Usama, I criticize US foreign policy, bigotry, discrimination, and ignorance. I do my part to cut through the BS about my own country and society and talk about the problems that it has. You can see that in basically anything I post elsewhere in the Fray. I have no illusions about our shortcomings.

But I am familiar enough with the pre-islamic anthropology of veiling as a cultural practice to know that it was then, and continues to be (not everywhere, but in many places) an institution with no function other than to define women as second class citizens.

My pants do not make me any less of a citizen, though you could argue that skirts and bras certainly do for women. People know opression when they see it. The question is whether they are willing to talk about it, or if they would prefer to ignore it.

I think that Muslim women should be proud to wear a veil, so long as they are equally proud of their RIGHT to make a choice to do so. More important than the act of wearing it should be their right to choose whether they do so or not, and in a world where women do not all have that choice, those who do should recognize that.