My cousins wear hijab, by choice and are far from oppressed.
Not even close to showing support for murder of gays or stripping womans rights.

Tons of women in muslim societies all around the world are forced to veil themselves, tons of feminist activists in countries like Iran or Saudi-Arabia are sitting in jail because they fought for the right to unveil - yet a sizeable number of Western lefties embrace the hijab as a symbol of feminism and tolerance.

The fact that some women wear the hijab voluntarily doesnt change its status as a symbol of the oppression and inequality of women in islam. And yes, this does involve "stripping women's rights": the pressure veil one's face, which is all too common in muslim societies, is directly impacting a fundamental human right, namely the right to free development of the individual.

This post was edited by Black XistenZ on Mar 8 2020 10:21pm

Did you read the tagline that comes with the picture in your picture?
Think you missed the message being conveyed with that image.

I already linked an article, from a woman much more qualified on the issue than myself, who explains in detail why the symbolism is highly problematic despite the good intentions.

i wish you were that passionate and outspoken about fundamental rights when it comes to those that christian conservatives infringe upon, like bodily self-determination, voting, healthcare, a life in dignity, religious freedom, gender and racial equality...

that said, i also see the hijab critically - and while i'm not in favour of an outright ban, i do acknowledge its role in the oppression of women in muslim cultures...

This post was edited by fender on Mar 8 2020 10:53pm

had to check, he actually tweeted that:

Voting and healthcare are very important, but not fundamental rights. Opinions on what "votings rights" actually mean differ a lot anyway...
The term "a life in dignity" is too nebulous to be a practical criterion.
Religious freedom is something that both liberals and conservatives like to infringe or abuse for their purposes whenever it serves their partisan pet peeves.
I'm very much in support of gender and racial equality if "equality" is understood as "equal opportunity" in the literal sense of the word, but I strongly reject the competing concept of forcing or mandating "equality of outcomes".
I'm pro-choice, pro assisted suicide, anti mandatory vaxxing, and so on - so I actually am on the side of bodily self-determination.

This post was edited by Black XistenZ on Mar 8 2020 11:05pm

We share the same stances.
But the hijab can be seen many ways, its not as simple as just throwing the oppression label on it.
Plenty of western muslim woman choose to wear it and they do not see it that way, some see it as just an aspect of their culture.
My stance is that no one should be forced to wear anything but we should also not force anyone not to wear something should they wish to.

i'm always amazed what people claim to be in favour of, and what they actually vote for, lol.

Oh, I dont support hijab bans either. I would like to ban burqas and niqabs, but certainly not hijabs. Nonetheless, it is an undeniable fact that the hijab is a tool of the oppression of women in large parts of the muslim world. Therefore, I think that it cannot possibly be a suitable symbol for the fight for women's rights here in the West.



Different individuals assign different importance to certain political issues. I'm an atheistic, childless single guy between the age of 20 and 40 - neither religious freedom nor abortion rights have a tangible impact on my life or my future.

A botched response to climate change (whether it is too harsh a reaction, leading to deindustrialization and a loss of wealth, or a too tepid reaction leading to unchecked climate change), housing prices and rents getting out of hand, disadvantageous immigration and integration policies, a collapse of the pension system or another financial crisis - those are examples of issues with the potential to affect my life in a tangible way. And on those issues of high personal salience, I overwhelmingly prefer the solutions offered by the so-called "right-wing populists" over the solutions offered by any left-of-center parties.

This post was edited by Black XistenZ on Mar 8 2020 11:33pm