Why do Muslim women buy into the head to toe covering?

Question

By wearing complete covering a muslim woman accepts that any interaction with a man other than her husband or brothers is sexualized. Why shouldn't men and women look at each other's faces if there is business to be done, 99% of daily encounters between the sexes is purely non sexual. This practice of complete cover reduces women to foremostly just sexual beings, that they need to be shielded from the eyes of a male! A woman cannot just go to the corner store without complete covering because another man's eyes might see her and that will just be so wrong and immodest and against what Allah wants! NOT! Most people are too busy to care. If a woman is just too beautiful and is worried she will invite lustful gazes she could dress modestly. Complete covering is a separatist practice and invites scorn in non muslim society. This practice suggests they will win the modesty competition. It really reduces women to third class citizens. Maybe that is what some women want, if they choose it.

Answer 1

Subservient, subjugation to men, oppressed, giving up rights, and lack of self confidence are some of the reasons why they wear these "moving tents".

Fine, if they can live with it. I do not want to be party to this one. I pity people (women or men) who have no self confidence.

Are men that weak - so they will pounce on the woman's flesh the minute they see them? Are they animals? NOT. Should women feel secure by covering their bodies? NOT. By their dress, muslim women have erected a wall against freer communication.

I am not saying that woman should let it all hang out. One can dress modestly (as 90% of women do), look appealing to talk to.
Not every one want to have sex with the next woman they see eye to eye. It is common courtesy to acknowledge another person when they are communicating to you.

Wearing a black veil or burqa is Balderdash................

Answer 2

I agree with you that most interactions between men and women are non-sexual. However, it's not fair to judge them so harsly for this. If, let's say in Iran, a woman tried walking around uncovered, do you think that's possible? No, it's not. She'd be beaten and arrested.

It's also fair to say, why do Western women buy into the artificial beauty thing? Why the make-up, fake nails, fake breasts, fake hair, etc? That question is just as fair as your's, even moreso because in the West we actually have a choice of whether or not to use the fake stuff.

Recently I was debating on whether or not to don some kind of head covering for modesty's sake. I'm not a Muslim, but I do agree 100% with the reason for wearing a hijab. I love the idea of never being judged for my good looks or the lack of good looks. I'm beautiful, but I'm also very fat. Sometimes I'm treated "less-than" because of the weight. If I wore some kind of head covering, then maybe I'll be seen more as a human being instead of like a lot of flesh??? That's what I was wondering. In the end I decided against it, because it's way too hot. I tried it, wore a scarf indoors but couldn't stand it. It had to go.

If women wanna cover up, so be it. They wanna be taken seriously, and not be judged by their hair color, breast size, butt size/shape, etc. I couldn't agree more.

Live and let live.

Answer 3

What makes you think that women "buy into" the head-to-toe covering?
Let's say a woman doesn't want it, and she wants to rebel against it -- I doubt she's going to have an easy life. In fact, she may even lose her life, if a male relative decides that she is bringing shame on her family.
So we have no way of knowing whether most Muslim women in the East actually accept their costume or not.

As for the costume being separatist and inviting scorn in non-Muslim societies: there is no reason why everyone should dress the same and act the same.
If you scorn cultures with customs that are different from you own, you are being very intolerant.

The rainbow is made beautiful by its inclusion of different colors. Imagine if it were all the same color!
Same with humankind: we are made more beautiful by our inclusion of different cultures.

However, I do agree with you that *IF* Muslim women actually reject the head-to-toe costume, they should not be forced to wear it.

Answer 4

I don't know that much about the Muslim faith but I have read that they don't have a much of a choice in the matter. Only husband, fathers and brothers are allowed to see a woman unveiled. When a woman goes out in public she is supposed to cover herself to protect her from the lustful gazes of other men. If a woman doesn't cover herself she is considered immoral and is ostracized or can even be put to death.

