Reply #16: OK... but that is not exactly a burqa is it?

[PDenton]

Believe it or not, 150 years ago or so, the above description you gave wouldn't be so out of the ordinary as a standard for acceptable clothing for alot of American women.

I'm not saying it is particularly enlightened for Iranian women to be forced to wear a restrictive range of clothing, but there is nothing really alien about it, only to a culture that thinks Britney getting up and shaking her mostly naked body is "normal" thinks that there's something diabolical about asking people to dress modestly.

It is often a cheap rightwing talking point to mention women wearing "tents" "over there", as if it is a justification to use military action against a country. Wrap yourself in feminism and the most obscene acts of savage warmongering become tolerable, so the thinking goes. It's not really enlightened thinking, just rehashing the same colonialist themes of the civilized vs. the savage.

But... I'm not disagreeing with you necessarily and I welcome your comments and insights.