There is a huge misconception about the burgha or the niqaab for women in Muslims countries!
It is considered a 'Traditional' dress!
It is not!

One of my teachers has an... uhm... I'll call it "special" explanation for this. He's a weirdo overall, so no surprise: He thinks that muslim men made their wifes and daughters wear concealing garments because the crusaders (yes, his idea goes back that far) stole their women. They had to be concealed, so nobody could see their beauty and steal them. According to my teacher, that's also the reason for the "don't leave the house without a male relative"; the guy could protect her from being abducted.
As these photos show, though, this has been a rather recent trend.

Actually is the other way around! Christian homes in Muslim countries , especially during the Ottoman Empire, had all their windows facing the back yard, never the street, because if they had a beautiful daughter, even a wife, and was seen, next thing she would be in a harem!
Muslims speak from experience all right, their own! This is what they were doing! The Crusaders weren't exactly gentlemen, but the Muslims blame everything to them! Even their own 'traditional' practices!
In Afghanistan the Taliban turbo scum banned women from wearing shoes with even a suspicion of heels! Totally flat! As if the damn burgha wasn't enough!
The reason? The sound of the heels on the pavement was provocative to the men and it would certainly force them to rape them!
Psychosis to make Sigmund Freud deliriously happy!
There is also the bright side!
A German woman was in Afghanistan, a journalist I think, and she noticed that the husband was always walking at a considerable distance ahead of his wives. When she asked one of the wives why the women tolerated such a demeaning treatment, she said they want it so!
When the German woman asked why they want it. She replied,
"Mines...!"<g>

Ok, that last part is awesome XD

Maybe some, maybe most, but I think if a man grows up in an environment that tells him that every man is a potential serial rapist, he will find it neccessary to protect his female relatives by hiding them from view. The heck, when he lives in an area controlled by the Taliban and they impose the rule that women are not allowed outside without full-body concealment and a male relative, even a man with a modern attitude would run to the next shop and buy Burqas for every female in his family.

Haha!! I love such diversity. Great picture.

The first set might have some very nice girls too.
But who knows...?:-)

Accept the world's most peacful religion, by force..lol

It can be argued that these bans are human rights violations.
There are more Muslim countries that do not allow foreign women to go in public uncovered or unaccompanied by a male relative! There are also a lot of women in Muslim countries that defend, very often fiercely, their right to follow their traditions.
And finally, there are many Muslims that tell us bluntly that it's not our right even to express our opinion, let alone criticise.
Every foreigner in another country must respect the culture and the customs of that country. Foreign women then should not co uncovered in Saudi Arabia, as Muslim women cannot go covered in Italy! This makes these bans on the list the correct thing to do!.
Muslim women that tolerate being treated a little more than chattel in their own countries is their right to do so! They will not be treated the same in other countries, despite their protests!
Muslims that want to impose their customs, culture and their sharia on a host country, have absolutely no right to do so, even when their religion is the most 'perfect' one! If they don't like it, nobody's keeping them to go back to their 'paradise!' The door to go back is still open, as it was open when they came in! You don't like it? Get out!
When Islam is the 'ultimate' truth and it is inconceivable that even an iota, or the Arabic equivalent, can be changed, considered an apostasy, an offence punishable by death, then they will constantly remain in the 7th century!
A 'Twilight Zone' existence they are responsible! And nobody else!

Finally some common sense.Everyone is too busy jumping on the bandwagon of " let them wear what they want" without thinking about the real issues like the ones you mentioned.There also the matter of security its like entering a bank wearing a balaclava.

Nailed it. If they want to dress like a fucking mailbox, hide their faces and deliberately try to set themselves apart, then they can kindly fuck off back to the third world shitholes they originated from. I hope more countries start banning this backward Islamic shit.

reminds me of what a cabbie from america said to a cabbie from egypt, "do you see pyramids here, this is america if you don't like the way we do things here then go the bleep back home"

And who would ever accuse Americans of being dickheads?

only you

"There are more Muslim countries that do not allow foreign women to go in public uncovered or unaccompanied by a male relative!"

