Or perhaps another effective way to solve the problem would be to ensure that young women (or older women even!) are NOT UNDER ANY SOCIAL PRESSURE to wear the niqab / hijab / burqa
And how do you ensure that?
If a child/teenager is forced to wear the niqab and not allowed to step out of the house without it, etc, like the daughters of many religious/traditionalist families, this can have an almost permanent effect on the girls's skills in terms of being a well-rounded individual who fits well into mainstream society.
A few issues here.
Firstly, I think you are right with regard to the psychological damage, however, your point of banning would only therefore apply to child/teenage wearers of the burka.
Secondly, parents who are so intent on their daughters only leaving the house with a burka are almost certainly likely to respond to the ban by simply not allowing their daughters to leave the house at all, which is likely to be even more damaging.
Thirdly, you refer to children not being allowed to leave the house without a burka "like the daughters of
many religious/traditionalist families". I would contest that the actually proportion of families within the UK (or indeed Europe) that enforce such a lifestyle are vanishingly small, possibly countable on the fingers of a hand or two. I have issue with parents that implicitly sexualise their young daughters by covering them in the name of modesty (with either burka or hijaab), but I have equal issue with the parents who overtly sexualise their young daughters by dressing them up in skimpy clothes and having their faces caked with make-up. I do not however feel it is for the state to get involved in this issue beyond long term education strategies. Active enforcement of bans has so many negative repercussions.
It's like leaving a cult for some, and people can struggle to adapt to mainstream society.
The niqab/veil is a tool of segregation to keep Muslim girls pure and chaste, until they get married off to a similarly religious man, and the cult perpetuates. :sigh:
I agree, but I don't think it's something the state can intervene in directly.
Topic: Maryam Namazie interview: Ireland: