What's Next, Going After A Strip Club?
Is it "religious discrimination" if you get a job in a strip club and then inform them that you're going to wear a burka to work every day?
From the Telegraph/UK, a Muslim woman is suing Disneyland, which has seriously rigorous dress standards for employees, because they told her she couldn't work as a hostess with her headscarf on.
They didn't fire her -- but they told that if she refused to remove her hijab, they'd put her in a position where she wouldn't be on display before the public. (A friend told me today that that hotel she worked for -- the Grand Californian -- has employees dressed up in western wear.)
You know, I get carsick from my own driving and sometimes get airsick on planes (not in a messy way, but I get dizzy and nauseated, and have to put my head down). Because of that, I don't get to be a flight attendant, same as I don't get to be a pitcher in the pro leagues (or Little League, for that matter), since I probably can't throw a ball 30 feet, let alone have any control over where it goes.
You might be able to use the Constitution to bully Disney into letting you work in a headscarf, but is that the right thing to do?
Very possibly, this is a form of soft jihad. Roger Kimball writes at PJM:
Traditional jihad is waged with scimitars and their contemporary equivalents, e.g., stolen Boeing 767s, which make handy instruments of mass homicide. Soft jihad is a quieter affair: it uses and abuses the language and the principles of democratic liberalism not to secure the institutions and attitudes that make freedom possible but, on the contrary, to undermine that freedom and pave the way for self-righteous, theocratic intolerance.
Or, it's possible she's just an entitled snot trying to bully Disney.
From the Telegraph article:
The local branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, an advocacy group, said it had sent a letter to Disney demanding that the firm accommodate Boudlal."There is no justification for Disney's refusal to allow Ms Boudlal to wear her headscarf at work," said Ameena Mirza Qazi, deputy executive director and staff attorney at the group.
Sure there is. It's a dress-up resort, with certain fantasy worlds they're trying to convey.
Question: Should Disney be accommodating her or are they right?
Disney is in the right. Their employees all wear costumes which entail certain looks. If you don't want to wear the costume appropriately you shouldn't be working there. So unless Disney starts some attraction up with an Islamic theme, head coverings like that shouldn't be there.
LMAO at the mental picture of a stripper in a burka!
BunnyGirl at August 20, 2010 2:34 AM
It is just one of their islamic ploy to try to islamise Disney. First, one of their islamic fanatic will start wearing their stupid islamic headscarf and then they will start their soft jihad by pressuring some workplace to conform to their horrible islamic headscarf and then when their islamic tribes gather more power around the world, they will start forcing nonislamics people to kow tow to their their various type of disgusting islamic associated headgear. When is their nonsense going to end? I mean it is already a pain living with their mismanagement and backward laziness, but having to cope with their irrational weird creeping totalitarian ideology in a workplace is certainly not fair for us nonbelievers who simply wish to eke out a day honest living. I mean it is bad enough being discriminated by indians and chinese(for not knowing much mandarin) in a supposedly multiracial country but to be discriminated by the predominantly islamic people as well is downright cruel..
WLIL at August 20, 2010 2:55 AM
Let her work the luncheon buffet - grilling the porkchops.
Don't like it? - there's the door.
This is like an actor refusing to wear their costume.
Ben David at August 20, 2010 4:42 AM
EPCOT stands for experimental polyester costumes of torture. It's not just that Disney has strict standards, it's that they give you every item you are allowed to wear. It's that and ONLY that. (except the underwear). Even sunglasses. Disney calls their public-visible areas on-stage. Their employees are cast members. It IS one big play. I really, really, really hope Disney sticks to this one.
momof4 at August 20, 2010 5:12 AM
Couldn't she work at the Aladdin ride or something?
NicoleK at August 20, 2010 5:36 AM
Disney probably has the female "cast members" of the Alladin ride wearing "harem outfits" which would not be "modest" by religious standards. I have not been there but I am envisioning something like the costume that Barbara Eden wore in "I Dream of Jeannie".
BTW, the studio insisted that she wear a patch that covered her navel.
Sabba Hillel at August 20, 2010 5:52 AM
A written contract specifying the dress code and the consequences for failure to comply should be signed before employment. Then Disney needs the guts to enforce the contact. I say "Fire her".
Nick at August 20, 2010 6:01 AM
Still, a lady in a headscarf could be the matronly chaperone of the haram dancers!
Though it seems she wanted to work in the cowboy hotel. What about a sunbonnet or bandanna? This girl should have tried to get creative and get a solution going. If you're feeling like something isn't working for you, it's up to you to try to solve it. It might not work. But I wonder how they would have reacted to a bandana tied around her head and another around her neck, with the cowboy hat on top. They might have let her go with it. If they didn't, yeah, she should let it go it isn't the job for her. But seriously.
It's like if you're the bridesmaid and the dress doesn't work for you... you go to the bride and suggest some sort of alteration before you pitch a hissy fit. (I've never actually been in this situation but that's what I would do)
NicoleK at August 20, 2010 6:02 AM
might be soft Jihad?
Step 1 - force them to accommodate my wearing a prison-dress
Step 2 - Pressure other women to dress "modestly" around muslims so as to not cause offense
Step 3 - muslim men start raping non-muslim women. this is justified by the local imam by calling them "uncovered meat"
This is Jihad. There's nothing "soft" about it.
brian at August 20, 2010 6:07 AM
The Grand California isn't a "cowboy" hotel. It's actually a beautiful arts and crafts style construction and Story Tellers is a beautiful and whimsical restaurant with wood carvings of stories on the walls. I take my grandson there quite often. If I walk in and see Ms. Boudlal in a hijab, I will walk out, walk to Guest Services and asked that Disney take my annual passport back and inform them that I won't be renewing unless and until they get ride of the hijab wearing shake down artist. I go to Disneyland to escape reality, not be confronted by controversy.
