On the subject of feminism, here is Naomi Wolf gushing on the psychological gains to be had from shrouding her body, Muslim woman-style:

I experienced it myself. I put on a shalwar kameez and a headscarf in Morocco for a trip to the bazaar. Yes, some of the warmth I encountered was probably from the novelty of seeing a Westerner so clothed; but, as I moved about the market – the curve of my breasts covered, the shape of my legs obscured, my long hair not flying about me – I felt a novel sense of calm and serenity. I felt, yes, in certain ways, free.

More:

…many Muslim women I spoke with did not feel at all subjugated by the chador or the headscarf. On the contrary, they felt liberated from what they experienced as the intrusive, commodifying, basely sexualising Western gaze.

Puh-lease.

Luckily Naomi did not wear her gloomy garb in intrusive, commodifed, basely sexualising Egypt:

Sexual harassment of women in Egypt is on the increase and observing Islamic dress code is no deterrent, according to a survey published this week.

The Egyptian Centre for Women’s Rights (ECWR) describes the problem as a social cancer and calls on the government to introduce legislation to curb it. The findings contradict the widely held belief in Egypt that unveiled women are more likely to suffer harassment than veiled ones.

All this makes me recall the former Pretoria regime’s reasoning for apartheid.

They insisted that Africans would be much better off, able to develop their authentic ways and customs, if living separated in their own tribal homelands. Separate but equal.

Of course the world howled with derision when Pretoria paraded various homeland leaders who said they agreed with all this. Why, said the world, should these people be taken seriously when they have no reasonable chance to choose the system they live under?

Back to Naomi:

I do not mean to dismiss the many women leaders in the Muslim world who regard veiling as a means of controlling women. Choice is everything. But Westerners should recognise that when a woman in France or Britain chooses a veil, it is not necessarily a sign of her repression.

In most ‘Muslim’ countries women have no vote and diminished civil rights. Is their acceptance of the fact that they cover up but men do not in any sense capable of being accepted as a fair choice?

In Western countries too, how far in fact are Muslim women free to choose to dress in a way unlikely to please their local ethno-religious community’?

Free choice?

Or a pseudo-choice defined by their false-consciousness imposed by systemic patriarchal gynocidal repressed male violence?

So, Naomi, tell us.

How can we tell when a woman choosing a veil in any country is not a sign of her repression?

Update: how about a woman’s right to choose a husband?