"They do not know what the niqab means and they should not be fighting for the right of women to self-oppress."

Guess what? I don't care what the niqab means. I'm not wearing it, nobody's trying to force me to wear it and anybody who is being forced to wear it has the opportunity for redress through the police and the law.

Self-oppress? It's in they eye of the beholder, isn't it? Some are vociferous in their view that prostitution is a form of self-oppression while others are equally vociferous that marriage and motherhood are equally self-oppressive. The common thread is the desire to ensure that other people behave according to the instructions of the speaker.

I'm not so arrogant as to feel that people would all be much happier if they lived exactly the way I live. If anybody wants to wear the niqab, burkha, or socks with sandals, that's their business, not mine.