Burqas, bathrooms and the public concern
Posted by MathewFeb 13
While the French government unveiled its plan to ban the burqa worn by some Muslim women, the reign in Maine leaves much to explain by proposing to allow transgendered people to use the bathroom of their choice. The contrast between the two stories is quite clear: the French move to protect its public while the Mainers move aside to endanger theirs.
Two burqa-wearers walk into a post office …
The stance taken by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, declaring last year that the burqa was not welcome in France, is one taken in the interests of security and as an act against the debasing of women. The burqa (actually, it is techinically the naqib – a head-to-toe covering that leaves no exposed skin bar slits for the eyes) is seen as something that is incongruent with French society. Yet the ban is not intended to marginalize Muslims or to oppress them in any fashion: the ban would see any form (Muslim or otherwise) of veil or other covering of the face in public become illegal, except at specific festivals and cultural events.
France has approximately six million Muslims within its borders, of which less than 2000 Muslim women wear the burqa. That’s a mere 0.03% of the French Muslim population. Ought there really be such a fuss?
Well, to some extent, the French government have recently been given just cause to make such a fuss: a post office was robbed by two burglars just last week. And the burglars were disguised in – yep, you guessed it – burqas.
We are all familiar with the stickers at the doors of banks that ban the wearing of motorcycle helmets and balaclavas (and as far as I’m aware, it is legal requirement to wear no face-covering in any public facility). It is not hard to reason why. And it certainly stands to reason that we ought prohibit anyone entering a bank in something like a burqa, or anything else that obscures the recognition of one’s face. A government that wishes to protect the interests of its businesses and consumers absolutely must have the right to determine what type of dress is and isn’t appropriate in the public sphere. A wholesale prohibition on the wearing of burqas in public definitely seems like something such a government has every right to legislate – and the constituents of such a public have every right to demand such legislation.
Yet before the high-and-mighties start jumping up and down about such moves, claiming that it is nothing more than an unjust act of oppression against a religious minority, they should take note that the wearing of the burqa is not a religious Islamic mandate at all. Says Dalil Boukakeur, Mosque rector in Paris, “neither the burqa, nor the niqab, nor any all-over veil, are religious prescriptions of Islam.”
Two boys walk into the girls’ room …
While the French discuss banning the burqa, over in Maine, the 23rd state of America, the legislators are considering to permit boys to have access to girls’ restrooms, locker rooms and cheerleader squads. I don’t know if you know, but, typically, girls’ restrooms, girls’ locker rooms and school cheerleader squads are, uncannily enough, facilities for the use of girls – not boys. It is entirely fair to say that the blue sign affixed to the door of the girls’ bathroom is a girl in a dress. Societal norms dictate that, therefore, only girls are to enter beyond (with the exception of perhaps a male janitor – but he’s at least required to knock, push ajar the door a little and call out to anyone inside if he may enter).
Well, if the Maine Human Rights Commission has anything to do with that, the girls’ johns may legally be frequented by Little Johns, Toms, Dicks and Harrys. (Aren’t you glad you send your daughters to public school?)
Yes, you read that right: the Human “Rights” Commission is seeking to overturn your daughter’s right to privacy and comfort of occupying a bathroom frequented only by members of the same sex.
It is interesting that this scenario arose when a boy, who gender-identifies as a girl, was “harassed” for attempting to use the girls’ bathroom at his school. While the school offered the faculty restrooms for use by the boy, his parents refused the compromise, giving way to the bizarre action by the homosexual lobby to petition the Commission for the boy – and others like him – to be permitted to use the girls’ room at his leisure.
Let me sum this up for you: boy is not sure if he’s a girl or a boy; boy decides to use girls’ bathroom; girls (and their parents) rightly freak out; school offers compromise; parents reject; homosexual lobby says “Boo!”; guidelines are drafted by the Human Rights Commission to allow the boy to use the girls’ bathrooms; too bad for your girls.
I am sure I am not the only one for whom this proposal is a concern.
Burqa-clad burglars and boys in girls’ stalls
It is interesting to think that when a compassionate society attempts to ease the gender-identity confusion of a young boy by making special arrangements, the homosexual lobby and its Human Rights buddies jump and down and shout discrimination.
