On wearing a veil in Islam

You can talk all you want about this but wearing a veil signifies backwardness and inequality between men and women, at best. The bigger the veil, the worse the inequality.

Muslim women try to rationalize wearing it, as do men. They have to, as there is no religious reason for doing so. The best you can find in the Koran are some statements about women not making themselves attractive, or available, or something similarly vague.

Men and women are not equal in Islam. Men know themselves, and so they realize that other men look at their wives, sisters and mothers as they themselves do. Lacking even the admittedly very modest self-control that Western men have, they solve the problem by keeping their women at home, not allowing them out unless chaperoned and hidden behind a veil.

As I said, Muslim women rationalize wearing it by saying they agree with the idea behind the rule, namely they don't want their appearance to distract from the real person. A principle I agree with, but clearly, hiding yourself is fighting a symptom. Western society is plagued by an emphasis on outward appearances, but trying to fight this by hiding is ludicrous, and indicates a tendency to justify abuse of women who don't "hide". It is up to men to behave, it is not up to women not to "provoke" them. The general idea that 99% of all Muslim men share that scantily dressed Western women are whores and have no rights stems from this same feeling. And placing the responsibility on the women instead of on the men also sends a signal that men are not to blame for whatever they do with (or to) a woman who is not covered up from head to toe.