Would someone explain the world to me?

"The mediaeval ascetics hated women and thought they were created by God for the temptation of monks. One may be allowed to think more nobly both of God and of woman."

-Aurobindo

Last week there appeared an article about a US Muslim fencer, Ibtihaj Muhammad, who wants to be the first athlete to wear hijab in fencing Olympics. Media blew up with ecstasy, hailing the lady as a torch –bearer in sports. Some important public figures in the US immediately jumped on the bandwagon, writing up the storm of enthusiasm and support. Immediately, this turned into a platform for polemics for all sorts of opponents. In the past two days I looked for those posts again, but they were removed, no doubt due to the problems they caused.

This gave me to think. Why are there such strong feelings attached to a piece of cloth? Surely, nobody would get upset if I wanted to play tennis in a t-shirt with a picture of a boomerang on it, sporting a huge floral wreath Ukrainian-style on my head, but people would certainly find it odd. Most Western countries don’t care much for religious attributes. Or for religion at all, for that matter. I remember my coming to Vienna in 1996 and attending a language course. Among other students there were a couple of young women from Iran. They told me that the first thing they did at the airport is to rip off their headscarf. They said they felt free then. In fact even today, there are some Muslim women activists who warn westerners against supporting the latest headscarf movement, because it has nothing to do with Islam. The likes of the journalist Masih Alinejad, who runs a site called “My stealthy freedom”, trying to motivate young women in Iran to fight for women’s rights. And yet, you see hordes of public personalities, who have absolutely no idea what women in Arabic countries have to live with, wielding their own sabres of support for the things these women try to shake off.

Clearly, they don’t seem to understand what it means. It is also clear that while the young women in Muslim dominated countries strive to gain their rights, an increasing amount of young women in Western countries chose to wear a hijab. It is a recent development and a very confusing one. Muhammad has made the U.S. fencing team, becoming not only the first African-American Muslim to make the women’s saber fencing team, but will also become the first to mark herself as Muslim by wearing the Islamic head cloth during the competition. In her own words, she wants to make a political statement.

I ask here and now: in a secular world, that had spent centuries in struggle to become such, what does religion, cultural attributes and politics have to do with one another, and what have they lost in sports? What is next? Greco-roman wrestling in niqab? Weight lifting in sari? Synchronized swimming in nun’s habits? Kippa throw? A Sufi swirling competition as an olympic discipline, because why not? Just to make a point here.

My appeal is not against some individuals choosing to wear head gear or not. My appeal is for some logical thinking. If the society wishes to stop discrimination, it needs to propagate equality. Real equality, without stamping some religions, genders or sexes better than others. Strictly speaking a feminist society is discriminating men’s rights. By demanding that members of one religious community conform to the needs of another is discrimination. Tolerance is a two –way road.

"Female quotas" boxed through by the German government to assure that a certain number of women occupy leadership positions, are a red flag for the strong, well-educated women in science or business, who worked hard to achieve their highly respected positions, mainly because they are now looked at as “quota females”, a humiliating experience. Similarly, until people will be chosen to take up positions based on their knowledge and performance record, and not on their skin color, gender, sexual preference or religious background, there can be no talking about real equality.

Practicing a religion, or being an atheist is a personal choice and a similar pitfall. Using your newly acquired success to promote your right to wear any garb, is by no means a call for equality. This is the catch here, in the country like US, you just need to be a motivated sportsperson to be able to win the Olympics. Nobody cares what you are wearing when you practice. I could understand the statement, if Muhammad took off her hijab and entered a sports tournament in an Arabic country, to help other women to fight for their rights, as it is forbidden for them to pursue any public sports activities, but proudly sticking a symbol of oppression in the faces of free public in the US, is confusing in the least.

Sport has a goal. May the best person win. This would be the real equality. IMHO.