First off, thanks for the links for futher reading. I hadn't heard of Nomani before.

Full disclosure: This is perhaps my second visit to this site, and I came this time via a link from TN Guerilla Women, to see for myself what the situation was.

I think the distinction between the burqa and the hijab is interesting to think about. Is it a different kind of cultural imperialism to conflate the two? Liza's point about the "strategic burqa" is a separate one, though, because she's talking about the burqa itself. But the very fact that it's strategic (rather than "natural"?) seems to indicate that all other things being equal, it wouldn't be the preferred choice of activists. Is that an accurate or inaccurate view?

I'm willing to be corrected on this point, but is there really that much difference between the burqa ad and the use of "American Taliban" as a derogatory term? If we eschew one as culturally insensitive, don't we have to eschew the other?

Finally, I have to say that I find NancyP's point persuasive. And this really gets into the thorny territory of cultural imperialism/orientalism, one that's been debated by smarter feminists than myself. But if I reserve the right to argue that the patriarchal practices of Southern Baptists are wrong, can I not also say that the patriarchal practices of fundamentalist Islam are also wrong?

Speaking of cultural imperialism, did it occur to the critics of this ad that accusations of bigotry, racism, and imperialism are not the most productive way to approach an embattled group of women in a state that teetering on the edge of its own South Dakotan laws? Is it often the case that one wins over a racist by calling them a racist? That doesn't sound like the opening of a dialogue to me...