More on clothing

Nope, not my clothing

It occurred to me that one of the principle arguments against the burqa/niqab is that it prevents the disclosure of one's face to others. I however wear sunglasses near constantly during the daytime when in public. I don't take them off when I talk to random people. I do when I have to for business reasons or because I know the person and wish them to see more expressive non-verbal cues. Still, I suspect this is viewed, by some people, as rude or impolite or in some way disturbing, perhaps even intimidating at times. I don't see the difference between this and being cloaked in a wraith-like piece of cloth. It might be consuming a good deal of mental energy for people to get used to, to be annoyed with, or to put up with. But liberal societies aren't supposed to govern over our protection from feeling offended. Where there are actual rights being restricted or endangered, I can see reasons for seeking exceptions or workarounds for these impolite actors who have dared to seclude their flesh from our view.

I can also see religious reasons NOT to do so, even where the religious commands of Islam are interpreted as requiring such things, simply because it attracts so much attention and ire that it seems contrary to the principles behind the rules (as they are interpreted by strict fundamentalist Muslims). But despite the expected flawed reasoning of religious commandments to a people who are not expected, by their religious decrees, to live for long durations among "infidels", I don't see a reason to sacrifice the autonomy of people to choose what they should wear on their own bodies. Nor do I think it likely that such laws will in some way grant a new form of autonomy to the women who are deemed to be forced to wear burqas by their families or husbands. If this action was anything more than a symbolic attempt to reject Islamic society and its inroads into the French (and Belgian) countries and cultures, I might be a little more supportive of it. It fails utterly to do anything serious with the illiberal notions and chains of reasoning that lead to women being compelled to veil their faces and bodies (in essence anything which provides women with decreased autonomy and discriminatory access to public services, such as restaurant service) and imposes a very illiberal sense of reasoning that declares that they mustn't do so because we say so and know better than they their own wants.