male control freak losers.

Have faith in a higher being, but reject religion. Religion isn't freedom, it's control and manipulation and it's worst manifestations are always conducted against women - female circumcision, the burqa, for example.

Let's hope those UMP députés listen to the voices of their citizens and ban the burqa plus the rest. Perhaps if they show enough balls it'll encourage other countries to do the same.