Tucker Carlson wasn’t pleased with the news that Macy’s will start selling a line of fashionable hijabs.
On his Thursday evening show, the Fox News host said that the Muslim headscarf oppressed millions of women around the world and likened the move by the retailer to promoting foot binding and genital mutilation.
“Can female genital mutilation be empowering? That’s common in Islamic countries,” Carlson said. “If Macy’s sold a new line of Chinese foot binding shoes, would those be empowering too?”
“I just can’t get past this idea, I am trying to be open-minded because I am an open-minded man, a modern man. But the idea that a garment that a religion has forced women to wear for a thousand years because they’re women, forcing them to be modest is somehow empowering for women?” he asked.
🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔 pic.twitter.com/KBe5B4DfkT
— Jon Levine (@LevineJonathan) February 7, 2018
Countering Carlson was Sonia Ossorio, President of the New York City chapter of the National Organization for Women, who accused the host of oversimplifying the argument.
“I think it’s a little bit different because that actually would damage your feet,” Ossorio said, dismissing Carlson’s comparison.
“It’s not that simple,” she added. “It’s not black and white, for some women, it is indeed empowering and for others, it is not and it really is a matter of perspective.”
Carson also warned about the rising population of Muslims in western countries, which he said would have “implications for social cohesion and national security.”
Watch above.