In Afghanistan there is least freedom from the Taliban and the law they follow, so if Women just wears loose fitting clothes(I am not mentioning any western dress just loose Salwar Kameez) but not overgarment she would be hanged or buried.

In Pakistan since it is different story, in one lane you will have families wearing short skirts, in another just salwar kameez and in next to that full head to toe Burkha. So generalising Pakistan is difficult, but still in rural regions of Pakistan or SWAT and North west border of Pakistan where Taliban presence is strong not wearing Burkha can lead to lashes on skin.

Last I took India, here if woman dresses like that in rural areas like wearing short skirt with tight top and no Dupatta(long robe covering neck and chest)(we are used to wear sarees that are knee length and that is common practice in peasant families as they work in fields)
she would be jeered at, whistled, made feel uncomfortable and later her family will ask her to wear traditional stuff.

They are three different scenarios in three different countries of Asia which are neighbours of each other. Rape can happen in any of these three countries but what I wanted to write was word “Freedom”.
Indian rural girl is also not having complete freedom but atleast she knows noone will kill her for this.

I have given very generic example it may happen that some overtly male chauvinistic families in India may kill their daughter if she wears that but that will happen seldom for a dress, it may happen more for marrying outside the family rules which we call Honour killing. That again is deplorable is against the idea of freedom.

But if I am not then what? Can I wear Short skirt in Muslim dominated areas in Asia and Africa(I am not writing America because I consider it is still having some freedom of expression).Mostly in India it is difficult for that matter to wear short skirt even in conservative Hindu localities but If I go to any Muslim locality I won’t be comfortable.

Why? Is it just sexual apppeal or is it psychological conditioning in mind that a woman wearing short skirt is available/loose character and woman wearing burkha is just so pious………

Point in this whole discussion is how the preachers of Islam(present on Youtube and other online channels) actually make a non Burkha covered women appear as sin and denigrate her.

I know your next arguement would be to check hormone levels of how man reacts to Burkha covered woman and to others who are fully nude.

But question in this blog is about modesty and when hundreds of websites, you-tube, american colleges, western educational institutions invite Muslim cleric who say islam dress is only form of modest wear it does hurt one who does not wear it. There is so much psychological pressure on you, people who are creating material for these courses attack you psychologically, in west dress is given most importance along with divorce rate and in east specially India polytheistic aspect of Hinduism (Hinduism has monothestic as well as polutheistic aspects) is given most imporatnce in any such course or talk. As simple as that the way courses or talks are given it is shown that native lifestyle is worst and Islam offers best. No more broken families, no more rapes as women would be more modest, no more identity issues etc.

what I want to say is that Burkha is just another garment but the political and moral ideologies that are so strongly attached to it makes it a threat for other women who dont wear it. Burkha may have allowed lots of young Muslim Indian women to come out of homes and continue their education, But do they have choice to remove it after education if they wish to? Or they would just get married and their husbands would ofcourse not let them have this choice when it was so hard for their parents. And so it will keep on going like this.What if 1 out of this lot of 100 young women adopted burkha just for education and wanted to remove it after. Who is there to answer her cries for freedom? Afterall we always harp about minority rights, what happens to this minority? she just resigns to dictats of life or is so much conditioned that she feels fighting for her freedom as burden on her chest and leaves it for eternity.

Suzzane by name other lady seems Hindu.

I think that if a woman wants to wear a hair covering (hijab) than I don’t think she is doing herself an injustice. And wearing loose fitting clothing is not oppresive. There is pride in showing someone what you stand for. Nevertheless, if a Muslim woman does not dress in Islamic norms, can she still be modest and a true Muslim? I believe so.

If a woman has no choice but to wear burqas, and the like because either she will be beaten and threatened, or if she feels guilty and pressured by others to do so, IS WRONG!

All that I see from the article and the above exchanges is “I agree, but.” The sad truth is that there are no buts about it. A human being who is forced to subjugate by means of any visible symbol, whether it’s a burqa or a tattoo or a yellow star, IS being oppressed, whether they realize it or not. When they choose to wear it on their own and start to sincerely believe in the power of the symbol, the oppression then becomes complete and irrevocable.