Further to Sue's Off its rocker post, here's Sarah Baxter in The Sunday Times:
A woman with very decided opinions appeared on BBC1’s Question Time in Bolton last week. This member of the audience was no shrinking violet; indeed she offered her views with great force and at high volume. She was an English teacher, she said: “I teach my pupils about politics, about mutual respect, about tolerance, about all the brilliant, fundamental British values.”
But here’s the thing. Her face was concealed by the niqab — or burqa, as she called it. Only her eyes, flashing angrily, were visible. And, boy, was she furious about “Islamophobia” and specifically with Boris Johnson for comparing “women like her” to letterboxes, even though he had also defended their inalienable right to wear whatever they chose.
For the first time in my life, I understood what being “triggered” feels like. Because the niqab is a garment that makes me feel afraid and threatened as a woman.
