This is a clip from my talk at Harvard University, where I demonstrated just how isolating and disempowering the hijab and niqab can be.
On the rare occasions Muslim women are allowed to leave their fundamentalist homes, they are forced to interact with the world through a veil of isolation - even expected to hide their voices from “strange” men.
And yet, many in the West insist the niqab and hijab are apparently “empowering”.
Just one day inside this body bag would undoubtedly change their minds.
Entering a convent is voluntary. A nun may leave the convent or the Catholic faith at any time.
Nuns may go out in public in secular clothing without the veil. Nuns may choose which type of order she joins, whether cloistered or helping the public.
A nun will not get arrested by religious police, beaten, called a whore, or killed, for going out without her veil.
Muslim women suffer all of this around the world.
If your entire argument is based on pretending not to understand the objection is force and oppression, then it is a de facto admission that you know you are wrong.
Unless a veil is voluntary for women out in public, then it is oppressive.
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STOP comparing Afghan women in burqas and Iranian women under compulsory hijab with Christian nuns.
This really isn’t complicated.
A nun chooses to become a nun. Her vow applies to her. She doesn’t take the vow and suddenly every woman in Italy has to cover her hair.
And if she removes her veil, the morality police don’t show up to beat her, arrest her, or throw her in prison.
That’s the difference.
In Iran and Afghanistan, the rules don’t care whether you’re religious, secular, Muslim, atheist, or just want to be left alone. You’re a woman? Congratulations. The authorities have a dress code for you.
And please stop pointing at little girls in hijab and calling it “choice.” Some of these children can’t even read yet. They’re old enough to choose a religious obligation for life, but apparently not old enough to choose what they want for lunch?
Here’s the test nobody seems to want to take:
What happens when a woman says NO?
If the answer is guns and bullets, prison, beatings, losing your education, or being erased from public life, congratulations, you’ve discovered the difference between choice and coercion.
And if you still think the Taliban model is somehow “liberating,” try it yourself. Cover up. Obey. Let religious authorities decide how you dress, where you go, whether you work, and when you’re allowed to speak. Then explain to Afghan women how empowered you feel.
Is this really that difficult to understand?
#LetUsTalk
