Two French film students, one of them Muslim, decided to walk the streets of Paris in niqab and short shorts.
The point of the dress-up act was to show the absurdity of the French burqa ban. I love the idea because it raises so many questions. Women who are supposedly being objectified by the men in their lives are told they will be “liberated” by going uncovered. But what about women who are objectified and feel they need to act as sexual objects by the men in their lives? Do they not deserve the protection of the state? Or is objectification acceptable as long as it is for the pleasure of the men writing the laws?
The next step in this sort of protest is to wear the niqab and nothing else. Then, the women will get tickets, not for being nude, but for being clothed. In my opinion, that would show the absolute absurdity of the state trying to control women’s dress.
I have written elsewhere that this sort of action, of controlling a woman’s body, is simply male penis worship run amok. These ladies, who call themselves Niqabitches, have done a great service in showing the inherent contradictions of the law, rather than just stating them. Perhaps one of my favorite parts of the video is when the female police officer, who will be required to ticket them in the near future, asks to take a picture of them.
Sarkozy’s ban may have inadvertently created the sense of “Frenchness” in a way he didn’t anticipate. These women have crossed the religious and cultural divide to add to the motto “liberty, equality, and fraternity.” Now everyone will be rallying around “mock the stupidity of the Sarkozy government.”