Answer 5

When I see women in the complete coverings here in the South, I can't help but feel empathy for them. It must be very hot to wear these, I also think that the obviously domineering husband must have no respect for her as a woman. This is The United States of America people, you are free to wear what you want.. but as citizens we have the right to criticize your looks. And to feel sorry for the women who have to wear this attire day in and day out. But if this is a covering to stop men from gawking at you.. hey... I need to get something to stop a certain ethnic group from staring at me.

Answer 6

This can become a long debate.So I will just say this. I was once living in Brunei ( Im from Malaysia ) and my wife told me that she on a couple of occasions asked a Muslim lady why did she cover her head with the head-scarf ( or the tudong as its called in Malaysia and Brunei ).
Guess what she said...??

She told my wife that if she didnt wear it , her dear ole husband would be punished and go to hell. He would suffer for her refusal to be covered. Sounds like a bunch of freaky crap to me!!!!!!

As for this head-to-toe thingy..I think its disgusting. How come you ask yourself...that the poor woman has to cover up whilst her partner can wear almost anything he likes..open shirt..chest showing....hip like dressing....?

To add to all this...these male creatures are allowed up to 4 wives!!!. Now I dont know what the specifics are in Islam as I am not that religious myself. BUT how do you think non-muslims will view this religion?

What happens to these poor women? What kind of lives are they leading. My own mother has to wear a head-scarf because my now departed father warned her that since she's white ( my mum is from the uk ) she might get attacked by some muslim fanatics who know she is a muslim and seemingly refuses to wear a tudong ( head scarf ). Can you imagine that???! My own mum has to protect herself from such Islamic bigotry ?

This is a pure case of subjugation and oppression of women in Islam!! I cant stand it.

Remember the Taliban of Afghanistan?

Answer 7

Logical question: Isn't it more humiliating for women to have the latest fashions hardly covering a lady's body and year after year showing more parts of her , while gents fashion is to cover up their bodies and not to show much parts of it?

BTW, getting uncovered is much likely to animals than to humans.

For those who don't see the real humiliation to western ladies: compare ladies and gents wear in western movies or fashion magazines. It is the western woman who is treated as a sex object and it is her "appearance" that decides her carrier and not the real her.

As for Muslims, humans are not classified by gender. Instead, it's the individual manners that speak about a person in Islam--whether a woman or a man. And please don't speak about Muslims unless you have read about them from honest resources like the one mentioned below.

Answer 8

Non-muslims think that the women who are covered from head to toe are 3rd class.That's Not so. I wear a covering where it is needed. When i have to go to a cheap locality where women are treated as sex objects i love to cover myself and i feel very safe protected and confident because people like u think "this woman is 3rd class so we should not look at her" ......U cant say like this untill & unless u dont know the condition of that place.

Answer 9

It's a cultural thing. They come from a different culture and have different values and a different way of seeing it than us.

In their culture, not being covered up is considered slutty, letting any man out there look at your body. To them covering up is their way of being decent. And to them we (who don't cover up) seem like sluts for letting everyone see a big part of our bodies. It's just a cultural difference.

Btw, not all muslim women cover up and not only muslims do. I think it has more to do with local customs and moral values than the religion in most cases.

Answer 10

Islamic terrorism is inspired by Islamic teachings. We can never get rid of Islamic terrorism unless we defeat the ideology behind it and that is Islam itself. Islam induces hate backed by lies. Muhammad was a terrorist by his own admission. All Muslims, to the extent that they follow him, are terrorists. Those Muslims who are not terrorists are ignorant of Islam and are not good Muslims. Fortunately they are the majority. We need to rescue them. If you are a good human being, you are not a Muslim. Read this site and if you can't prove me wrong, which you certainly can't, leave this deceitful cult of hate and terror and join mankind. Don't be part of the Umma. Umma is fascism. It is divisive. It induces the hatred of others. Be part of humanity instead. Your ignorance is not an excuse. Pull your head out of the sand and face the truth, like we did.

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