Would you consider the hijab/burqa degrading to women and why?

[mr_j936]

Because that would be weird(er)?

I hope you're joking.  Whether something is weird or not should never be used as a justification for foisting sexist ideology onto people.

That's true, but you must surely concede that in certain circles, especially where there is lots of Saudi money corrupting people, there is pressure to 'fit in'. There's a choice and then there's a choice. I think a lot of pressure is put on some women, but because these people didn't force it upon the woman they can easily say: "Well nobody actually 'forced' her to wear this thing".

I had a friend in high school whose family was muslim and she wore a hijab.  I never asked her if it was her choice, freely made, to wear it but I surmised later on that it wasn't because the instant she moved away from home for college she stopped wearing it.

Saying that "women aren't forced to wear it" insinuates that it is always their choice, freely made, to wear the hijab or burka and that is simply not the case.  In the west, there can be cultural or familial pressure to wear it.  In many cases, more so in the middle east than in the west, the choice to wear a hijab can be a choice between whether they have a place to live or not, or whether they are beaten or not.

As MrNoMorePropaganda said, there's a "choice, and then there's a choice.

The key word is not all. 

I know atheist women who wear it because they have to. It's perhaps so worst thing ever.