Madonna’s veiled bid for attention looks in very poor taste
Is It a bird, is it a plane, is it a celebrity trying to be anonymous, but somehow drawing even more red hot attention to themselves? No prizes for guessing. Madonna apparently tried to travel incognito through New York’s JFK airport this week — but a pair of sunglasses and a fast walk just won’t hack it for Madge any more. Instead, the 60-year- old star wore a burka- style face- covering teamed with a lacetrimmed padded coat.
this weird creature immediately attracted the attention of every photographer within a 500-yard radius, cue a starburst of camera flashes. And as she peeled off her mask and bizarre layers when going through security, lo, her secret identity was laid bare.
Could it be a coincidence that Madonna has just announced a string of American and European tour dates for later this year? Not that any of us need an excuse to write about the queen of pop.
We are talking about a woman who once bared her bottom at the Met Gala. No darling, not because she’s an inexhaustible narcissist, she says it was a form of political statement. In 1992, she posed in a series of explicit photographs for her erotic book, sex. No silly, not because of a childish eagerness to shock, she says she just wanted to empower women.
For years she has practised a unique kind of religious sedition, mocking her own Roman Catholic faith in songs and videos. this was only if there was a subversive and sexy Dolce & Gabbana dress in it for her, complete with matching black lack undies. And guess what? there usually was.
she even once staged a mock crucifixion which caused worldwide headlines and had Pope Benedict XVI demanding she be excommunicated from the Catholic Church — job done.
so sometimes Madonna is out there, sometimes she is not. sometimes it’s all about me, sometimes she just wants a little me time. However, a face covering? Isn’t that going too far, even for her?
It is certainly hard to stomach the sight of the self- styled old feminist warhorse wearing what, for some, is such a symbol of female oppression; a simple piece of fabric that has caused so much controversy across the globe.
SoME
fans have suggested online that Madonna was perhaps behind this sacred mask to hide some post- procedural facial swelling or bruising. If that is the case, it makes matters even worse.
In some countries, women are fighting for the right not to wear this repressive item of clothing. Yet is this one of the richest and most celebrated women on the planet sticking one on for vanity’s sake, merely to hide a bit of cosmetic enhancement?
Let’s hope that is not true. However, it does have echoes of the 2015 fiasco when Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen was caught in Paris in a full-length burka, hoping not to be noticed as she checked into a plastic surgery clinic.
It is deeply offensive that one woman would use another’s religious attire just to avoid public and media detection.
Yet when it comes to Madonna, perhaps there is a deeper reason for this odd excursion into niqab-style territory. Just as with the botty-baring (enlightenment) and the sex book (liberation), maybe there is a higher purpose?
If she was wearing it satirically, as she might argue, to show how inappropriate such clothing is in the free world, then hurrah!
Any female celebrity who dares to suggest burkas have no place in the modern Western world gets my vote.
I believe it is pro-feminist to suggest that too many Muslim women are condemned to a reduced life in enshrouding robes simply because of their sex. In many of the most exciting cities in the world, including London, they are sequestered away, often at the behest of their fathers, brothers and husbands.
of course, some are happy to wear the burka but, given the option, how many would toss them aside with joy?
Many supporters argue that wearing a niqab or a burka is the same as wearing a crucifix, but is that entirely true? Both sexes can, and do, wear the latter, but only women are hidden behind the veil.
EVEN
some enlightened imams are all for change, pointing out that the head covering has no Koranic legitimacy. so come on, Madonna, what do you say? I see the burka and its little sister the niqab not as evidence of religious devotion, but of male subjugation. symbols of oppression, not fervour.
In her latest interview with Vogue magazine, Madonna complains that there are no new feminist heroines for her to worship. I take her point.
the sisters are too busy arguing about #Metoo, the glass ceiling, gender pay gaps, women on the boards of companies and £10 notes.
Meanwhile, this terrible injustice happens to thousands of women in our midst and there is barely a squeak about it. the dreadful thing is that burkas get properly noticed only when women such as Madonna and Gisele appropriate them.