Passport photo of girl, 5, banned 'in case it offends Muslims'

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

You have to admit... those are some sexy shoulders.

[Jenn! 918]

deleted

Edited August 17, 2006 by jenn3539

[Donna A 4]

correct me if im wrong but muslim girls dont have to cover up until they turn 9 anyway. little girls dress like this even over there.

[kittykatwoman 0]

What? Are 5 years old little girl's shoulders sexy???

[garya505 2]

Hannah Edwards: This is the picture the local post office rejected.

A five-year-old girl had her passport form rejected when an official said the bare shoulders on her photograph could offend Muslims.

The post office assistant stunned Hannah Edwards's parents by claiming the skin exposed by her daughter's halter-neck dress would not be accepted by the Passport Office as it might prove unacceptable in a Muslim country.

The incident happened when Jane and Martin Edwards took the picture, which was taken in a photo-booth, to a post office in the Sheffield area along with the completed form for checking ahead of a family holiday in the South of France.

The counter clerk told them she was aware of at least two other cases where applications had been rejected because a person's shoulders were not covered in their photo.

Mrs Edwards, a GP in Sheffield, had to rush around for two hours getting new pictures taken and countersigned.

'I was incensed,' she said yesterday. 'I went back home and checked the form.

'Nowhere did it say anything about covering up shoulders. If it had, I would have done so, but it all seems so unnecessary.

'This is quite ridiculous, I followed the instructions on the passport form to the letter and it was still rejected. It is just officialdom pandering to political correctness.

'It is a total over-reaction. How can the shoulders of a five-year-old girl offend anyone?

[...]

A Post Office spokesman said: 'Our offices have a Passport Office template which says what the photograph should and shouldn't be.

'Bare shoulders don't come into that at all. We can't see any instruction to that effect so all we can do is apologise to Mrs Edwards. It was clearly a mistake made by the clerk.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/arti...in_page_id=1770

Ok its not in the instructions. Maybe there are some Muslims working in the office. Maybe the instructions should be changed to respect all religions. Maybe you all should stop blaming all Muslims for the actions of some extremist Muslims. Just food for thought. (I hope I didn't offend anyone )

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

You have to admit... those are some sexy shoulders.

Weeeeeyurd....

[Fandango 1,439]

I dunno....I am torn about this topic completely.

I do agree that we as a world should not have to pander to 'offending the Muslims' BUT

With international travel, you must be culturally sensitive. The message might have been lost in the clerk's refusal to use the pic, but at the end of the day...if you're traveling to foreign countries, you cannot expect everywhere to be like the Western world. And some places are lost in time with their beliefs.

Why not try to have as nondescript a picture as possible? You want to wear bare shoulders...stay in countries that don't frown upon it. I've traveled all over the place, and I always shake my head at the travelers who appear to be bringing the their home to the holiday spot with them instead of soaking up the culture of where they actually are.

Now I'm not losing sight over the fact that I don't think it was mentioned where they were going....but it might have been better for the clerk to suggest a different pic.

I've got a headache and prolly am not expressing myself the greatest, so blah.

and i still wanna know how many feel it's apropriate to dye a 5 year old's hair!

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

You have to admit... those are some sexy shoulders.

Weeeeeyurd....

relax. just kidding. I was just responding to an absurd situation with an absurb comment.

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

I don't know why people are getting outraged when the post office admitted the clerk made a mistake.

[jezebelseven 0]

I don't think it was mentioned where they were going....but it might have been better for the clerk to suggest a different pic.

It was mentioned-- South France.

I don't tend to dress with the culture of the place I'm going. It's not my culture and I feel like I am cheapening it by wearing it for a day. I don't wear teeny weeny bikinis and booty shorts when I go to Florida, and god knows my hair is insulting or bothersome to people when I go nearly anywhere, as are my cat ears, piercings, etc, and if I wanted to wear bear shoulders, I probably would. That being said, I have no plans on traveling to the middle east just yet.

Edited August 17, 2006 by jezebelseven

[CarolineM 0]

i'm not outraged at this PARTICULAR incident, I'm outraged at the general new PC regulations everywhere.

We can't just talk about ppl anymore without being UBER senstive...and then, usually wrong...

ex: Calling a black person AFrican American. Half of them aren't! THey aren't from Africa, they are from all over, yet they get lumped into African Americans bc people are too afraid to just say black...

drives me nuts.

[Fuzzness 2]

i'm not outraged at this PARTICULAR incident, I'm outraged at the general new PC regulations everywhere.

We can't just talk about ppl anymore without being UBER senstive...and then, usually wrong...

ex: Calling a black person AFrican American. Half of them aren't! THey aren't from Africa, they are from all over, yet they get lumped into African Americans bc people are too afraid to just say black...

drives me nuts.

I have never known a black person to be offended to being called black. All my black friends refer to themselves as black.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Calling a black person AFrican American. Half of them aren't! THey aren't from Africa, they are from all over...

Out of curiosity, I thought even the ones from the Caribbean and South America had ancestors who were brought there from Africa?

I have never known a black person to be offended to being called black. All my black friends refer to themselves as black.

Next time tell them they're all a bunch of racist rednecks.

[CarolineM 0]

Yeah but if there's a guy who is here say...from Haiti...I'm PRETTY sure he'd rather be called a haitian than an African American...just my opinion.

also there are DEFINITELY ppl out there who are too afraid to say the word BLACK in front of black ppl. TRUST ME. I worked in an all black high school - and these white ppl that would come in were HILARIOUS...they'd say something where they would START to say black...but would stop and correct themselves and then look all uncomfortable.

Once my kids (Students) said... "Ms. F., We don't mean to offend you, but why do white ppl drive around with their feet hanging out the window"

I almost peed myself laughing. It was kinda cute actually that they felt weird saying "White people" in front of me. I had very open and frank discussions with them about race and I'd say they are better for it.

back to topic sorry

[Ban Hammer 13,345]

i'm not outraged at this PARTICULAR incident, I'm outraged at the general new PC regulations everywhere.

We can't just talk about ppl anymore without being UBER senstive...and then, usually wrong...

ex: Calling a black person AFrican American. Half of them aren't! THey aren't from Africa, they are from all over, yet they get lumped into African Americans bc people are too afraid to just say black...

drives me nuts.

i had someone tell me she was "blaque"

i told her it sounded like something that grew on teeth between brushings. she was not impressed