Yes, I'm Hot in This by Huda Fahmy for April 14, 2021

In France freedom is the freedom to be French.

Plenty of women cover their hair and wear very modest clothing. No problem. Covering one’s face? A whole new ball game.

Heh, I remember we had this discussion in the comments a little while ago.

I recently got my passport renewed and for the first time in 50 years was required to remove my glasses. New regulation. Having said that, I then put my face mask back on. Even when others think it’s stupid for me to wear that face mask, it’s my choice — and as long as I’m not posing a security risk, it really is not anyone else’s business. I remember in the old days, old women especially wore veils on their hats, effectively covering their faces. No complaints then. So all the hate about hijabs is misplaced at best. As long as it is the woman’s choice, no worries.

This is such garbage. Look around the world, folks. When I was in Germany, women coming off the farm fields covered their heads much the same. It is the same here with farmworkers. There a lot of non-Muslim women that wear something similar. Same with the clothing. Leave them alone, let them be. This should not be an issue.

Note that Sikh turbans and Jewish kippahs are also forbidden in French schools.

Hypocrites!

Let’s make a deal. Give up the hajib if men give up the necktie. They both have good traditional reasons for being apparel – which no longer apply.

Come on, France—stop being a bully.

This is difficult. It’s not as simple as “let everyone do whatever they want” when young girls are being brought up to believe that if they don’t cover their hair, they are immodest and irreligious.

I admit to some bias here: my academic research area is fundamentalist religion. My dissertation is focused on evangelical Christianity (which God knows is DEEPLY problematic), but I’m conversant in fundamentalist Islam, fundamentalist Judaism, even fundamentalist Hindu/nationalist movements in India. Most fundamentalist sects oppress women, period. They limit women’s freedom and choices, place them under obedience to men (fathers and even brothers until they marry, then husbands), and usually name the ontologically inferior to men (i.e., created as lesser beings than men, even if they claim to teach otherwise).

So while a 30-year-old woman should absolutely be allowed to wear whatever she wants, hijab included, I’m less convinced that 10-year-old or 15-year-old girls should be “allowed” to do so when it’s less a personal choice and more the choice of their fathers. It’s more complicated than we want to credit.

It’s pretty disgusting that women who want to wear hijab can be in danger for doing so. And not just in France.

Love this one a lot more than the “NOT YOU” one. Sarcasm always makes me smile.