The Dutch have banned the wearing of burqas in public. An anti-Democratic restriction on the freedom of religious expression? A legitimate security measure? An attempt to rescue the roughly 50 Muslim women in Holland that do wear burqas from social isolation and misogynistic Islamic social customs?

Dutch to ban wearing of Muslim burqa in public

The Dutch government agreed on Friday a total ban on the wearing of burqas and other Muslim face veils in public, justifying the move on security grounds…. “The cabinet finds it undesirable that garments covering the face—including the burqa—should be worn in public in view of public order, (and) the security and protection of fellow citizens,” the Dutch Justice Ministry said in a statement.

The Netherlands would be the first European state to impose a countrywide ban on Islamic face coverings, though other countries have already outlawed them in specific places….

The Muslim community estimates that only about 50 women in the Netherlands wear the head-to-toe burqa or the niqab, a face veil that conceals everything but the eyes. Dutch Muslim groups have complained a burqa ban would make the country’s 1 million Muslims feel more victimized and alienated, regardless of whether they approve of burqas or not.

“This will just lead to more girls saying ‘hey I’m also going to wear a burqa as a protest’,” Naima Azough, a member of parliament from the opposition Green Left, told an election campaign meeting for fellow members of the Moroccan community.

I hate burqas. And veils. It annoys the fuck out of me when I see them in public—particularly on young girls. And it annoys when lefties talk about things like Burqa Barbie—an Islamic doll that comes with a short dress for the doll to wear inside the house and a garbage bag for her to wear outside the house—like its some triumph of tolerance.

Lest people think that she’s all about praying, there’s In-Out Razanne, whose wardrobe also includes a short, flowery dress she can wear inside the home, in view only of men in her family.

Oh, great. Dolls for little Muslim girls that reinforce the sexist crap that her religious parents are pounding into her head at home! How… delightfully… progressive.

Teaching young women that they are the property of men—so much so that only the men in her family have a right to lay eyes on her—is tantamount to child abuse. It’s sexual enslavement and it offends me deeply. Still, I think banning burqas—or Burqa Barbies—is wrong. It will, without a doubt, result in more women wearing them—some by choice, but more women will take up the burqa on orders from husbands, fathers, and brothers.

The burqa—and Burqa Barbie—should be allowed to die a natural death in the west. Any attempt to stamp it out will only prolong its life.