The Burqa

A substantial number of people in Europe and America, with British groups becoming a prime example, are calling on the government to ban the garment worn by Muslim women known as the burqa. As you might have guessed from my general pro-Muslim stance on, like, everything, I don't agree with these proposals.

The burqa is a piece of clothing that covers every part of a woman's body and face except her eyes. It's kind of an upgrade from the de-sexualising headdress worn by most female Muslims. It's the ultimate expression of the Muslim belief that women should not be looked upon in a sexual way before marriage- that sex and male-to-female relationships should be regarded as pure.

Banning it is a stupid idea that will do nothing but demonise those of the Muslim faith. If we profess to live in a free society, then we must allow people to express what they believe and live their life by those beliefs.
However, let's take a look at the burqa-banning arguments:

The Burqa is sexist.
I think people who claim this misunderstand the basic purpose of the burqa. It's not to mark women as inferior, it's to stop men from looking at them in a lustful way. To that extent, it's perfectly harmonious with the feminist cause, as it prevent women from being seen as sex objects. True, it highlights the difference between man and women. But to prevent gender difference being demonstrated by clothing, you'd have to ban 90% of the things western women wear. 

Women are only coerced into wearing Burqas by Muslim men, they don't want to wear them.
Granted, we can not prove that this isn't the case. But no Muslim woman has ever testified to the above being the case, making it baseless. Female Muslims are just as committed to Islam as male Muslims, so they are just as likely to want to express that faith, via clothing if that's what they want.

It's a security breach to let people whose faces are covered into banks and such.

This is indisputable. But it's not a reason to ban the burqa altogether. Burqa-bearing women can be convinced to reveal their faces briefly to heterosexual women working at the bank, or they can make use of Muslim banks. 

People feel threatened when they see Muslim women covered by burqas.

People only feel threatened by burqas for the same reason they might feel threatened by a career-obtaining woman, or a gay couple, or an interracial couple. We can't pander to the ignorant gut reaction of "oh no! that person's different from me! run for the hills!". Other people's prejudice is no reason to stop people from expressing their faith.

So, that's that, I think. Freedom of expression needs to be approves in all it's forms, for every point of view that is being expressed.