c. 2008 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) It may look like a burqa, but it certainly doesn’t act like one. A new invention by a German artist uses technology to turn the exceptionally modest garb into a mobile flirtation device.

Apparel artist Markus Kison invented the CharmingBurka because the traditional head-to-toe burqa is often seen as a symbol of oppression. Kison’s garment undermines the intent of the burqa _ to hide a woman’s face _ by doing the opposite: it broadcasts it.

Incorporated into the burqa is a “digital layer” which has a Bluetooth antenna. Bluetooth is a widely used wireless technology that allows devices to communicate, and is common in cell phones, computer mice, headsets and video game consoles.

As the wearer of the CharmingBurka travels through her daily routine, any Bluetooth-enabled mobile phone will light up with a photograph the woman has chosen to display. So far, the garment is just an artistic piece and is not being sold.

CharmingBurka has been shown internationally, last appearing at Seamless 2008, a fashion show in Boston that integrated computers and apparel. An organizer of the event said the crowd was enthusiastic about the CharmingBurka.

A burqa is a tent-like cloak that drapes a woman’s body, with only a crocheted screen to see through. It began as an interpretation of the Quran’s stipulations on modesty, and women have worn it in public for more than a century throughout South Asia and the Arabian Peninsula.

Kison declined to be interviewed, as he said his experiment was “too controversial” and he fears getting into trouble. But on his Web site, Kison explains that the CharmingBurka circumvents the “repression” of the burqa and “fulfills the desire of living a more Western life, which some Muslim women have today.”

Westerners have been especially critical of burqas in the past decade. Freeing Afghan women from the burqa was a subtext of the war in Afghanistan. In 2001, Cheri Booth, wife of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, called it a symbol of oppression. The Dutch government has repeatedly sought to ban the burqa from public spaces.

The electronically enhanced burqa does not technically break Islamic laws because modern devices were not a consideration when the laws were created.

But the CharmingBurka is an affront to the spirit of modesty, said Shireen Hunter, a visiting fellow at the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University. She says the burqa goes too far, since covering the face is not required in Islam, but teasing passersby with contrasting images is not a solution.

“If the purpose of all this covering up is to maintain virtue and not be provocative, than the idea of showing a picture while you’re wearing a burqa defeats the purpose,” she said. “In fact, because it is so unusual, it can even be more provocative than an unveiled woman just going about her daily business.”

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Some governments have already clamped down on attempts to use technology to subvert conservative social mores. Saudi Arabia, for example, banned the import of camera phones in 2002 because teenagers were using them to exchange photos. But demand was so high that the ban was lifted a few years later.

Hunter said Kison’s art sends an accurate political message that restrictive policies in Muslim countries cannot force people to be moral in a technological age, since people will find ways to get around it.

“These days, if you really want to maintain the morality of society, it’s something that has to come from within,” she said.

KRE/LF END STREIB