Will Jack Straw tell a white woman to cover up

[Dom Tuk]

Now that Straw has got into the front pages (and lost all his ethnic votes from his constituency) what do you think he will do if a young white (or any other colour) woman comes to his surgery wearing a mini skirt and a top that barely covers her bosom. There are any number of women any given day walking around our streets and one of them may find it worthwhile to visit his surgery. So bearing in mind that Jack Straw would like to concentrate on the constituents face when he has a one to one converstaion about consitutent matters would he be inclined to ask her to cover her modesty so that he can pay more attention to her face and expressions.

[noxlumos]

No I would hope he wouldn't tell her to cover herlself up. I'd personally like to see everyone stop getting progressively more and more absurd in what they require of other people and just be happy to live and let live.
Muslim women should NOT have been asked to remove their veils, but the counter measure to that should be an apology not another ridiculous request about what someone else is wearing. It's like a pathetic tit for tat in a school yard at the moment.Time we all bloody grew up.

[dummkopf]

Can't see the point of domtuk's post really, No one is asking muslim women to wear mini skirts, just to avoid the bandit look. Short skirts, sleeveless, low necked, this kind of attire is found in ALL western countries, Jack Straw grew up seeing women dress western style. Shrouds are not a part of the western way of life. Some people find them unnerving, intimidating, even ridiculous.

[juddlinski]

"Shrouds are not a part of the western way of life. Some people find them unnerving, intimidating, even ridiculous. "

Oh, so that makes it perfectly okay for us to demand that Muslim women take them off. Gotcha.

[brionon]

Masks should be Unlawful.

[littleoldme]

Yet again, a non-event is being blown out of all proportion by people on both sides of the argument. This is about Jack Straw asking - not demanding - asking Muslim women to remove their veils when visiting his surgery, not because he finds it unnerving or "un-Western", but merely in order to aid communication. The women are perfectly at liberty to comply with this polite request or refuse as they see fit. End of matter...or so it should be.

But no. Everyone puffs out their feathers and we get fundamentalist Muslims on one side bleating on about Straw's perceived insensitivity and intolerance, and the Daily Mail mob on the other jabbering on about how we should stop pandering to Muslims every whim (I wasn't aware we did, but you can't beat a good knee-jerk reaction).

I agree with noxlumos - it's about time people on both sides on the argument stopped being so pathetic and taking offence at every little thing.

[dummkopf]

Personally I think this kind of attire should be banned,but it won't happen here in 'liberal' UK they will continue to walk around like the bogeyman ! but what the hell - it'll be something else in the news next week.....

[noxlumos]

tonyted are you capable of posting anything that's not utter b******t, like a carefully reasoned response, or are insults, generalisations and half truths all you have?

[jno]

agree with littleoldme... Straw is talking about veils as a barrier, not just a distraction, as low necklines might be. I've seen no evidence that he's a racist or anti-Islamic (though those who accuse him of being part of the anti-Iraq war machine do have a point).

What he said, as I understand it, is that he feels uncomfortable talking to someone whose face he can't see. This seems, at the least, a reasonable point to raise. What do you think, Dom Tuk? How do you feel talking to someone in a niqab? Do you feel at a disadvantage because she can see your face and you can't see hers? Do you feel comfort because you're obviously in the presence of someone with deep religious feelings? Or what?

I can't answer these questions myself because none of the Muslims I know wear full veils, only headscarves. But they're questions about how we socialise and how we deal with people whose faces we can't see; these are fair matters for discussion, I think. (And I'd be surprised if Straw's constituents ran off and voted for someone else because he'd raised them.)

[suffragette]

When I was a child, I remember my mother telling me off for covering my mouth when talking. She argued it muffled my speech and that it was rude of me to avoid facing directly the person to whom I was talking. (I'm assuming she meant culturally rude in the west.)

It's a minor clash of cultures and I would suggest Jack Straw keeps asking them to remove their veil if he so wishes and the Muslim women concerned keep refusing if they feel strongly enough about the matter. The important thing is they keep talking regardless of their viewpoints.

[Dom Tuk]

I will ask the question in a different way then as no one is answering it. If jack straw does not mind a scantily clad woman and can concentrate on her face is he being racist by only asking to see a muslims womans face. Would you think then that he is picking on muslim women

[jno]

Dom Tuk, I guess he is only asking to see the faces of women whose faces he can't already see? He evidently feels face-to-face contact means being able to see faces. Also, I believe he is hard of hearing and finds it helpful to lip-read. He is not asking to see, or not to see, anyone's knees.