Two points on the burka

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown has her say about the wearing of the burka. She's against it. Having stated my view in disagreeing with Oliver, I won't rehearse all the arguments I've already made. Still, I'll note and respond to two of Alibhai-Brown's points. She says:

We communicate with each other with our faces. To deny that interaction is to deny our shared humanity. Unreasonable community or nationalistic expectations disconnect essential bonds. Governments should not accommodate such demands. Naturists can't parade on the streets, go to school or take up jobs unless they cover their nakedness. Why should burqaed women get special consideration?

First, to claim that communicating without our faces is a denial of our shared humanity is a nonsense. We do it all the time: on the phone, by letter, email, text message, etc. It's true that hiding your face from someone while in their company goes against a powerful cultural norm. But this has to do with what are thought to be the requirements of mutual openness and trust rather than with those of humanity. The cultural norm may indeed be a good one, as I take it to be, but not every valuable cultural norm is a requirement following from our common humanity.

Second, Alibhai-Brown treats the prohibition of public nudity as if it were the result of a general rule constraining how people go about, from which freedom to wear the burka would then be an exception. In fact, the general rule is that people are free to go about dressed as they please. The prohibition of public nudity is an exception to this. Whether or not one thinks the exception is justified, legal prohibition of the burka would also be an exception, and it needs a separate justification. Even if you think public nudity should be banned, it doesn't follow that wearing the burka should be too.