Yet, to have a dedicated bathroom for transgenders seemingly is the most reasonable solution – one for girls, one for boys, one for those who are still working things out. But no – much like the debate surrounding gay marriage, the homosexual lobby does not want compromise, it wants super-equality. The case of this young boy is not much different – it’s not good enough to offer a solution that is to the comfort of the vast majority of students and parents: in fact, the comfort and security of the vast majority is not to be observed at all. Their comfort and security must be overridden for the sake of this one boy. Compassion and “tolerance” that disregards the greater wellbeing of the majority for the benefit of the minority is not compassion but fascism.
Much like this one boy, the Muslim minority in France are also seeking something that puts at ill-ease the rest of society; it is not compassionate to disregard the values of an entire country, it is a political act.
Funnily enough, these two stories intertwine in the simplest of manners: if the burqas are not outlawed and boys are allowed to use girls’ bathrooms, we have no way of knowing – with any degree of certainty – where the genuine cases are.
If burglars rob businesses under the guise as burqa-clad Muslim women, who’s to say that a gender-confused boy in amongst the girls’ change room after gym is not gender-confused at all but has learnt to play the system? What society – in its right mind – would ever make it permissible to facilitate peeping toms into our girls’ locker rooms and restrooms?
The notion itself is staggering to believe that it could come to fruition. Seems Maine should muster some French courage.
(And I don’t know about you but nothing would unnerve me more than to have a burqa-clad figure sidle up next to me while standing at the urinal. “So, uh, is that a gun underneath your burqa or are you just happy to see me?”)
References:
- France reveals draft bill to ban burqa
- Burqa-clad robbers hold up post office
- The war of French dressing
- ‘Gay’ plan for bathrooms called ‘moral insanity’
- MHRC Transgendered Schoolboy ‘Rights’ Press Release
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3 comments
Comment by Duane on 13 Feb 2010 at 19:24
I just want to share a different perspective that one of my Facebook friends had on this topic and then tell you how I responded (including some additional thoughts that I did not originally share on Facebook). I do this with the utmost respect for the person who made the comments, I only wish to highlight the weaknesses in the view.
My friend believed that the burqa banning was disrespectful to Muslim women and the Muslim religion in general, adding that “people are entitled to practise their religious beliefs and customs.”
My response is as follows:
I do not think that the banning of burqas (etc) is a religious issue, and attempts to make it one miss the point. It'd be like me getting into trouble for taking my Bible into a work meeting and reading it while the meeting is on. Reading the bible is after all a very important religious custom of mine, so perhaps I should be permitted to read it wherever and whenever I want?
In any case, I just don't see why certain behaviours and practices deserve more freedoms just because you can attach a “religious” label to it.
A good example of this distinction is mentioned by Mathew in the article. Why should women be permitted to wear burqas into a bank when motorcycle riders have to remove their helmets? To cite their religious belief as the key distinction that affords or removes rights, is absurd in my humble opinion.
Also note the claim that “people are entitled to practise their religious beliefs and customs.” This is not an argument but an assertion, and a false one at that; to say that people are entitled, rather than people ought to be entitled, which is perhaps what was meant by the statement. If you think about it long enough, I think you'll realise that we cannot simply allow any and all behaviours just because they are part of someone's religious system. This goes especially for Muslims who, if they had their way, would set up an Islamic Theocracy tomorrow.
Comment by Mathew on 14 Feb 2010 at 23:56
It's a good point, Duane. Islam, unlike Christianity, is both a religious and a political ideology – as far as I am aware, there is no separating the two without reforming Islam. As such, where Islam prospers and grows in Western democracies, the freedoms enjoyed in those democracies will be under political threat.
We see this occurring in the UK where some knuckleheads think it's perfectly congruent to have both Western law and Islamic (Sharia) law operating within the same country. Hmmm, let's think about that for a moment: one law for me, one law for you. Gee, d'ya think there'd be some issues with consistency and conflict??
This, I think, in part, is where the French are coming from with their move to ban the burqa. Such a distinct dress sends a message that the French state is not the authority to which a Muslim woman is prepared to submit as a French citizen. I'm certain that if all Muslim women in France (for argument's sake, let's call it 50% of the six million Muslims presently there) started wearing the burqa, the political climate in France would go up a few notches.
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