Last night, we daw a documentary on TV that tried to explore why women wear headscarfs or burquas in Europe (and generally) and why we are so disturbed by that. In France, women are not even allowed to wear burquas on the streets anymore.
I do know this is a very sensitive topic and I don't mean to judge these women or to give a reason why they cover their heads. What I find important is our side, our reaction and "our" in this case means us, the Western people who are "disturbed" by burquas (a French politician said that on TV in that documentary, that he found is "disturbing" to see women dressed like that). Why do we find it disturbing though? Because it is different? Because we don't like to see religeous people in the streets? Consider how many Christians wear a cross that expresses their religion and how many Christans have the Ichtys-fish smbol on the back of their car! Is that less disturbing? Or the promise-ring which some American girls wear promise rings to show that they won't have sex before they're married!
Admittedly, I understand one argument of the discussion: a large number of women might be forced to wear headscarfs or burquas. There might be pressure from their families and relatives. A burqua-ban like it exists in France won't really change that, though. And it won't change the women's situations. Ultimately, what should be more important is making sure these women and girls can chose to get an education, to go to college or to university if they want to and to do any job they want to do. A burqua or headscarf won't help them with that, but banning it won't give women these choices.
And let us not forget that many women might choose to cover their heads. One young woman was interviewed and she explained that she had discoverted the headscarf for herself even though her family would never have asked her to wear it. She might not be the only one. And yet, I think our Western society sees it as something that is out of date, something that should not be anymore, not in these days. Women should be free to wear what they want to wear and to decide for themselves how much of their bodies they want to reveal. And revealing one's body isn't a problem for women in Western societies. I see them on the tram and the bus: women wearing hotpants and flimsy tops and a few years ago they would even reveal their stomachs and the only reson they're not doing that is that it's not in anymore. But what if a woman decides to cover her body rather than reveal it? I did that for a few years. I hated my body when I was in the depth of Anorexia Nervosa. I thought my legs were too fat so I never wore skirts or short trousers, let alone bathing suits or bikinis. I had cut my arms so much I couldn't let people see them so I wore long sleeves as well. I bought XL-clothes to hide my "huge" figure (a figure that did fit easily into size XS) and believe me, if I had had the courage and the possibility, I would have worn a burqua to hide my body. Admittedly, I was covering myself because I was sick. But it was hardly acceptable. People kept asking why I never wore short sleeves or skirts. They thought it was weird.
We see half-naked women all the time: on big posters, advertising tiny bikinis on flawless, photoshopped bodies, on TV and in magazines. We are taught that we have to look like that: skinny with tanned, smooth skin and perfect proportions and no body hair whatsoever. Sometimes I catch myself trying to make my body look so perfect I could take off my clothes any time and would look brilliant - not that I've ever planned to actually do that, but I feel like I need to be perfect enough to be able to do that and to look like a supermodel.
There is an enormous pressure on Western women these days. We have to pursue the greatest career and have important jobs, we are supposed to be perfect mothers and housewives and great sex partners and we are also supposed to exercise and to diet and to look fabulous all the time. Girls as young as eight are starving themselves to live up to that fantasy picture of a perfect woman, teenagers diet regularly and mothers of beautiful children with wonderful husbands are unable to enjoy their happiness because they continuously feel the need to lose more and more weight.
Maybe burquas and headscarves look more out of date. However, if covering your head is pathetic, the desperate attempt to live up to a fantasy image created by the media is just as pathetic as well. Western societies look down on women covering their heads and ban the burquas while their own women starve themselves or purge their food or overeat in their despair. Are we not horribly hypocritical? Talk about the suppression of women - the West can do that just as well as the East. So the ban of the burqua in france is about giving the women more freedom, one should ban posters of half-naked women as well - they are the other extreme and their effect is at least as negative.
If the ban of the burqua is more about Western people feeling disturbed by it, can we please ban a few other things as well? Things like t-shirts the size S on women who are a size L or horrible hairstyles done by cheap hairdressers, the tons and tons of make-up on some young girls' faces, t-shirts that have words like "slut" or "bitch" written over the front ans men in thin, pink t-shirts! If everyone is allowed to wear whatever they want to wear, the burqua and headscarves should be included. believe me, there are things which are a hundred times as tasteless as a long, black coat that hides the face.
It is a difficult topic and I don't claim to have a solution for it or the ultimate truth about it - I don't. I just wish we could drop some of the hypocrisy that seems to mask the lack of tolerance and I wish we could develop more tolerance instead and embrace different cultures instead of insisting on our own culture being the best. It is not - otherwise there wouldn't be that many people with eating disorders, addictions and hundreds of other psychiatric problems.
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