This piece is typical of the western obsession with veiling. I don't see anything remarkable about wearing a hijab in a boxing ring. (Especially when compared to wrestling unitards and those stupid underwear-skirts that netball players wear).

Broadsheet is consistently antagonistic towards Muslim women, and especially in regard to the hijab and other forms of veiling. As a non-Muslim, I would really appreciate less bias on the issue. If the contributors to Broadsheet would take a few minutes to educate themselves about veiling, they might be surprised to learn how many different meanings it can have for people: not all of them exclusively religious, and not all patriarchal or oppressive.

Also, exactly who or what is the "Muslim mainstream," and why does it exclude women of "African descent"? Just wondering.

This just continues to baffle me. Four of the six countries mentioned are in Africa! If it's meant to be a racial categorization, I'm pretty sure that "African" isn't a race (even for those who do credulously adhere to discursively produced racial differentiation). And if it's supposed to mean black as opposed to Arab, which is my best guess, I still don't understand why that's offered as a qualification to their religiosity. Are Arabs atavistically more religious than other Muslims?

The author is implying that there is a cultural difference between Arab North Africans (of what country exactly? region? socio-economic class? religious denomination?), and these "Muslims of African descent" it would make more sense if she could cite exactly what those cultures were and how they differed in their attitudes towards women and sports.

Conservative religious groups have typically emphasized modesty and there is admittedly a full spectrum of what is considered "modest." I think other Western women share my visceral reaction to a black burkha in that it looks like a black hole, a negation of the person underneath.

Admittedly, the West has its issues. Tottering high heels are continuously marketed to women despite the fact that over time they mutilate feet. What does this say about our culture when women are willing to undergo pain and subsequent surgery for a fashion that limits our mobility? (The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgery regularly runs seminars on "Sexy Shoes, Painful Feet" but no one inside the fashion industry seems to be getting the message.)

However, I am glad that I live in a culture where I can make my own choices and not have rocks thrown at me as a result. With my admittedly imperfect body, I can swim at a public pool and not sit on the sidelines in a burkha. The world will be a better place for girls of today when they can dress in a way that is not only maks them feel comfortable with their bodies but also allows them freedom to move and to express their individuality.

fighting with a hijab- how would you even know what you are hitting? seems like an oxymoron to me. but all of these arabs seem oxymoronic to me with thier sports and their female clothes. i see them in stores all the time. the great males with their sunglasses and their western garb, very western, then the ladies all dressed up like something from halloween. i do not stare but i laugh at the silliness of it all. culture is culture i say. thats why some of us thank our god everyday for not being born into the wrong one. thanks lord.