by supporttheunderdog » Fri Jun 10, 2011 4:54 pm
The tradition of being veiled goes back a very long time in the middle east, where covering the body and the face may in fact have had some practical benefits for protection against the sun and/or blown sand. If I recall my Bible correctly jacob was caught out by being married off to first to Leah before Rachel, the deception facilitated because Leah was veiled.
However I share the view that the veil has since become an intsrument of oppression of women, through being given some sort of religeous imperative, indeed organised religion of all kinds represents an attempt at thought control with the invention of the divine right of rulers and concepts of Heresy, , etc used to oppress political opponents on religeous grounds.