What Not to Wear

Five countries where the term "fashion police" is meant literally.

BY SUZANNE MERKELSON, JOSHUA E. KEATING | APRIL 11, 2011

FRANCE

Sartorial offense: The niqab and the burqa

The debate: With France's forceful response to the events in Libya, President Nicolas Sarkozy may have cast himself as a defender of freedom in the Islamic world, but a controversial new law back home is unlikely to win him many points among Muslims. Under a regulation that was passed by Parliament last October and went into effect on April 11, women will no longer be able to appear in public wearing traditional Islamic garments including the niqab -- a full face covering -- and the burqa, a full body covering. Anyone caught wearing the niqab can be fined over $200 or required to take courses on French citizenship. Fines are much higher -- over $20,000 or jail time -- for men who force their wives to wear the burqa.

Police made the first two arrests under the new law on the day it went into effect, taking two women into custody at a rally in front of Paris's Notre Dame Cathedral. Under the rules, police are forbidden from asking women to remove their veils in public, but must escort them back to a police station where they will be forced to remove it.

France's discomfort with public displays of religion is nothing new: The wearing of headscarves in state schools has been banned since 2004. But the new law comes at a particularly fraught time for France's Muslim community. Sarkozy's UMP party recently hosted a controversial national debate on the role of Islam in society, and the president has made comments describing multiculturalism as a failure. French Muslims claim the ban is a symbolic, discriminatory response to a problem that doesn't exist: Fewer than 2,000 women in France are believed to wear full face coverings. 

BERTRAND GUAY/AFP/Getty Images

 

Suzanne Merkelson is an editorial assistant and Joshua E. Keating is an associate editor at Foreign Policy.

MARKNOTHAX

3:47 AM ET

April 12, 2011

Naqab & Burakha

This type of things like woman and girl stop to devlope their self and stop their mental devlopment.

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ODYSSEY8

10:57 AM ET

April 12, 2011

No win scenario

I do understand the French government's reasons for doing this; that being said, I think the French government has stepped head-long into a no-win scenario with this issue:

a. If the French government does not impose a burqa ban, and a terrorist uses a burqa to smuggle explosives into a public place and the explosives kill people, the French people will blame their government for not taking sufficient steps to ensure public safety.

b. With the ban now in place, the French government now runs the risk of alienating its own Muslim population (which, by the way, is the largest in Europe), straining relations with Muslim countries and making France a focal point for the ire of Al Qaeda and any other terrorist organization out there looking for a way to "make a name for themselves" in Islamic fundamentalist circles.

Like I said, no win scenario!

 

TROYM

9:31 PM ET

April 12, 2011

Dress code? What's next?

The problem with this story is that France is the only "democracy" listed. It is expected that Authoritarian regions will dictate what can and cannot be worn as a measure of social compliance (much the same way kids at school are expected to wear uniforms).

France is outrageous because of it blatant disregard for the human rights of self expression and religious freedoms. However it is a perfect demonstration of how terrorism is winning the war against liberal democracy by causing it to implode, much like communism did in its competition with democratic capitalism.

 

AND REW

9:47 PM ET

April 12, 2011

What About

What about Iran? There are lots of restrictions, from not wearing pants to certain haircuts, and of course, the typical Islamic restrictions for women.

Also I'm pretty sure the list lacks some other countries as well.

 

BOOKSTER

7:41 AM ET

April 14, 2011

Bhutan info out of date

A minor point in the great scheme of things, I suppose but a friend from Bhutan says: "Bhutanese are required to wear [national dress] to office/work space/places of respect, but they can wear other/western clothing in public. This law (to wear in public) was in effect in 80's not anymore."

 

SHAMS ZAMAN

12:15 PM ET

April 15, 2011

A Classical Example of Hypocrisy

Now that is indeed a classical example of hypocrisy. If one woman has a right of going nude or in bikini at the beach why on the other one is not permitted to wear the clothes of her choice. If anyone wants to cover her face up why she is not permitted to do that? Where is the champions of freedom of expression and liberty??

The only thing western man want is to see the womenfolk naked and quenching the thirst of his sexual hunger and thirst. When it comes to publishing cartoons of sacred personalities of Islam it is regarded as freedom of expression and freedom of speech. But if some Muslim woman want to practice that freedom by putting on veil it is forbidden.

There is no difference between Taliban and French. One prefer to forcefully put it on other forcefully tears it down. shame on the double standards. By this standard French have no right to criticize the Taliban who have forcefully adopted another practice. The concept of freedom in West is slowly going down the drain and this is a significant sign of the decline of the west.No doubt Toynbee had predicted it almost 50 years ago.

Shams Zaman - Pakistan (smszmn72@yahoo.com)

 

EDITH PORTA

11:30 AM ET

May 11, 2011

It is expected that

It is expected that Authoritarian regions will dictate what can and cannot be worn as a measure of social compliance (much the same way kids at school are expected to wear uniforms).France is outrageous because of it blatant disregard for the human rights of self expression and religious freedoms. However it is a perfect demonstration of how terrorism is winning the war against liberal democracy by causing it to implode, much like communism did in its competition with democratic capitalism.If one woman has a right of going nude or in bikini at the beach why on the other one is not permitted to wear the clothes of her choice. If anyone wants to cover her face up why she is not permitted to do that? Where is the champions of freedom of expression and liberty??The only thing western man want is to see the womenfolk naked and quenching the thirst of his sexual hunger and thirst. When it comes to publishing cartoons of sacred personalities of Islam it is regarded as freedom of expression and freedom of speech. But if some Muslim woman want to practice that freedom by putting on veil it is forbidden.