What's under those Burkas?

Okay, this is another question I've been wondering for a while, and before anyone gets all offended I would like to point out that for several years now it has been a standing joke for women to wonder what Scottish men wear under their kilts, so lay off.

Besides, I have a lot of very intellectual reasons for wanting to know the answer to this question, and I'm going to get into those later. For now though, I want to formally pose the question, in case you haven't figured it out yet:

What do Muslim women wear under their burkas, and other such all-encompassing garments?

Okay, now for my highly intellectual reasons for asking:

First, I think most westerners picture Middle Eastern climate as being very hot, and they think that these garments must be uncomfortably hot in these climates, leading to excessive sweating, B.O., and a host of other cleanliness-related problems, and this is part of why they see insistence on the burka as oppressive against women.

Also, since most westerners believe that the main purpose of the burka is to prevent a women from expressing her sexuality, I think they assume that the women must also be wearing other garments underneath the burka. After all, a burka with nothing underneath would be kind of, well, hot. I mean, just imagine walking around completely naked underneath nothing but a sheet. Dang.

Anyway, my purpose here is not to justify the violence sometimes committed against women who do not wear a burka. There is no justification for throwing acid on a women's face. This is just an attempt to look beyond the view portrayed by western media to make sure that what we're seeing is the whole truth, and not the result of our own cultural bias.

Any comments?

- LeRoy