Good blog post by an ex-Muslim on the hijab, in response to a recent video on The Guardian.
http://www.economics-of-curiosity.com/post/123928749967/the-hijab-is-not-a-feminist-statement-get-over....
The very assumption behind recommending the hijab is that women are viewed as objects of sexual pleasure and reproductive capacity – in other words, they are objectified to be viewed to serve the sole purposes sexual pleasure and procreation. And in the old days of Islamic regime, a women did not own her reproductive rights and sexuality but the male senior member in the family, such as a father did. When a woman was married off, it was a transfer of her ownership and sexuality from her father to her husband. Where does hijab factor in? Well, in those time, it was seen a signal of modesty and sexual chastity if a women covered her body, and thereby appearing to be more attractive and eligible to be an obedient virgin wife than a woman who won’t. What grounded the significance of hijab as some legitimate hallmark of morality is the reward of torture-free eternal paradise by Allah. Therefore, you can say a woman’s worth in the Islamic regime was measured by her sexual independence, or more precisely, the lack of it.
....