French Burqa Ban Sets a Dangerous Precedent

The ban takes France back into darkness when women were considered a chattel, a property of men to be used any way they can.

Osama Bin Laden and his ilk force women to wear the burqa at gun point, whereas the French President is forcing women not to wear it. Are women a play thing for these men?

Sustainable cultural change can come only though free will and not compulsion. I am not for the burqa and most Muslims are not either. But we have to defend the woman's right to wear what she chooses. We must uphold the liberties of people and not force women to do anything against their will -- to make them wear the burqa or force them not to wear. We have to be pro-choice.

Burqa is not a religious requirement but a cultural evolvement and is a part of the daily lives of nearly 5 percent of Muslims in France and about 20 percent across the globe. You cannot ask a nun to wear lesser garments or even those who are from conservative families to wear bikinis on the beaches. An Indian woman visiting France will not and should not comply with the demands of the French dress code in public places.

Is the French public drawing devious pleasure in reducing Muslim women to obey the laws under the guise of security? The world is silently witnessing evil in making. Aren't we ashamed of our silence during the Holocaust? Sarkozy is setting a dangerous precedent in the world. What if other nations decide to go back to medieval times in robbing the liberties of the people for their own games?

Women have come a long way forward to find freedom from primates. Are we going to let Neanderthal Sarkozy reset the clock? Who is he to tell a woman what to eat, drink, wear and believe?

I hope all French women wear the burqa one day to protect the liberties of the ones in danger. It is the wrong law to have passed, and we cannot have such evil laws on our books.

First they came for burqas and I did not care,
I did not wear the burqa;

They came for turbans and I did not care,
I did not wear the turban;

They came for the kippah and I did not care,
I was not Jewish;

They also came for the cross and I did not care,
I was not a Christian;

Then they came for English and I did not care,
I did not speak English;

Then the came for me and I panicked,
there was no one for me.

To bring about any cultural change in a given society, it has to be done through free will, particularly if it is not hurting or affecting others. Women have been wearing the burqa in France for a very long time and they should continue to wear if that gives them a sense of comfort, it is even more important today given the prevalent prejudices; we should not aggravate but mitigate it to build a cohesive society.

 

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Comments

[Durendal33]

06:23 AM on 04/15/2011

Also this idea of the state enforcing laws to emancipate woman is not an alien concept to Americans.
During the time when slavery was legal you also had slaves and slave owners who argued that slavery was the best place and position of the African American.Many former slaves longed to be back in slavery because they were taken care of so well clothed and fed and not discarded and made to try to make a living.In the end i believe that the state enforcement to put an end to slavery helped the emancipation of the African Americans a great deal but it's by no means finished. It's a long drawn out process and struggle but you have to start somewhere.

[Durendal33]

05:07 AM on 04/15/2011

I think the debate is over really, certainly in France.The vast majority of the French population left and right including major feminist and Muslim organizations support the ban. The reasons are manifold and are in my view legitimate reasons.We don't allow certain practices even if they are considered religious because we find them harmful to society.We don't allow woman to go around in the nude.Would people really want to argue that you're a Nazi if you don't want to be confronted with someone's private parts?
This ban also comes from within a certain reality, namely large groups of non-integrated French Muslims.Which is similar in other Western European countries.These people practice the same kind of gender discrimination on the females of their community as they are used to doing in their countries of origin.You have to combat it so the treatment of woman common in the Middle East and Islamic world does not spread to France or Western Europe.
And while there is much to be said about gender equality in Western Europe which is by no means perfect. It is light years ahead of the Islamic world I prefer it stays that way.

[frenchtwist]

12:25 PM on 04/14/2011

So you are asking all women to hide under black sacks in support of some stone age theory?
France knows better than this, in public one does not dissumulate one's identity from others.

[Stephen Voss]

04:28 PM on 04/16/2011

Thanks, frenchtwist and your dozens of fans, for making it clear that it's mainly bigots who favor this ban. frenchtwist can't comprehend a woman's right to dress as she wishes, doesn't know Islam is more modern by centuries than Christianity, can't even spell dissimulate. Back under your rock, old boy ... you can come out again when even Sarkozy lets women live their own lives.