Oppressing the "oppressed."

I read a lot of comments online (I shouldn't, I know), and the people that I should be ignoring often make comments such as this:


"Free liberated women should be just that. Wherever they are. They shouldn’t hide from being photographed with backward burqa shrouded shadows, instead they should proudly present themselves as women, free, liberated and capable." (In reference to a picture of the-First Lady Laura Bush posing with three Saudi women; one in hijab, one in niqab, and one a burka)


So ... you who make these comments think that my religious attire is oppressive, yet instead of worrying about my education or health or even, at the bare minimum, asking my opinions on my religion, you do exactly what you claim my garb incites people to do, namely treat me like a non-entity?  Instead of proving that you think higher of me than you claim the men of my religion do, you use my attire as an excuse to treat me exactly like they supposedly do.


Instead of showing me through your actions that you think of me differently, that you think I'm a worthwhile human being and deserve to be treated as such, you treat me the same.  You call me backward, a shadow, assume that I'm uneducated because my face and hands are the most ok,f my flesh that you can see, and sometimes you can't even see that.  I wonder, then, would you treat me like a super-genius queen if I were to walk around naked, since you seem to think that my worth is related to how much skin you can see?  No, you would treat me like a piece of meat that you can bang however, whenever you want, regardless of my feelings on the matter.  You would call me cheap, a slut, a tramp.



So we women really can't win, wouldn't it seem?  If we wear too little, as society dictates, we're worthless.  If we cover our bodies and hide them from your sight, as our religion dictates, we're backward and worthless.  Who should we allow to dictate our clothing and modesty choices?  Society, religion, or an ignorant mass bent on staying ignorant?


I know, stop reading the comments.  People are idiots once the anonymity of the internet cloaks them; they'll let loose with opinions and feelings that they either hide during human interaction, or tone down.  I know this.


But people think it.  They feel it.  Yeah, they can spew their opinions just like I can spew mine, but my point is that they're acting the same way they claim that Muslim men act (some of them do; I'm not blind to that - but I'm talking about the generalisation of every single Muslim in existence), and don't seem to realise it.  That is what irritates me, the hypocrisy.