Identity politics; it’s barmy, isn’t it? I mean, it’s
hard enough some days to get through the day without having to worry about
whether you’re using the correct pronouns when addressing others. And will you unintentionally
offend strangers by appropriating their culture, whatever form that takes? Do
Americans get miffed when they see people of other nations wearing tee-shirts
and baseball caps?
And what about what’s written on that tee-shirt? Dressing
your five-year old in a pink tee with ‘Princess’ in sparkly sequins might upset
a minor royal; you never know. It will certainly enrage a feminazi, but then
pretty much anything does. Mind you, this is fine because it is always
hilarious to see a grown woman having a rant about somebody else’s innocent
child and being utterly serious about it.
Talking of funny, one of the ironically wry things about
identity issues is how ridiculous you look and sound sometimes when you both
assume your identity and defend it. Whatever happened to ‘anything goes’? I
mean, nowadays, in some societies a glimpse of stocking is looked on as
something shocking; heaven knows! But some identities are more equal than
others and one of those seems to be to have no recognisable individual identity
at all.
There is a big debate in the west about the wearing of the
burka; something that seems to be far less popular in many all-out muslim
countries. Quite apart from the alien nature of this practice, which is seen as
a deliberate provocation to many, hiding your face is not something we are
comfortable with, here in the civilised world; although there are a fair few
prominent feminists who we could bear to see a lot less of.
When you hide your identity, especially as a means of asserting
it, it can arouse passionate opposition. What are you hiding? Why? And who are
you, behind the veil, anyway? On one occasion recently, matters got a little
out of hand. A man walked out of a city centre pub after a long, liquid lunch
and on hitting the fresh air became a little dazed and confused. When he
noticed a burka-clad figure walking ahead of him he rushed up and grabbed the
figure in a bear hug.
As the burkee struggled the drunk clung on all the harder
and started to laugh. Underneath the burka, legs were kicking and the head was
jerking from side to side as the captive struggled, ineffectually, to break
free. Eventually the man let go, still laughing and the burka-clad figure
stumbled to the ground, gasping for breath. The man looked down and said “Not
so tough now, are we, Batman?”