Respect is no trick

Boston Globe
Ellen Goodman
October 29, 2006

Under the banner of "freedom of choice," American women are wearing more revealing Halloween costumes each year, while British women are fighting for the right to keep their face veiled. Aishah Azmi, a Muslim teaching assistant in London, has been suspended from her university for wearing a full-face veil. In appealing the suspension, Azmi argued for her right to self-expression. But what Azmi sees as self-expression in London is a symbol of repression in many other societies. In Afghanistan, women choose to wear the burqa to save their lives. Deborah Tolman, formeraly of the Wellesley Centers for Women, and author of "Dilemmas of Desire" states, "If we can't cover it, we can kill it. That's the context." In choosing skimpy Halloween costumes in America, and wearing a full-face veil in London, women are claiming "the freedom" to fit into narrow constraints of sexuality," according to Goodman.

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