People ask, “why do cats like boxes so much?”  I think most of us know the answer by now, which is that cats like to hide and look out from their hiding places. They feel safe and secure when they do this. It feels good to feel safe and secure. The technical term is that cats are cryptic animals. In the wild “cryptic” means that the cat camouflages himself which is why wild cats have the coats that they have because they blend in with the background.

Cat in a box and a woman in a burqa

So domestic cats like boxes because they are surrounded all sides except for the opening on one side which makes them feel secure.

Muslim women who wear the burqa, which is a garment that covers the entire body with an opening for the eyes, are also able to look out to the world while being hidden from the world which makes them feel secure. Because they feel secure they feel better.

However, the original reason why they wear the burqa is because Muslim men want them to, in order to keep them under their control and as second-class citizens, which undermines their confidence which in turn leads to the Muslim woman feeling comfortable when they are hidden from the world inside a burqa looking out.

Wearing the burqa reinforces wearing the burqa. It undermines confidence, which is the psychological state that Muslim men desire from their spouses. It is a psychological cage.

There is a similarity between wearing the burqa and cats hiding in boxes. However, the human is not a cryptic animal therefore it is an unnatural state to hide inside an all encompassing garment. Even when Muslim women are not hiding inside clothes they are often hiding inside the home; imprisoned.

Muslim women who wear the burqa don’t get enough vitamin D due to a lack of sunlight falling on their skin. The burqa creates a health problem in addition to the psychological problem.

The domestic cat should always have a place in which to hide but it need not be a specially constructed place or a box. Cats find places to hind very well. Cat owners should remind themselves that cats can feel insecure quite easily which tells us that they are sensitive to what is happening around them. What we do and create can sometimes be scary for a domestic cat.

Associated page: Islamic faith and cats.