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I live in a city in the northern United States that receives relatively little sunlight, like many cities in France and other European countries, and that has a growing population of Muslim immigrants who also wear hijab. As a feminist I am uncomfortable seeing women dressed in this way, but as a mother I am outraged seeing what happens to some of their children as a result. Rickets, that is, which comes from feeding at the breast of a covered and cloistered woman who not surprisingly is severely deficient in Vitamin D.
Just a few months ago, in my neighborhood park, which is frequented by women in hijab, I observed two little boys, a toddler and a preschooler, struggling to cross a distance of a few yards, on legs in the shape of parentheses. It was my first time ever to see children afflicted by this cruel disease, but considering the size and growth of my cloudy city’s hijab-wearing population, I am sure it won’t be my last.
