The veil is good for women in cultures that are hostile to them. The Muslim have them not because they are cruel people but because they serve a purpose in their society. Time and time again, in traditional Muslim societies the veil comes back even when not mandatory.
We'd better worry about our own society, in which integrating the Muslim doesn't seem like a high priority to me. This is how our Western culture is hostile to women: it robs anyone who falls short of the porn star model of beauty, of dignity. It would be a logical development if our culture recognized a need for a veil, or better still, recognized a need to return to Christian values, when the veil is not needed and the body -- anyone's body -- receives the respect God has for it.
The Muslim society is as hostile to women as Western. I would argue that it is actually more hostile to women, at least the West is honest about it's hostility.
The veil is not worn in Muslim societies out of modesty, at least a true sense. It is worn as a cruth for Muslim men, women are their scapegoat. If men stumble, no matter how horrifically it must be because the woman was in some way immodest. That's why in Iran, the legal age of execution of a woman is nine years old. It's not till sixteen that men can be executed.
The female body is fearfully and wonderfully made. It itself is not immodest, but the Muslim mentality is that it is. A female can choose to behave in an immodesty fashion, no matter how clothed she is. But men are expected to have self control of their own. They cannot shove all their responsibility to a woman.
Modesty is essential to a society. But it has to be for modesty's sake, not some irrational fear or hatred of women.
Western society does indeed need to regain a sense of modesty, but the Islamic veil is not about modesty. It is an Islamic man's means of securing his property.
Ladies used to wear veils. Not the full coverage like the muzzlems wear, but see through veils that obscured the features, and who knows, at other times they may have been more opaque. When I was a kid I think every lady had at least one although, like hats for men, they were definitely on their way out.
If a woman wants to turn herself into a Black Moving Object that is her freedom but in our society she has transformed herself into a non-entity to me. I will not speak to her, deal with her, have any interaction with her whatsoever if I can help it.
I couldn't help it, though, when I went to Britain and the customs agent that checked me through was a fully covered muzzlem female.
"The veil is good for women in cultures that are hostile to them." Following your line of reason, if the veil is good for women, the burka must be better!
What hogwash! Forcing women to cover their heads and faces is a way of oppressing them. It immediately marks them as having second class status.
"We better worry about our own society, in which integrating the Muslim doesn't seem like a high priority to me." Well, integrating into OUR society certainly isn't a high priority to the Muslims, is it? The Muslims and their apologists are applying a double standard--one for us, in which we accomodate to them and one for them, in which they refuse to accomodate to our society.
I will take our society with all of its flaws over the Muslim theocracy any time.