Ministry of Truth » Silver Bling Thing
Until I read the above blog article, I was planning to write an entry about how I supported Lydia Playfoot's campaign to be able to wear a silver ring to school, as part of one of those no-sex-before-marriage campaigns the Evangelical churches are fond of. While I have my reservations about the SRT and about all those campaigns, I don't see why wearing a ring to school should be a reason why a girl should be suspended or expelled - uniform or no. I'm also a long-standing opponent of uniforms themselves, because they are often uncomfortable, they make kids stand out to pupils of other schools, because they are expensive, because the claims made for them (like masking social divisions) don't stand up (as if you can't identify a child's social class by where they live and how they talk), and because they exist solely for historical reasons, and several countries (including Canada and much of Europe) do perfectly well without them.
But it turns out that this isn't a righteous rebellion against the tyranny of school uniforms at all, but what seems to be a publicity stunt. The girl's mother is actually the SRT's UK company secretary, and her father is their Parents' Programme Directory, and both work with SRT UK's managing director, Andy Robinson, who is also handling media enquiries in conjunction with a Bournemouth-based PR company. (Lydia Playfoot lost her case on Monday.)
as-salaamu 'alaikum,
Perhaps its not so much the ring or the school uniform but the underlying intention behind some of the discourse as pointed out in BBC News calling the item a "purity-ring".The implications are that those who do not where the ring are impure. It might be a long shot but perhaps identity is becoming so strained in the U.K. that these small idiosyncrasies matter.
Assalaamu alaikum,
Very interesting... I've herad about this too, and I was also thinking that she should be allowed to wear a simple silver ring, and that the uniform rules were stupid. (A band on a finger could cause an injury? C'mon...) But I would have also made the point that a chastity ring is NOT the same as a hijab, because Islam requires a hijab, while Christianity does not require this ring. (Which is the same point I would make about the BA employee who wanted to wear a cross.)
But now that I've read this, I have no sympathy for this young women or her family.
It reminds me of the Shabina Begum jilbab case, where I gather one of the issues was that wearing it would have effectively defined those not wearing it as being on a lower rung of the piety ladder.