Give me the future

And may it not have any of these in it.

Good on Jack Straw, I think. It's a can of thorny old worms but it's about time it was opened.

Let me be clear on this one. I loathe veils with a passion.

I loathe body fascism as well. I loathe the fact that our (majority) culture judges women, and women judge themselves, against a physical ideal which is completely unattainable. Even the people who epitomise it don't really have it, in this age of Botox and Photoshop, but we want to believe it, so we do. I loathe the fact that women spend so much time measuring how far they fall short of this ideal and beating themselves up about it, and that this message is reinforced by a diet and beauty industry which makes billions from our low self-esteem.

It's a struggle managing all that, finding your style, working out how to dress, how to look, what to care about, what to let go, what to confront, how to age. There's a lot of misery involved, some of it mine (though, on the whole, I have been able to plot a navigable route through this particular minefield).

But even at its sharp end it's better, in my opinion, than only engaging with the public sphere with your face and body covered.

There's something about the veil in particular, and associated shapeless black stuff in general, that I find unpalatable to the point of unacceptable. I think it has to do with the idea that women must be modest so that men are not tempted to indulge their baser urges. If you can't see women, I believe the argument runs, you will somehow be freed from your thoughts of defiling them.

Q: On how many levels is this offensive (to both men and women)?
A: Plenty.

So good point well made on Jack's part I think (and I haven't said *that* for a while). In fact I think his is a better way in than mine. I can't believe that anyone really does want to cover their face up, but some of them say they do, and I think his argument is both delicate and effective.

joella