This is a Free Country, You Can't Wear That!

The lower house of the French parliament has voted to ban wearing the Islamic full veil in public. The vote was not close, 335 to 1, with 221 abstentions, and the bill will now move to the Senate for ratification in September. Proponents claim the vote is a victory for the "values of freedom against all the oppressions which try to humiliate individuals," and that "democracy thrives when it is open-faced." Critics say that those who wear the full veil are not the stereotypical oppressed women that they are made out to be, and that the potential ban merely represents xenophobia.

Should the ban pass the Senate it will still face review by France's Constitutional Council and the European Court of Human Rights, both of which have the potential to overturn the law. Nonetheless, claiming that a ban on the veil serves democracy in any way is hard to wrap one's head around. Let me get this straight...by telling people that they can't wear something, Parliament is allowing them to be free because they assume that the people are only wearing it because they are being forced to as a form of medieval Islamic oppression. This reminds me of the Adam Sandler sketch (audio, text) where he and his buddy decide to join a cult. In the end, Adam Sandler apologizes to his friend because the cult forces him to kill his father. The friend's response: "You know, it's like they said. It was the only way to save him." I'm not sure if that relates, but it's funny so click the link.

Either way, forcing someone not to do something so that others can't force them to do it is an ironic solution to a sensitive problem. Will eliminating traditional veils like the burka and niqab in public make oppressive men treat women more equitably as proponents of the ban insinuate? Will the righteousness of Western values strike them like lightning leading them to favor a "I ♥ NY" t-shirt for their wife rather than the pious Snuggie that they've laid out every morning prior? Or will such men still be sober, sexist wife-beaters even if the law passes? 

And this is all assuming that the women who wear the veils are not choosing to do so. What if some are? What if a law was proposed stating that women can't wear Christian crosses around their necks because some Christian men view women as inferior and treat them like crap? I think a lot of Christian women would ask what their husband, father, or brother has to do with their personal methods of practicing their faith.

It's estimated that only 2,000 women wear the veil in France and yet many of the country's five million Muslims oppose the ban. Is this because Muslims in France hate equality or is it because they understand the religious meaning of the veil a bit better than Parliament? Promoting equality and providing religiously-conscious social services to battered and oppressed women seems like a more democratic solution than assuming that every woman walking down the street in a burka is being forced to by an evil Muslim man. 

If government is going to outlaw anything it should be couples wearing matching outfits. It is clear evidence of the non-surgical castration performed by many Western women on their male partners and it can lead to long nights of watching "The Piano Sisterhood of the Ya-Ya Traveling Pants Luck Club in the City." I've not seen it, but I read a review in a nightmare I had and it was the worst experience of my life.