We shouldn't know this phrase...

"Taking the veil". I read that just now in reference to an article on bras. A woman replied to a man's lewd comment with "Should we take the veil to avoid creeps like you?"

That is horrible! We shouldn't ever consider something like that, even in jest. I've been on a shawl-buying kick recently on Ebay. I've bought some lovely "pashmina" - whatever they are, they're nice, shawls, and some blended fiber shawls. I even ordered a natural cotton one, and a dyed silk one. All well within my internet budget.

But everytime I do a search, the damned veils keep coming up - oh, they call it other things. "Abaya" - the cloak-like "getup" that conceals a woman's entire body, "Hijab" or "Shayla" (that's the head covering) and my personal favorite, the "Niquab". Sounds innocent, huh? Kind of like squab or something? No. It's the face covering. Yeah. The one you'd better be wearing under Sharia law or you're gonna get your ass beat by the "morals police". We call them "ski masks" where I come from.

It's America. I can do nothing about the fact that I regularly see young girls and adult woman wearing their "prison garb" at Walmart. I want to scream at them, "You're in America! You can take that crap off!" But, presumably, they want to wear it. It makes them feel safe, I suppose. I doubt they ever get leered at. Kids are dying in Iraq right now so those women have the right to wear their "Hijab" or a miniskirt to Walmart if they choose.

Frankly, seeing that garb scares the crap out of me. I feel that certain factions would like nothing more than to get us all under Sharia law, worshipping in their mosques, wearing their getup, and paying our taxes to the authorities because we dare to believe in Jesus Christ. See, you can be a Christian in the Middle East. You will be persecuted, and you will pay a hefty tax as well. But you'd better wear the getup, or else. If you're lucky, you get off with a severe beating.

Never. It scares me to see how common it's all becoming, seeing the women in the "getup" - only their eyes exposed. I don't think it's my area, which isn't even that affluent. Seeing all this "Niquab" crap on Ebay and the "Arab Princess" scarves every time I look for a cute accessory.

I doubt many Arabic women feel like a princess. More like an inmate, I'd guess.

I'd never take the veil, or go somewhere that demanded it.