Could you strike a few blows for men not having to wear coats and ties all the time?

or maybe they do, there's a number of variations of burqas, chador, and abaya from the most shapeless and eyeless Afghan type burqas to more open cloaks.

But the point is that these types of garments are not the norm for the vast majority of the international Muslim community. You would be hard-pressed to pick out these types of garments in a street photo from Iran or Pakistan.

that it is a ban on women's freedom to prevent them from wearing the burqa assumes that they are free to choose not to wear it.

If wearing the burqa is a voluntary choice for Muslim women and something they feel strongly about, either personally or religiously, I have a hard time arguing with that. If it's a behavior or "choice" that's forced on them, that opens a whole different issue. But I will say, when I see a woman in a burqa, it makes me extremely uncomfortable, I don't like it and it bothers me a lot because it does remind me of a prison, and it actually gives me pause when I see it because you don't really know who's under there; so, in a way, I can sympathize with Sarkozy's remarks. I think both sides have merit.

I think that letting the government decide what we can and can't wear is a great idea. That always works.

Thank you to all those brave culture warriors and defenders of freedom who have already written in to express their desire to see government bureaucrats decide what kind of clothing is okay, and what is not.

Do you know what else is oppressive? The title "Mrs." Any women who call themslves "Mrs. So-and-so" should be rounded up, by the government that we all trust so much, and re-educated until their minds are free of internal oppression.

What a sad age we live in, when people won't stand up and demand that bureaucrats take over their personal lives. If only these brave letter writers were in charge, women everywhere would have nothing to fear. They would be perfectly safe. From everything. Because the government said so.

Banning the burqa is an improper interference in both personal and religious choices. This would be an instance of hard cases making bad law. If a woman is being forced by a husband or father to wear the burqa, then her freedom is being interfered with; if she is forced by her government not to wear one, then her freedom is being interfered with.

To me, a proper society allows as much freedom as possible while still maintaining the protection of people's rights and promoting the general welfare. It always amazes me that people do not understand the unique privacy and freedom that one's personal space (and control of one's body) affords. Our clothing is what we choose to cover our bodies. To me, this is an intimately personal decision. The further away one gets from the empowerment of the body the closer one gets to others having a say. For instance, take smoking.

If one smokes, one inhales poisons into one's body. That is a personal choice. Go right ahead. However, if you blow your smoke towards me -- especially in a restaurant or the workplace -- your smoke invades my body. I cannot help but inhale it.

There is an old fashioned saying: "Your freedom ends where my nose begins." Don't blow smoke in my face, don't punch me in the nose, and don't tell me that that I may not cover my nose (my face).

As to the burqa being a symbol of female oppression, so is the cross and so is any religious symbol if certain practioners use religion to force women to curtail their personal freedom.

Frankly, I don't see that much difference in Christian or Jewish fundamentalists' approaches to women and the rights of women to absolutely control their bodies and that of rigid Islamic fundamentalists.

If I buy a house in your neighborhood, I may be subject to building codes and preconditions. I submit to certain neighborhood and societal norms -- but don't tell me what to wear as long as I am clothed. If I want to dress like a hooker, that's my business. If I want to dress like a bag lady, that's my business. If I want to cross-dress, that's my business. If I want to wear a burqa, that's my business.

"I've interviewed quite a few muslim women who say that wearing both a burqa and/or veil is a choice and one they prefer over the western garb of women, which they feel sexualizes women for a man's gaze."

These women have had shame instilled in them from an early age about being attractive and drawing men's attention (an Egyptian feminist once summed it up that women are viewed as "the fountain of shame"). They feel either they are to blame or at the very least men are incapable of self-control (itself a grossly sexist view).

Few women want to be constantly eye-fucked. But those of us who are not religious fundamentalists can find solutions which do not require such an extreme denial of our bodies, hair and (in the case of full veils) even faces. It is the hallmark of religion though to go to extremes which separate believers and non-believers, which is why the veil has become increasingly emphasised by conservative Muslim immigrant groups.

Also the fact they think some interventionist father-figure deity might cast them into hellfire for not wearing a piece of cloth on their head has nothing whatsoever to do with their decision.

"For example, they'd say, high heels are proven to cause back, feet and knee problems but British (I interviewed them in London for a story) women wore them to be attractive to men."

Except no one imparts spiritual import to wearing high-heels. I have never heard of someone being called a "whore," being raped or having had acid thrown on them for _not_ wearing high heels. The veil and Islamic dress are a religious-based requirement dictated by male authority figures and reinforced by families and the social environment. While their are social consequences to not being all 'sexy' for a woman in the West, we still control our decision on a genuinely personal level in most instances.