into them, would we allow that?

To me they are an ugly symbol of oppression.

In our society you can't walk around naked, either.

indoctrinated by sexism prevalent in that way of thinking

forcing ultra-religious parents to educate their children past 8th grade

(such as the Amish).

I say yes because:

Burqas should be banned for safety reasons. People should be able to know who they are interacting with so they can behave accordingly.

The women who choose to wear burqas are influenced by the norms of their culture and religion, just as all of our clothing choices are. A woman is not going to choose to wear something that nobody else ever wears! If burqas are banned, and nobody else is ever wearing them in public, eventually they will no longer be a desired choice among those who currently use them.

We all have restrictions on what we can do or wear in public. Some people would prefer to be naked in public, but it is not acceptable in our society. People are still free to do what they'd like in private.

Burqas are at least much sociological and cultural as religious. Are they symbols of oppression? Probably, but no more then the rest of their society.

We seem to forget that the burqa is only one of the more extreme forms of defining the sexes by appearance. Orthodox Jewish women wear wigs, orthodox men wear all sorts of stuff. Christian women wear frilly hats at Easter...

And, lest we forget, Western men are stuck in suits and ties while we might actually prefer a skirt and light blouse on a hot summer day. Pass on the heels and eye shadow, though.

Western women have the freedom to avoid 5" stilettos and extreme makeup, but they are still pressured to hit the hairdresser and browse the cosmetics aisles. Girdles and the other requirements for foundations have loosened, but spanks and bra sales are still way up there. Weight loss is somewhat of an obsession, and it has little to do with health.

As was said many years ago-- "On a first date, women have to be beautiful, but the guy just has to be clean."

And, as was exclaimed by a trans acquaintance of mine while she was exploring the drugstore, "Damn, this shit is expensive! Do I really need it all?"

is not even remotely like a burqa.

Women dressed all the time completely covered from head to toe is not remotely like wearing a hat once a year. Every single minute of the day you know what religion one person is, but unless the other one tells you, you haven't a clue what her religion, or perhaps lack thereof, is.

There are many reasons, the one that stands out for me the most is young girls and boys seeing women being oppressed. There is no good way to explain that, especially to young girls.

Compairing burquas to othr clothes of religious observance is a non starter.

There are countries that require women be covered and don't give them a choice. So, if I go to Saudi Arabia and I have to be fully veiled, then a Saudi woman in this country needs to conform to our dress code. Which means no veiling. I even think the head scarves are stupid.

It is hard for me to believe that a woman actually freely chooses to be veiled if she has grown up in our culture, or even lived in it for any number of years. I guess childhood indoctrination really is nearly impossible to overcome.

What should be banned is the thinking behind them in all fundie religions, i.e.: that women are nasty and tempt men to stray so they must cover themselves. No matter whether the religions do it overtly by real physical coverings or by drilling it into their heads at an early age that women are inferior to men.