Monsieur le Président, reigning theologian?

Yesterday, Nicolas Sarkozy made the first presidential appearance before the French Parliament since the 1800s. Among his topics of choice? The need to ban the burqa in the Fifth Republic.

According to the New York Times, the crowd applauded enthusiastically, but Sarkozy is already being slammed by the French press and many of his constituents. LeMonde.fr posted reactions from its readers yesterday under the (translated) title "In France, liberty for all, except the Muslims!" June 19th's edition featured an opinion piece by Eric Kaminski on the overall topic that's well worth the read if your French is up to it.

As much of a feminist as I am, I'm solidly with LeMonde's readers (and it seems to me, their editorial staff) on this one: whether or not a woman wears a burqa, a niqab, a hijab, a baseball cap, a scarf or no covering at all when she's out buying groceries or having coffee with friends is not the business of the French government.

Here's some food for thought, M. le Président: what does it matter what a woman chooses to wear on the streets of Paris, Toulouse, Marseille or Rennes when there are still places in your country where a woman who wears a skirt - no matter the length - is considered by the local population to be "inviting" rape? What does it matter that some women choose to adhere to the more austere traditions of their faith when women are still burned alive by men who feel they've been "humiliated," like Sohane Benziane, 17 years old when she was killed in 2002, who was sprayed with gasoline and tossed in the trash?

Yes, countless injustices have been committed against women in the name of Islam. Yes, some women in Muslim countries are forced into wearing the burqa by male relatives - thank you, M. Sarkozy, for apparently reading A Thousand Splendid Suns. Yes, the idea that anyone thinks women must cover themselves completely from public view to ensure that only their husbands can admire their beauty is appallingly sexist and frustratingly outdated.

But, M. le Président, you have far more serious issues to address first if you're going to start on a feminist agenda, added to which it's not really a feminist issue (for you, at least) and it's none of your business.

Any type of religious garb is already banned for teachers and students in public schools, as well as for all on-the-job government employees in France, and I have no problem with that because it meshes with the French version of secularism. However, given the way he argued his case, Sarkozy's statement that "the burqa is not welcome in the territory of the French Republic" is a foot-in-mouth moment that rivals, in my mind, his "slip" with "racaille" ("scum") during the 2005 riots.

Sarkozy presented the issue as a feminist one, saying that his desire to ban the burqa is not religious. Given the tensions that already exist between the (primarily Muslim) immigrant population in France and the "native French," he either didn't think that through or - more likely, in my opinion - I'm calling a big, fat B.S. on that statement. Because, guess what? Most French citizens and residents who wear traditional Islamic garb choose to do so. (Curious? Check out the reaction from LeMonde.fr's readers - same link as "reactions from its readers" above and in French. Sorry!) Added to which, if you're going to object to Islamic garb from a feminist perspective, what about the fact that Orthodox Judaism requires married women to cover their hair? It's the same basic principle - why is Sarkozy only objecting to Islam's rendition?

Personally, I find the idea of wearing even a hijab sexist and insulting, but I'm not Muslim and it's not up to me. President Sarkozy seems to find the idea of a niqab or burqa insulting (but not a hijab, Mr. "This-is-a-question-of-feminism?"), but outside public institutions, it's not up to him.

At least, it shouldn't be. Forcing people to disavow their beliefs hasn't done France any good in the past (Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, anyone? Shortly after that is when my ancestors hopped a boat for the New World and is why they ended up fighting alongside the colonials in the Revolutionary War.) and is in fact part of the admittedly-complicated rationale behind their strict secularism.

The French government should absolutely take steps to ensure the safety and freedom of anyone on its soil who is being intimidated and oppressed - by spouses, parents, siblings or anyone else. But that's a separate and much broader issue that in this instance has little to do with either feminism or the right to wear religious garb and much more to do with the messy immigration-racism-religion triangle of tensions that Sarkozy seems to want to circumnavigate.

If I were living in France, M. le Président, I'd ask you to quit grandstanding in an attempt to avoid the real issues and do your job.