Conor Kenny | Online Opinion editor
At some point in our lives, we all experience the delightful and guilty pleasure of what the Germans like to call schadenfreude. That is; the obtainment of satisfaction from the suffering of others. My most recent enjoyment of this sensation came a few weeks ago when Tory Councillor Chris Joannides in Britain was suspended by his own party for making a joke on Facebook, in which he compared a picture of women wearing burqas to rubbish bags. Joannides, who inevitably used the old Clarkson defence of claiming it just “blokish banter”, was kicked out of the Conservative Party a few days ago. He reportedly told the Enfield Independent that he intends to take legal action against the people who made the initial complaints. Good luck, Chris.
This type of disgusting burqa-phobia unfortunately seems to be alarmingly rife amongst the politicians in Ireland too. The former Lord Mayor of Cork Joe O’Callaghan proposed a motion last year to Cork City Council to call for the government to ban the wearing of the burqa by women nationwide. O’Callaghan later remarked on NewsTalk that, “in this day and age they (burqas) are out of date” and that there was a “question of safety, security and common sense” involved. Dealing with the weakest part of this statement first, the issue of security and safety is non-existent When there are legitimate security issues involved, any wearer will be asked to remove the burqa. As for common sense, it seems as though some other tired arguments against the wearing of this garment also need to be put to rest.
One oft repeated line that I constantly hear against a woman’s right to wear the burqa is that it enshrines the feminine servility. Forgive me for being presumptuous, but I’m inferring that the majority of people who take this view are not psychic. They have no way of knowing why an independent woman chooses, of her own free will, to wear the burqa. The conclusions that can be drawn from these kind of thoughts are remarkably unnerving, particularly because they draw disturbing insights as to why many men are so obsessed with women’s clothes. People like Mr. O’Callaghan need to wake up and get over the fact that Ireland is a free country, and that you can wear what you want. The other unfortunate likelihood is that many of those using the term “burqa” probably don’t even know what it is that they’re referring to. I’m certain that other elements of traditional Muslim clothing attire worn by women such as the niqab or the hijab would be next on their list of desired contrabands.
There are two more vacuous arguments from this debate that need taking to the cleaners. The first of these, and often the most hilariously articulated, is the view taken by Michaelia Cash, an Australian columnist for Punch Magazine. Cash argues that one of the core values in our society should be “communication by means of facial expression”. I am able to converse with people thousands of miles away every day through the fantastic medium of the internet. Quite a novel invention indeed, and I can only hope these people soon discover it. Nobody in the world would have lengthy conversations on their telephones to friends who live just down the road if facial expression was such a vital cornerstone of our culture. Furthermore, if seeing people’s faces is so crucial to a successful society, you wonder how visually impaired people like David Blunkett or Stevie Wonder have achieved so much.
The brilliant Salma Yaqoob, one of the most influential Muslim women in the UK, and the former leader of the RESPECT Party, made a fantastic point in an all-round sterling performance on the BBC Daily Politics show two years ago. Responding to Tory MP Phillip Hollobone’s shameless referencing of the radical feminist Emmeline Pankhurst in regard to this topic, Yaqoob replied; “quite frankly I’m offended by that reference. What would Emmeline Pankhurst make of a 21st century male telling women what they can and cannot wear?” Writers like Cash should not try and make this into a feminist argument. It’s essentially a conservative one dressed in liberal clothing, and some of us won’t fall for it.
Do you agree with Conor? Should the state legislate for religious dress? Does the burqa enshrine feminine servility? Comment below.
