[kj] Jaz Straw

[culturevirus]

Bob, as I said before I'm US based, I don't know Jack Straw from Jack Shit. I have no idea whether he's Jewish (why does that matter anyway?) or whether he's a carpetbagger. I don't know anything about the man, but from reading the column it sounds to me like he's just pointing to something that is a barrier to communication between some Muslims and some non-Muslims. It's just something for both communities to think about. Does that equate to concern for Muslim women? I think it can, this traditional dress is somewhat of a barrier to integration into the larger British population and until those wearing the dress understand that and non-Muslims become familiar with the reasons the dress is worn and respect those decisions, full integration will not occur. But again I don't know the man or your political climate.
  
Robert Mallett <robert at jrcardwell.fsnet.co.uk> wrote:
          But as Straw pointed out early in his column, many women do choose to wear head coverings of some type. If you ask these women many of them will respond that like school uniforms it keeps them equal with their peers and reduces the distraction of clothing differences and focuses peoples attentions on the wearer and not the clothes. Such clothing can make women feel empowered as they no longer face distracted men who are (even subconciously) checking out their physical features and are forced to deal with the woman as a social equal.

 Are you really trying to tell me that a New Labour politician like Jack Straw is seriously making these statements out of a sense of welfare for Muslim women? OK, he's a constituency MP for an area that is heavily Muslim, but did he choose to go there and represent them. He is, is he not, Jewish after all? Straw is a career politician for God's sake, all that matters to him is his career and his career prospects and nothing else.
   
  bob
    ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: fluw 
  To: A list about all things Killing Joke (the band!) 
  Sent: Wednesday, October 11, 2006 12:38 PM
  Subject: Re: [kj] Jaz Straw
  

very well put perspective...top notch post culturevirus. thanks for that 

culturevirus wrote:   coming out of lurkdom again... being a US based person, the politics of Britain are mostly unknown to me, but we have roughly the same set of circumstances in the US. I have yet to hear/read of any of our politicians speaking on the subject in such a level-headed manner as Mr. Straw. Our politicians tend to speak in small words and short sentences so as to discourage deep thought on issues and therefore maintain knee-jerk voting based on political hatred for "the other party".

Ade's comment (echoed by a few others) reflects the way a lot of us Westerners view the hijab: as a way to keep women down or force women to shoulder the burden of policing the male sexual drive. I know part of me feels that way as well. But as Straw pointed out early in his column, many women do choose to wear head coverings of some type. If you ask these women many of them will respond that like school uniforms it keeps them equal with their peers and reduces the distraction of clothing differences and focuses peoples attentions on the wearer and not the clothes. Such clothing can make women feel empowered as they no longer face distracted men who are (even subconciously) checking out their physical features and are forced to deal with the woman as a social equal.

I recently read a book on the history of The Habit (Catholic nun garb) and many nuns feel the same way. Within the communities of these women there is disagreement over whether such attire has an overall positive or negative affect on their place in society. Nearly all agree however, that it sets them apart from other women and puts them in a frame of reference that is unique among their sex.

In a perfect world women will choose to wear such attire for what they feel it does for them as a person and not what their sub-culture expects of them.

I am culturevirus

ade <ade at the-lab.zetnet.co.uk> wrote:       I dunno. I just think it's odd to defend a way of keeping women down. Nevertheless, I'll defend the right
  to wear the things!

    
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