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Betty Dodson: Sex, Love, Feminism, Politics › In the News ›

France to Take on the Burqua

Posted June 19th by Carlin
in

The update: The French National Assembly announced on Tuesday the creation of a parliamentary inquiry into whether women in France should be allowed to wear the burka. 

A cross-party panel of 32 lawmakers will investigate whether the traditional Muslim garment poses a threat to the secular nature of the French constitution, Agence France-Presse reported. They are due to report back with their recommendations in six months.

On Monday French President Nicolas Sarkozy declared in a keynote parliamentary address that the burka, which covers women from head to toe, is "not welcome" in France.  "The problem of the burka is not a religious problem. This is an issue of a woman's freedom and dignity. This is not a religious symbol. It is a sign of subservience; it is a sign of lowering. I want to say solemnly, the burka is not welcome in France," Sarkozy told lawmakers.

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Leave it to the French.  Yes, they can be annoying but then they have these moments of brilliance:

France wants to study the small but growing trend of burqa wear, with an eye to possibly banning the Islamic garment from being worn in public, the government's spokesman said Friday.

Luc Chatel told France-2 television that the government would seek to set up a parliamentary commission that could propose legislation aimed at barring Muslim women from wearing the burqa and other fully covering gowns outside the home.  "If we find that use of the burqa was very clearly imposed (on women) ... we would draw the appropriate conclusions," Chatel said. Asked whether that could mean legislation banning the burqa in France, he responded "why not?"

In France, the terms "burqa" and "niqab" often are used interchangeably. The former refers to a full-body covering worn largely in Afghanistan with only a mesh screen over the eyes, whereas the latter is a full-body veil, often in black.

Chatel's comments have helped revive debate about whether wear of Islamic garments is appropriate in France, a country with a long and proud secular tradition.

In 2004, a law banning the Islamic headscarf and other highly visible religious symbols from French public schools sparked a heated debate on the issue. Proponents insisted such a ban was necessary to ensure France's schools remain strictly secular, while some Muslims countered the law specifically targeted them and unduly punished Muslim girls.

French Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said Friday that having a parliamentary commission study the issue would be a "good way" to find out how extensively burqas and niqabs are worn in France _ and what response might be adequate.

She conceded that legislating on what people can and cannot wear in public was a spiny matter, and also acknowledged it would be difficult to determine whether women wore the full-body veils because they were forced to or because they wanted to, Alliot-Marie said.

"It's a relatively complex problem," she told reporters.

The head of France's opposition Socialist party dismissed the issue, saying that in the middle of the global financial crisis, the country's legislators have more pressing matters to deal with.

France, which once held colonies throughout North Africa, has Western Europe's largest Muslim population. Muslims represent an estimated 5 million of the nation's 63 million people.

 

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An over-reaction

Chu's picture
Submitted by Chu on Sat, 06/20/2009 - 00:31.

Dear Carlin,

As a devout atheist, you might think that I'd be in favour of consigning religious iconography and symbolism to the dusts of history. But, for me, the principles of freedom of expression and freedom of association are too important to be up for discussion; particularly when one group of people, in this case Muslims, might be singled out for censorship and being the subjects of control.

As you will have noticed in some of my previous posts, I believe that the personal is always political and the freedom to choose one's clothing is as much a political issue as free expression. The freedom to write what one believes in, to wear what one pleases and to be a self-actualising human being is a fundermental aspect of political and social enfranchisement.

In my experience, social, parental and peer pressures affect us all in terms of the way we wish to present ourselves. In that respect, religiously significant clothing occupies the same space as other uniforms. Uniformity can be a sign of conformity (such as the corporate suit) or a sign of rebellion (such as the hoody) and, over time, these symbols change their meaning. Meaning is also changed by political and geographical context.

In countries where wearing religious clothing is enforced, it is an act of rebellion and freedom not to wear it. In countries in which it is banned, it is an act of rebellion to wear it. What we must encourage is the right to choose one's own level of religious and cultural expression; providing that such expression does not endanger anyone. In many parts of London, particularly the East End, where I spend much of my time, there are many Muslim women who are as free to wear or not to wear religious clothing as anyone else. Women may choose a burqa one day, a niqab the next and perhaps jeans and a crop-top on another day. In other words, it is a wholly wrong assumption that all women wearing religious clothing are forced to do so. Naturally, there are also cases in which great pressure is brought to bear, one way or the other. But it is the power-relations that need looking at, not items of clothing.

If one was to ban the burqa or the niqab in a public space, one would also have to ban the monk's robes, the nun's habit, the new-ager's tie-dye, the monarch's ermine, the buddhist's shaven head, the christian's cross and so-on and so-on. All are symbols of belief that have no logical reason to exist - except that the person so adorned believes that that is what they wish to wear to express their cultural or religious position. 

So while I can fully understand why some people might think that banning the burqa is a bold step towards liberalisation, in fact it is the opposite; it is a measure that will further entrench islamophobia and the control of women by the state.

