Boris Johnson Attacked Muslim Women and Britain Just Let Him Do It

Added: 2026-05-31

[00:00:00]It's not a feminist expression. For me, it's actually also a feminist statement to wear the face veil because in the culture that we live in, that the woman has to fit a certain shape, a certain way. I mean, if you walk in the underground in London in the summer especially, all what you see is women of unrealistic shapes and women are being obsessed with the gap between their thighs and so on. And that's why for me this is a feminist statement that it's a liberation in a way. Exactly.

[00:00:29]There's a moment in British public life when somebody says something and the country goes quiet for a second, not because it's clever or brave, but because most decent people know a line has been crossed. Back in 2018, former Prime Minister Boris Johnson wrote a newspaper column comparing Muslim women wearing the niqab to letter boxes and bank robbers. He later insisted he was defending the right to wear the veil, but for many people, especially the women affected by those comments, the damage had already been done. You have a job, you you're a scientist in the NHS, you contribute to society. What is it about the the language that Boris Johnson used that has an impact on you this morning?

[00:01:08]Definitely. First of all, I think his comments that women veiled women are letter boxes and bank robbers are dehumanizing, number one. You fig- you get you're forgetting that there's a human being behind it. One of those women was Sahar El Faifi, a scientist working in NHS cancer diagnostics. By all accounts, she's someone who quietly gets on with her job, helps patients, and contributes to society like anyone else. Yet overnight, women who dress like her became the punchline of a national argument, and this is where it stops being politics and starts becoming something more serious. And also when they describe us as a bank robbers, he's creating an environment of suspicions.

[00:01:47]He's criminalizing criminalizing us in the public life and he has a very negative impact on us because it makes us feel unsafe in the street. I mean, there's a rise, an increase in Islamophobic abuse. I have personally faced verbal and even physical abuse. And only 2 weeks ago, I came across a woman who had her niqab pulled off while she was working in her shop. And the way she described it that it wasn't only Islamophobic, but she felt that she was sexually assaulted because can you imagine if a man come and and you were wearing a mini skirt and someone pulling that skirt down.

[00:02:24]>> Islamophobic. Not long after those comments spread across the country, a woman working in her own shop had her face veil pulled off in public. She later said she felt exposed, violated, humiliated. Whatever anyone thinks about the niqab itself, no civilized society should shrug at something like that.

[00:02:40]Definitely there is a diversity views.

[00:02:43]And this is one of the things that it was mentioned in the Quran that women are recommended to lower down their garments. And the garments has different interpretation.

[00:02:52]>> Right. And that's why you see me wearing face veil and others head scarf and others don't wear it at all.

[00:02:57]>> No, no, no. It's not about that.

[00:02:58]>> what you mean. No, no, it's not that.

[00:02:59]But that woman when she described it, she said, "I felt naked in the street."

[00:03:04]And that's why for her it was a sexual assault. So, for us wearing >> invade in a way. Invaded. Her privacy was invaded. She was physically assaulted. But for me is an act of worship. So, a lot of people think it's oppressive that I'm doing it for men or was forced by a husband or a brother, but the truth is not. It was fully my choice. And some are probably in Afghanistan. Because in Britain ultimately there is freedom of expression. You're free to express your your your identity in the way you want.

[00:03:32]>> He has the right to freedom of expression, but not the free freedom of hate and bigotry. I can empathize with that. I mean, Muslim women who chose to wear the face veil are a minority within a minority. And a lot of people did not have the chance to interact with them and see, "Oh, can I understand her? Can I Can I see when she smiles?" and things like that. I mean, working in the NHS for more than 4 years now, I've never had problems with my lab colleagues in in the in the in the cancer diagnostic lab interacting with them and communicating my ideas. But, I agree with Beverly that truly that Boris Johnson is using the face veil as a polarizing tool to divide us. But, what I don't agree with her is that it's not a feminist expression. For me, it's actually also a feminist statement to wear the face veil because in the culture that we live in, that the women has to fit a certain shape, a certain way. I mean, if you walk in the underground in London in the summer especially, all what you see is women of unrealistic shapes and women are being obsessed with the gap between their thighs and so on. And that's why for me this is a feminist statement that It's liberating in a way. There are fair conversations to be had about integration, identity, and religion in modern Britain. People will disagree, and that's normal. But, there's a difference between discussing an issue and mocking ordinary people who are simply living their lives. Because once influential figures reduce people to jokes, others feel licensed to treat them with less dignity.

[00:04:59]And surely the standard should be simple. A woman walking to work, dressing according to her own beliefs, should be left alone to do so in peace.

[00:05:06]That isn't politics, it's basic decency.