I'm sorry happyatheist, but I know what I intended when I made my original post. And it was absolutely to address this issue on a societal level. I understand that the article was written on the individual level, and part of why I posted here was because I was annoyed that it did not address the bigger picture - the societal issues that I think are more important addressing than an individual's choice.

Let me back up a bit here.

Authors write all sorts of articles talking about societies, and what is good\bad\cool\uncool about them. Think of the recent discussion on China\Tibet\Olympics, or All the writing thats gone into analyzing the faults and nobilities of the American primary voters. The media is a source of analysis for these big society-wide issues, even if they reflect a collection of individual choices.

So along comes an article about an individual's choice to wear or not wear a veil, and her thinking on that. Ok. My response to it is that all the talk about veiling rarely reaches beyond that individual-level-anecdotal talk, and does not address the issue in the larger sense it deserves, much like the aforementioned topics.

My main point in doing so has been to ask: what do american muslim women think of veiling as an institution? Are they discussing it within the wider perspective that it exists in? If they are, where can I see that?

Call it social studies. This is a topic that I think is very relevant to relations between non-muslims and muslims in America. This can and should be a productive part of a much needed dialogue that can help us understand one another better. What I am disturbed by is what appears to me to be a lack of interest on the part of Muslim women to look at this issue with that goal in mind.

It certainly is other people's business what my demographic thinks about human rights, even if I personally don't need to go on the stand for them. I want my society to be well represented and understood, and I would hope the same for others.