Interesting point — the segregation and seclusion of Muslim women, though forced on them by men, allows them a certain sisterhood and solidarity that Western women don’t have. I guess back in the day, like back in the 1950’s, Western housewives had something similar. My grandmother and her neighborhood friends were very close knit. When the kids were at school and the husbands were at work, the Moms would shop and run errands together, do PTA stuff together, and, if there was time, play bridge and have drinks together. It was like a ladies’ social club. Funny how the femininists see that period as the dark ages for western women. And funny how they’re able to find something good in a similar culture (reason being, of course, that the culture is that of The Other).
Other reasons why leftist women might have a thing for the hajib: it’s exotic; a buried desire to feel chaste and forbidden; a buried desire to be dominated by men (a desire that post-modern post-male liberal men can’t fulfill); wearing one is subversive and sure to tweak conservatives.
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=25004_Pelosi_in_a_Hijab&only
Other reasons why leftist women might have a thing for the hajib: it’s exotic; a buried desire to feel chaste and forbidden; a buried desire to be dominated by men (a desire that post-modern post-male liberal men can’t fulfill); wearing one is subversive and sure to tweak conservatives.
Now that you mention it, I too recall that era in exactly the way you describe it. I would also add that I recall hearing women say things like, “Well, my husband makes all the important decisions” or “I think the man should make the decisions about what to buy since he earns the living”. i.e. women weren’t ‘partners’ in a marriage, much in the same way as in Islam.
As to today’s feminists, judging from what is portrayed in classical art depicting haram life, lesbian sex/relationships were/are also a part of the Muslim female-segregated life.