PIETER DORSMAN at Peaktalk makes excellent points about women and Islam, particularly regarding the increasing number of European women who are converting. He also quotes an interview with Dutch minister of transportation, also a female, who seems to agree that Muslim women are "liberated" by covering themselves up. To this I say: whatever floats your boat is fine with me. But it's the explanation to it what bothers me: the Dutch minister says: "Wearing a headscarf is of course culturally determined. And that’s the way these women experience that, because that’s how they experience their religion. In addition, the headscarf offers opportunities for women is some Islamic countries, because without one they won’t be able to leave home."

Yeah, sure. And blacks in segregated Alabama should be grateful and liberated to be able to go to a "Colored people" bathroom, otherwise they would have had to crap on the floor outside. Not to mention blacks in the slavery era; they had endless opportunities thanks to the shackles and chains, otherwise they wouldn't have been able to leave their huts.

It's the same logic, ain't it?

The point is not whether Muslim women are free to cover themselves up. It's whether they're free not to; it's what happens if they decide not to use a veil what counts. And we know what happens: in most Islamic countries, and in Islamic areas in Western cities, at a bare minimum it means at least not being able to leave their homes.

Where's the "liberation" in that?

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