Maryam Yaso
The Actual Problem
In 2004, the banning of all conspicuous religious signs became an official law in France. The law applied to all types of religions in France, but it targeted mostly Muslims. In particular, Muslim women were targeted for the use of headscarves, which is a piece of fine material worn by Muslim women to cover up their hair; the veil is a cloth that covers the whole body except the eyes. The law was made to ban all types of religious signs, but in reality, it was meant to target Muslims. In Joan Wallach Scott's book the Politics of the Veil, she addresses the reasons French officials saw the headscarf as a threat to their culture. France's political beliefs caused them to misunderstand the meaning of the headscarf. …show more content…
The concept of having women wearing a headscarf displayed the cultural difference among French values and Muslim religiosity. French people believe that as a citizen, you need to be loyal to French and the nation. The headscarf debate opens up the door to a serious problem that explains the actual reason for the headscarf problem that branches into five important themes: the Headscarf Controversies, racism, secularism, individualism, and sexuality. These themes are seen in several documents. Abbe Sieyes, "The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen”, he defines what a nation is and indicates the rights for citizens. The Second Sex, Simone de Beauvoir, talks about gender, how women are considered secondary, and how society has identified thinks that specify as masculine and feminine. Discourse on Colonialism, Aime Cesaire, tries to describe the impact of colonialism on the colonized and the colonizer. Lastly, Second Letter on Algeria by Tocqueville, which talks about how people are uneducated and do not have any manners. These readings have supportive points to Scott's …show more content…
In de Beauvoir, she talks about how women were not supposed to talk or say anything like "You think thus and so because you are a woman." French people had the same idea, is that Muslim women are facing the stage where they are being forced by a brother or father or any type of older men to wear the headscarf. It is true that in French’s traditions do not think that women should be covering their hair, which meant that French thought that Muslim women wanted to look like the French women. They consider the headscarf as an obligation to the women, not a chosen decision, but it is not the truth. Muslim women see the headscarf as a “signified modesty and sexual unavailability.”5 Most women who had the headscarf drew attention to themselves, because of how they were covered and
The Actual Problem
In 2004, the banning of all conspicuous religious signs became an official law in France. The law applied to all types of religions in France, but it targeted mostly Muslims. In particular, Muslim women were targeted for the use of headscarves, which is a piece of fine material worn by Muslim women to cover up their hair; the veil is a cloth that covers the whole body except the eyes. The law was made to ban all types of religious signs, but in reality, it was meant to target Muslims. In Joan Wallach Scott's book the Politics of the Veil, she addresses the reasons French officials saw the headscarf as a threat to their culture. France's political beliefs caused them to misunderstand the meaning of the headscarf. …show more content…
The concept of having women wearing a headscarf displayed the cultural difference among French values and Muslim religiosity. French people believe that as a citizen, you need to be loyal to French and the nation. The headscarf debate opens up the door to a serious problem that explains the actual reason for the headscarf problem that branches into five important themes: the Headscarf Controversies, racism, secularism, individualism, and sexuality. These themes are seen in several documents. Abbe Sieyes, "The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen”, he defines what a nation is and indicates the rights for citizens. The Second Sex, Simone de Beauvoir, talks about gender, how women are considered secondary, and how society has identified thinks that specify as masculine and feminine. Discourse on Colonialism, Aime Cesaire, tries to describe the impact of colonialism on the colonized and the colonizer. Lastly, Second Letter on Algeria by Tocqueville, which talks about how people are uneducated and do not have any manners. These readings have supportive points to Scott's …show more content…
In de Beauvoir, she talks about how women were not supposed to talk or say anything like "You think thus and so because you are a woman." French people had the same idea, is that Muslim women are facing the stage where they are being forced by a brother or father or any type of older men to wear the headscarf. It is true that in French’s traditions do not think that women should be covering their hair, which meant that French thought that Muslim women wanted to look like the French women. They consider the headscarf as an obligation to the women, not a chosen decision, but it is not the truth. Muslim women see the headscarf as a “signified modesty and sexual unavailability.”5 Most women who had the headscarf drew attention to themselves, because of how they were covered and