Other than some of the Gulf nations and possibly Iran (probably not), how many Muslim nations do this? You love interchanging Saudi Arabia, nation of 20-30 million and then "Muslims, the whole 1.8 billion of them. Like the two are the same.

Sadly it's not them that tell us that. We are quite actively brainwashing ourselves.

Face coverings of any kind have no place in society, so burqa/niqab bans are entirely correct. No reason for hijab bans, though shit, if I had my way all religion would be banned entirely....

"No reason for hijab bans"

That depends. One reason could be courtesy. If you meet someone, it's still considered polite in these parts to take off your hat or your gloves and shake their hand. I think it's an ancient custom from the days when there were still semi-regular meetings between tribal leaders, meant to show that you mean no harm (by appearing without a helmet and showing your bare hands without a blade).

Besides, many Muslim women wear the hijab precisely to offend the rest of us. They say as much: that it is a statement against our society, against our civilization, to show that they are a better class of woman, more morally pure than those European whores.

What about the birkini? How is this different from having a dip in the sea fully clthed as some ppl do on a whim? I dont understand this one. I do understand the banning of full face veils as a security threat, but how is the birkini a threat or even offensive?

As far as my city (Nice) is concerned, the burkini is a tool of propaganda, as none were seen before the 14th of July attacks. The ban might not be acceptable, but it sure as fuck sends a message to islamist extremism: Don't push it.

For one, hygiene. Many swimming pools actually ban swimming in your clothes and even make it mandatory that you shower before you get into the pool. They want to keep their pools as clean as possible, and someone in a burkini will sweat and stink, especially if it's a heated pool.

None of that applies to the sea. Which is what all the fuss is about..

Lol that’s what chlorine is for. Besides, sweat doesn’t “stink” until it is left long enough for bacteria to form. Sweating “in the moment” doesn’t have any odor, and if you exert yourself enough during a swim, you will sweat even if just wearing typical trunks. You just don’t notice because of course it rinses right off into the water that everyone else is swimming in. While those sanitary measures you mention are certainly helpful in a practical sense beyond reducing the “ick factor” feeling among the users, of course there are the other bodily fluids in the water of a typical public pool that no one wants to think about. Showers won’t prevent that…

Private pools are free to enforce whatever rules they like, that doesn't infringe on anybody's rights, the price they pay will be an increase or decrease in custom, their problem/benfit.

But enforcing rules in public places or country-wide is another matter entirely.

Well, that might work in the United States - but in Europe, businesses are held to the same anti-discrimination rules as the government. If they let one person in but not another person, there has to be a very good reason for that or the basic assumption by judges will be that it was discrimination.

Actually did not know that (am from uk)

Pretty sure p1t1o isn't American. Saw a post further up where he used an s where z should be.

None of what you've stated has been said regarding the ban though...?

Not that I am agreeing or disagreeing with you, but a ban is enforced...
If you make behavior mandatory, it can no longer be considered courtesy.

None of the women I know who wear Hijabs. A hijab is just a head scarf; tons of cultures wear head scarves. I don't know where you live, but you need to come on holiday to Canada. I'll even put you up.
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Average Unabomber...

No way, thats you? Its always interesting to see the faces of people you've only known as an icon ;)

??...

This is a nice photo! I like the beard!
Very...Solairish!<g>

Nothing average about the beard braids. I'm liking it from a cleanliness perspective.

Yeah but doesn’t it get on your ‘stache? It annoys the hell out of me when my mustache hangs over my lip line. Constantly trimming it is a pain but the alternative is worse to me. Beardwise, I’m more of a close trimmed stubble kind of guy. I like to feel my face lol.

Dammit. Now I feel below average, Mr EpicBeard.

Ja ja. I have beard envy....

Busy with it... At the moment it looks like someone hit a rat with a mallet....
How long before it is something feasible?

Yeah, same deal. Also I have sandy fluff on top of my head and sodding black beard hair.
So the patchiness is noticeable as heck.... :D