Also, Ms. Boudlal worked for 2 years at Story Tellers without the hijab. It wasn't until she became an American citizen that she decided she had to wear it to work. Check out her quote here:
http://ocresort.ocregister.com/2010/08/18/muslim-employee-accuses-disney-of-discrimination/53409/
sara at August 20, 2010 6:11 AM
Oh, I thought someone posted something about Western Wear being required.
Heh, Brian, it's one of the things I don't like about Paris, all the Muslim guys leering. I once chaperoned a group of American girls dressed like hussies... it was a bit scary, actually. But even scarier? I, in my matronly chaperone outfits, did not escape the leering and groping either!!!
NicoleK at August 20, 2010 6:15 AM
Well, if she wins this I'm taking my fat ass to Hooters and demanding a job.
What bullshit.
Ann at August 20, 2010 7:21 AM
"Oh, I thought someone posted something about Western Wear being required."
I think they meant "western wear" as in "don't show up to work in a hijab, kimono, sari, or sarong." The Grand Floridian actually tries hard for a Victorian Seaside look. So a hijab would be particularly glaring deviation. I don't think Disney will cave on this one and I don't think they'll have to. They are notoriously strict about their "cast members" look and the employment contract says as much - even in the backstage office working areas.
Elle at August 20, 2010 7:25 AM
"I am envisioning something like the costume that Barbara Eden wore in "I Dream of Jeannie"."
And there's the fuel to keep me secretly smiling all day.
Disney's in the right, no different than if a castmember wanted to get tattoos or a nose ring. If you want to explore the religious aspect of this, I'm pretty sure they'd be against exposed rosary beads or tfillin as well.
Do I think this is soft Jihad? No, I think this is a girl with an overinflated sense of self.
Besides, she works for a company whose mascot is a giant talking rat, an unclean animal. Her religious dedication is already suspect.
Vinnie Bartilucci at August 20, 2010 7:29 AM
bunnygirl got it right at the get-go:
Employment at Disneyland is about Disneyland, not egotistical displays of any sort.
Hey Skipper at August 20, 2010 10:30 AM
Locally, a woman sued a collection agency for not allowing her to wear her religious head wear. It interfered with the telephone headset. Not to mention, they have a strict policy against hats.
She won.
My biggest issue was that she had not wore the head scarf to her interview. If religiously, she was supposed to always wear it, then why did she not wear it to the job interview? And then, had they not hired her it might have been religious discrimination.
It sounds like in this situation, she also pulled the bait and switch.
Cat at August 20, 2010 10:42 AM
Cat - the word you're looking for is taqqiya.
Every act of submission to the Islamists' desires is a victory for totalitarianism.
brian at August 20, 2010 11:20 AM
Maybe they could set up an Iranian exhibit and she could be the adultress.
MarkD at August 20, 2010 1:57 PM
Fire her.
It seems that the comments are unanimous. What did you expect?
EarlW at August 20, 2010 2:17 PM
Since the first pirates were Muslim, put an eyepatches on her and let her work the "Pirates of the Carribean " ride.
Blackening a tooth would be gravy........
Mbruce at August 20, 2010 3:58 PM
Last I checked Disneyland is not a government institution. Private money, you should get to decide who you give it to, end of story; anything less is immoral on the face of it. Apart from this woman obviously being an entitled bully.
Lobster at August 20, 2010 7:09 PM
Can her ass or let her quit. But Disney should not give in.
I'm of the view point that it would probably be cheaper to lay her off as excess and pay the unemployment comp rates than to go to court.
They can also lay off the rest of the dead weight at the same time -- so she's one of many.
Jim P. at August 20, 2010 7:30 PM
The fact is all the islamic women(and men) are deceitful and arrogant and full of pride of their oppresiveness, whether they wear their islamic headgear or not. Theirs is a very subtle presure. First, they( those weird islamic strangers) would see whether you, a nonbeliever is from a rich or poor background or of any use to them. If they find that you are from a rich background or one that they might be able to make use of, they would came and pretend to talk to you or pretend to invite you for food. Such is their socalled hospitality, which in reality is just one of their ploy to gain an advantage to abuse any of our nonbelievers vulnerability in the near future, when they gain some "power".
In Asia, I noted that the more wealthy ones have more tendencies to put on their disgusting islamic headgear and thus have more clout to force other nonbelievers to respect their offensive islamic attitude/headgear. It is bad enough when those islamic women wore it to assert their distinct socalled superior religous identity and show off their socalled modesty, but it just got worst when they tried to put subtle pressure via various nasty measures on us disadvantaged nonbelievers to respect their offensive islamic culture.
WLIL at August 20, 2010 7:53 PM
That's a bit silly, WLIL, I've met plenty of Arabs who were perfectly nice people to sit and chat with. OK, I'm useful for poor Arabs as a potential donor to a charity or whatever, but as a middle class lady I'm not particularly useful to super rich ones, and they were perfectly nice to me, too.
NicoleK at August 21, 2010 2:36 AM
I am not silly. I am just more aware of their ugly and unpleasant islamic true nature due to my too many unfortunate experience.
Another reason I was treated badly by those cruel arrogant islamic people is because I come from a disadvantaged background more likely to be mistreated by those twofaced islamic people.
WLIL at August 22, 2010 5:10 PM
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