The burqa is not a form of dressI'm horrified by the burqa, but also deeply uncomfortable about the idea of banning certain items of clothing in a supposedly free society. I am struck, however, by the description of the burqa offered by a French MP, André Gérin, as a "moving prison".
Perhaps it might help the debate moregenerally, in France and elsewhere, if the idea that the burqa is actually an item of clothing at all is challenged. Sure, it is made of cloth, and it drapes over the body. But it exists specifically as a machine to facilitate the movement of a woman through public spaces, unaccompanied by a male escort who is related to her, and predates Islam as a means by which females can travel alone. As such, it is a gender-specific mode of personal transport, not a form of dress, one that is simply fashioned from the cheapest, most practical and most convenient material available. Maybe we should define the burqa in terms of its primary purpose, as a barrier-providing, self-propelled vehicle.
Off-road vehicles, suitable only for use on private land, and not on taxpayer-funded communal roads, pavements, parks and gardens, are already an accepted fact of life. Maybe the burqa should be honestly defined as a primitive form of transport and legislated for accordingly.
I'm reminded, for some reason, that Lenny Henry and Dawn French once attended a fancy-dress party kitted out as Bubbles and the late Michael Jackson (respectively). How long did it take them to realise that their fellow guests were not highly amused at their double act, but desperately, wildly uncomfortable with it? Three seconds, tops, Henry reckons.
Independent