Best wishes

Chu

PS, I also think that to say 'the French can be annoying' is not hugely helpful. If one said 'women can be annoying but..' or 'Jews can be annoying' etc, one would rightly be asked why one singling them out.  

Oh, Chu, I missed you so.

Carlin's picture
Submitted by Carlin on Sat, 06/20/2009 - 02:32.

Oh, Chu, I missed you so. Yes, the French comment was a bit much but it was my immediate statement upon reading the article, I said it aloud, and someone laughed. I'm a humor whore. On the burqa: I get your slipper slope argument. I get that some women will prefer to wear a burqua. Here's my beef - the justification for the burqa is that women are a temptation and responsible for the lustful thoughts of men so they must be covered. It's the intent. It's putting all the responibility for sexual desire, thoughts, etc on women.

And the same sentiment is foisted on American women. I'm so sick of hearing how I crave male attention when I simply attract male attention. It's incumbant on me to restrain the male sex drive? Watch what you wear, what you say, how you touch, making too much eye contact - I could go on and on. Maybe I'm in the middle of a situation that has my on edge a bit but I feel that it's just wrong to shroud women as to not inspire lust in a man. We have value too. 

"most people are fools, most authority is malignant, God does not exist, and everything is wrong" Ted Nelson

i don't think this is about liberation

Submitted by gibbsfunction on Mon, 06/22/2009 - 20:22.

http://www.feministe.us/blog/archives/2009/06/22/banning-the-burqa-in-fr...

i agree with this view. though if it were done properly without political aims in mind, the study itself sounds like it could be interesting.

Given some of the anti muslim aspects of french society i think its more about stopping muslims being so visible then about freeing anyone

The controlling eye of the colonial gaze

Chu's picture
Submitted by Chu on Tue, 06/23/2009 - 02:40.

Dear Gibbsfunction,

Thanks so much for posting the link. Feministe seems like a wonderfully erudite and fascinating place; it's not a site I've visted before and I was most impressed by it. A comment on the site by Fuzzytheory linked the issue of the male gaze to the colonial gaze and I was reminded of Greer's similar comments in Sex and Destiny and in Said's Orientalism; two books that have helped define and process many of my own views around these issues (I always seem to be mentioning them). 

Many objections to the Burqa rely on the assumption that the sexist power-relations that exist in some societies that are mostly non-white (defined by notions of otherness and thus deviating from occidental notions of universal norms) are somehow exemplars of polluting influences of which 'civilised' societies would otherwise remain untainted.

Yet from this Oriental's perspective, such brown barbarity is contrasted with devastating European and occidental outrages such as the holocaust, the slave trade, the British and European empires, Hiroshima, Nagasaki and so-on. Incidentally, even the notions of East and West are defined by a line drawn through East London and Greenwich, where ships once set off to steal Persia and the rest, and our very language is thus steeped in the blood of empires past and present.

At the height of the British empire, Victorian sexism had a profound effect on the way women were expected to dress and all-over coverings even became necessary for furniture in middle-class homes in case the sight of a table-leg caused unwanted offence. In other words, it is not as if state violence and domestic subjugation have not been common bedfellows throughout history and thoughout the world for centuries; encompassing gender, sex, class and race relations within their hierarchies. Sarkozy's recent comments are, in my estimation, just another example of his colonial gaze as an extension of his domestic power-relations; not just domestic in terms of the politics of his idealised France but of his idealised woman.  

Returning to my observations of attitudes in East London, it seems to me that it is not the forcing of women to wear the burqa that really annoys those most vociferously opposed to the garment, but the fact that many women choose to wear it; the usual hetero-sexist male modus operandi concerning relationships to women on the street being thwarted; streets in Limehouse where the global opium trade was based in the 19th century, streets that housed the brothels in which countless Victorian women were beaten to death by boozed up Victorian gents - a stone's throw from the sweep of the blessed Greenwhich Meridian.    

Best wishes

 

Chu           

Banning consensual burqua wear unethical

Joelface's picture
Submitted by Joelface on Wed, 06/24/2009 - 10:45.

 

I am inclined to agree with Chu on this one... I think if a grown adult wants to dress a certain way, then they ought to be able to. The exception in our country would be if the clothing worn was offensive (such as too revealing or with hateful writing on them). That, I think, is as it should be (although perhaps the rules on revealing clothes could use some tweaking).

However, if this law were specifically about forcing someone (even children) to wear such clothing, some form of protection provided for these children could be a useful step. So maybe there is some kind of middle ground that could then be applied to other religious or cultural traditions or clothing that are forced on non-consenting individuals. Something to think about anyways.

-------------------------------------

23 - M - Critical Relativist and Feminist (Equalist) - Canada

: )

rubyespresso's picture
Submitted by rubyespresso on Fri, 06/26/2009 - 13:15.

Carlin
Thank you for posting and starting this interesting conversation
I've been searching for a healthy perspective/discussion on the issue
: )
Thanks to Joelface and Chu for contributing too
Ruby

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