Men aren’t allowed to show from the navel, to the knee, to anyone but their wives, even in male-only company. As is for females, in female-only company. Further, the man has to behave in a way that is firm, and non-seductive, as do the females. The only difference is the headdress, and that is because the hair, on a female, is the most attractive part (as found in many a survey)

If you have such a huge problem with it, then don’t do it, or whatever. Walk around in whatever you want. Has anyone noticed that prostitutes on TV are shown in miniskirts, but ‘respectable’ women in longer and more ‘modest’ clothing?

Think about your own society. Your girlfriends never gonna turn up to meet your parents for the first time in a bra and a g-string. Right?

So its a matter of respect. The woman’s body is very attractive, and so it should be covered so as to not attract attention merely for ‘attraction’.

Anyway. I’m glad people have come in here talking abt oppression and such, it shows how ignorant the world is.

Sure, the oppression happens. But isn’t it even more oppression to stop those who WANT to? Wheres the ‘freedom’? If theres one extreme where you have to, theres another where you cant – even if its your own choice.

The whole hijab thing takes me by surprise. People just cant take it when someones different – they just can’t handle it.

Well that is partly right, the Gulf region is known to be more conservative. But that is rapidly changing with the economic expansion of these countries. And some countries that have been traditionally known as more liberal are becoming more conservative, such as Egypt.

See, this is the sort of thing I come here to learn. I know it’s hard even for people on the ground there to assess these things, but given how far off the mark I probably am it shouldn’t take much to give me a better idea than I have at present.

Also, the gulf is supposedly the hijabi heartland and niqab country, with everywhere else claiming to be far less strict

Well that is partly right, the Gulf region is known to be more conservative. But that is rapidly changing with the economic expansion of these countries. And some countries that have been traditionally known as more liberal are becoming more conservative, such as Egypt.

and given how many Muslim immigrants insist on wearing these things here, we figure you must be off the charts

I think to some extent, this is an attempt to hold on to their culture, in an unfamiliar place.

you see men with furry face and women in ninja costume plotting to take over the world or talking about what hey had for lunch… all depends on who translated the material…

Nah, most of the taking over the world stuff comes out of London and Australia, and those guys don’t need translating. The same goes for cats and uncovered meat type material. And the cartoonrioter in chief from Denmark is being translated correctly, I can vouch for it.

Plus we have this dude in Norway called Mullah Krekar who will go on TV and lambast kumbaya leftists for misrepresenting his religion. He thinks non Muslims should be targeted with punitive taxation and a lot of other things, and he’s not shy about arguing it on national television. Muslims think he’s a right-wing conspiracy. (alright, I only heard that once, second hand, but I laughed my ass off)

Basically stuff like that only makes the news if it happens in a western country.

We do see regular women from the other Arab countries, like Jordan and Lebanon. I guess Bahrain just isn’t all that newsworthy.