What we will have to do
The Austrian president had an idea.
Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen has ignited debate in Europe after video appeared to show him supporting a woman’s right to wear an Islamic headscarf — and suggesting that all women should wear a headscarf to battle prejudice against Muslims.
Speaking to students at the House of the European Union in Vienna on March 24, Van der Bellen said that it is his opinion that women have a right to dress however they want. “If Islamophobia continues to spread . . . the day will come when we will have to ask all women to wear headscarves,” Van der Bellen said, according to video footage of the event. “All of them, in solidarity with those who [wear them] for religious reasons.”
Oh really. “We” will have to do that, will we? “We” will have to ask women to wear a hair, ears and neck concealing piece of cloth that women in Iran, Afghanistan, and Saudi Arabia are beaten or whipped or imprisoned or killed for refusing to wear? A garment that only women are forced to wear? A garment that is explicitly for the purpose of protecting women’s “modesty”? A garment that its fans compare to a wrapper on candy or refrigeration of meat? A garment that women have been rebelling against for generations? A garment that fathers and brothers bully daughters and sisters into wearing? A garment that stands for women’s inferior status among other things?
And “we” will have to ask women to do that while “we” don’t ask men to do anything? And “we” don’t even pause to notice that that just might be a tad unfair, not to mention theocratic?
Also, wouldn’t that be cultural appropriation? :O
As someone living in Austria and happy that van der Bellen won (I didn’t vote, not allowed as a non-Austrian citizen) this is indeed a shockingly backwards idea.
Now, what _might_ work is if ‘we’ ask all men to wear headscarfs instead. I imagine they look quite fetching with a pair of Lederhosen. Let’s see how quickly sympathy for Islamic misogynist oppression evaporates after that little gem is written into law.
David, my first thought was that if he had asked men to do something they didn’t want to do/give up something they didn’t want to give up, there would have been a very considerable negative uproar. Since it was only women, and since women being expected to cover their hair was also a western expectation until not so long ago, all it gets is a hmmmm.
I think asking the men, or even better, the men deciding to act on their own could be awesome as is shown by this story about men in Wyoming wearing tutus after a senator said any man who wore a tutu into a bar deserved what he got. Spoiler: the Senator ended up apologizing!
That muddled thinking occurs when individuals accept the propaganda line that Muslims are members of a race. Islam is a toxic, mysoginistic, anti-democratic ideology.
Hopefully not all Austrians are as naive as their president.
I fully support anyone’s being able to dress (etc.) how they wish. If you want to wear a hijab, knock yourself out. I still think the hijab is a… problematic symbol for women’s (or anyone’s!) freedom.
How could one ever know that a particular person really wanted to wear a veil? A few years of beating and imprisonment in the home might be very effective.
The captain of the Beagle told Darwin that slavery was benign. While visiting a Brazilian plantation, he’d asked a slave if he was happy with his station. Under the eyes of his owner, the slave said ‘yes.’ Q.E.D.
It is beyond irony the way the Islam is given a free pass on morality. I’m old enough to remember when it was the far-RIGHT that lined up against Salman Rushdie, barring a few red-diaper types.
To Darwin’s credit, he didn’t buy it for a second. He realized the slaves were going to say what the master wanted them to say. It saved their lives and health – and maybe that of their loved ones.
Austria earns some degree of fame for allowing a Pastafarian to wear a colander on his head in his driving licence photo (which otherwise don’t allow any headwear) out of respect for his professed religion.
Although this occurred some years ago, I suggest the political leadership of that republic should follow the example. Let’s see President van der Bellen posing like that, out of solidarity with all others oppressed by religious apparel dogma – including hijabs etc! Hey — maybe other Presidents can follow this very very bigly great example, if only to play ketchup? And to keep their hair on.
Ramen.
President Van der Bellen knows islamophobia is the scourge of the age, and so just wants Austrians to celebrate diversity and to open their hearts to the wonders of multiculturalism ( more food pavilions at Folkfest!) and the colourful religious obscurantism it now vehicles.
Anything less would be racism, you know.
He’s not one…no siree… to let a little bit of misogyny stand in the way of his great big, do-gooder heart!
Diversity is our strength.
Believe it…or ELSE.
John @ 10
Interesting how diversity seems almost compulsory for Western liberal democracies. The Japanese aren’t convinced about the virtues of diversity, the citizens of majority-Muslim countries aren’t either.
It’s heart warming to see how (some) Central and Eastern Europeans have forgotten about the centuries of continuous Ottoman attacks and are now willing to embrace multiculturism.
More multi-culti pixie dust is the solution to Islamophobia.