France and the Women

No, this will not be a post about the much idealised Parisiennes. Nor will it be about French couture culture. No, what this post will do is perhaps more of a plug than anything else. I have been following two cases out of France these past weeks, and today my newspaper had a commentary written by Mona Eltahawy, that I thought I’d share with those whom it might interest.

To my luck, Ms. Eltahawy is based in New York and the article was written in English, so there’ll be no translation duty for me this time. The full text can be found on Agence Global’s website right here.

Here are a few of the noteworthy quotes:

A verdict in April essentially punished a Muslim woman for not being a virgin before marriage. The second denied citizenship last month to a woman who wears a head-to-toe veil, or niqab, and who lives in “total submission” to the men in her family — punishing her for being a doormat.

That’s the two cases she takes her outset in. And she makes some very valid points about them, points that have been a major concern for lare parts of the feminist comunities for quite some time. Namely: Why go after the women, when it is actually the men who are in the wrong?

Law professor Daniele Lochak told Le Monde that to follow Faiza X’s case to its logical conclusion would mean that women whose partners beat them were also not worthy of being French. Sadly, she’s right.

And this is exactly what the patriarchy would love to happen. If they can successfully shove violence against women back behind the four walls of the home, if they can successfully make rape of a spouse legal again, by denying women their rights because they have allowed men to oppress them too much, then they have won. This is perhaps the most frightening thing I have thought about in a long time. Because when we reach the point, where it is not only women, who report rape that are considered suspect, but also women who have been kept ignorant, frightened and beaten into submission that are not Western enough to be full legal citizens. Men will have won. And it seems in France they’re getting close.

Go read Ms. Eltahawy’s article. And if you want to lok at more of her opinion pieces, you can find her website here.