Movies for kids are not my territory, but I couldn’t help noticing publicity for Batwoman, following the announcement that actor Ruby Rose is to play the character in the next movie. Posters show a young woman thrusting through the air dressed only in what seems to be spray-on paint and an eye mask that covers most of her neck and face. Only red lips and a pair of nostrils are revealed – even the character’s eyes are a blank.
Here is a character we are supposed to celebrate, for a whole raft of reasons, and presumably that we are to encourage our girls to follow. Batwoman is a wealthy heiress inspired by the superhero Batman to use her wealth and resources to fight crime as a masked vigilante in Gotham City.
It would be interesting to hear Boris Johnson’s take on Batwoman. Does that mask threaten his emotional stability? Would he demand that she remove it as she speeds through the Gotham City night to battle with evil forces? Does her uncovered and glistening letterbox red mouth pose a threat or a promise? Would he mistake her for a bank robber instead of a crime buster?
Why is it acceptable in our society for a woman to reveal every feature of her body (whether in the costume of a comic character or in the supermarket during a heatwave) but deemed threatening to dress modestly?
The insulting language of Boris Johnson and the alarming support of his apologists makes me far more afraid for our society than seeing women wearing the niqab on our streets.
In her criticism of Johnson, Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson compared the wearing of the niqab to wearing a Crucifix. I may be very wrong, but my understanding of the veil adopted by some Muslim women is that it is worn for modesty, even for protection, and not as a symbol of religion.
I would be willing to bet two free tickets to the premiere of the next Batwoman movie that Boris Johnson has only one agenda when it comes to expressing ‘concern’ about women wearing burqas and niqabs – and Sayeeda Warsi expressed that perfectly in The Guardian in the wake of his extraordinary column in The Telegraph – ‘…what really disgusts me in this whole episode is that Muslim women are simply political fodder’. In other words, Boris wants a shot at the Tory leadership and he will exploit any ‘populist’ idea to achieve that.
I’m privileged to represent Justice and Peace Scotland on the Scottish Bishops’ Conference Committee on Interreligious Dialogue. The work done by that committee brings together people of all faiths in Scotland. Talking, respecting, sharing – that’s how communities integrate and become as one.
Last year in Cairo, Pope Francis asked Christian and Muslim religious leaders to join in building ‘a new civilization of peace’ by rejecting ‘every form of violence, vengeance and hatred carried out in the name of religion and in the name of God’. I hope we can close our ears to Boris’s plotting nonsense and follow Pope Francis’ advice.