to not know what to think about Le Pen refusing to wear a headscarf

[Neverthelessshepersisted]

Half of me is thinking "she's the national front, she's pretty nasty."
The other half if thinking she's got a point

She was due to meet the Grand Mufti of Lebanon but the meeting didn't happen because of the headscarf.

So confused.....

"Unfortunately I could imagine her setting up the meeting knowing the requirements just so she can then publicly refuse."

but surely that's appropriate? Otherwise women would have the choice of either wearing a headscarf or being excluded from participation in whatever is going on?

I have concluded that she was in the right but that she needs to take a dose of her own medicine when she is thinking about what she wants people in France to be wearing. It cuts both ways

Thanks for helping me!

I was not surprised. It is a good job there are two rounds of voting for the President of France as I think that will stop her winning.

The Front Nationale are a lot nastier than UKIP- they are almost as bad as Geert Wilders in the Netherlands.

She is right on this one.

Regardless of her politics (Which are fucking awful), she was totally right to refuse to wear a headscarf! Good on her! Fucking oppressive bullshit and the way the West panders to the oppressive sexist regimes in the Middle East is fucking disgraceful!

She was within her rights.

If the headscarf and the bhurka are all about freedom of choice as Muslim women are often heard to say, then so it NOT wearing one.

Well why did he want her to wear one?

So she knew she had to wear one beforehand, but still turned up without it to score media points???

Bonsai she did not "have to wear one"

Nobody has to wear one.

User, her aides knew that the scarf was required fir this meeting, so instead of cancelling the meeting at the time, she turns up for the meeting sans scarf, so she gets more media attention saying how principled she is. Why didnt she cancel upon notification that mufti wont see her without a scarf rather than turning up on the day? Could it have anything to do with bolstering her ratings, i wonder.

I wouldn't have expected ever to agree with La Pen but she's right on this matter.

Nobody should have to adopt religious beliefs about clothing held by others.

I'm on the fence. I do think nobody should be forced to wear garments they don't wish to. I think when you're in another country or culture you should show some respect for their culture.

So I wouldn't visit places if I had to wear a burka. If I visited a mosque either here or in morocco for instance I would cover my head, shoulders, would not wear shorts. I would be the same for any other religion which required it, so Buddhist temple, etc. If someone doesn't want to cover their head I'd expect them not to visit a mosque.

I don't think there's anything wrong with highlighting his behaviour, actually.

Same as I don't think there's anything wrong with Trump's behaviour being highlighted.

She went for a visit and before entering she was presented with a veil and told to wear it in order to see the mufti. She said fuck that and left.

I agree with her on that. On pretty much everything else I disagree. In France we have a strong stance on the veil for public servants and students, so any politician worth their salt would have thought twice before putting it on, and for a FHaine candidate it was not really a question.

Overall, I think it was a win win for both the mufti and Le Pen. She showed her voters she is a hardass, he showed his followers he was not cowed by western influence. A match made in PR heaven.

Bonsai welcome to modern politics. They use the media.

She or anyone can refuse to wear a scarf on their head ALL they like. Their head, their rules.

Overall, I think it was a win win for both the mufti and Le Pen. She showed her voters she is a hardass, he showed his followers he was not cowed by western influence. A match made in PR heaven.

Frenchmind, completely agree

User, calm down, I wasnt implying that she should 'have to' wear the scarf. Merely saying, she could have refused a lot lot earlier.

Hate to say Le Pen was right but on this one point I'd have to agree with her.

Bonsai please don't tell me to "calm down" which is very patronising and also, an old way of shutting women down. You've probably learned it from men....you use it as a way of making me look unreasonable when I have said nothing unreasonable nor displayed any hysteria.

I agree with her about the scarf. I am not a Muslim or any other religion and my hair is not especially offensive. Perhaps if the grand mufti had offered to put a bag on his head it would have seemed fair but equally daft.

Bonsai and OfaFrenchmind2 , are absolutely bang on in their summation, in my humble opinion.

The lovely world of politics and 'alleged' diplomacy, hey?!

please don't tell me to "calm down" which is very patronising and also, an old way of shutting women down. You've probably learned it from men....

good grief.

A person asking another person to wear an item of clothing to have a meeting with them is bizarre, to then refuse to have the meeting on the grounds they refused to wear what you dictate is wrong.

Nobody should be forced to wear certain clothes because of someone else's religious choice

I like the way this is phrased and I agree with it.

I do think nobody should be forced to wear garments they don't wish to. I think when you're in another country or culture you should show some respect for their culture Yes but for instance Mathew Wright was banging on about the women refusing to cover up at a chess tournament in Iran. He said they should respect Iran culture.

But if you look back at pics of Tehran in the 70's most women looked like western women - not covered up and without head scarfs.
So, is it respecting a culture per see or is it buying into a female apartheid under auspicious of culture or religion. Id say the latter.

This is a bit of a weird story and I'd like to know the facts behind it because the overtones do not quite chime with my own experiences.

Most women in Lebanon do not wear the hijab. For a start, a lot of them are Christian, but even Muslim women do not particularly cover their hair (voluminous hair styles are big in Lebanon).

The women that tend to wear a headscarf are either Gulfies on holiday (they tend to wear abayas and niqabs as well, but they are very few and far between), old rural ladies who wear what you might call the "Anatolian style" of headscarf (which you find across the region and isn't Islamic at all; it's the equivalent of the Queen and her headscarf or your gran wearing a rainmate), some Sunni muslim middle-aged women (who tend to wear white scarves), and Shia Lebanese women. Even then, I think it is a bit disingenuous to consider Lebanese Shia headscarves as "headscarves". The last time I was there, all the Shia girls in Beirut were wearing bright dayglo pink scarves with matching nail polish and lipstick. It was about as religiously conservative as a glitter bomb.

And the thing is that I'm pretty sure I was invited into a Sunni mosque in Beirut with my hair uncovered, and no one had a problem with it at all. They just wanted me to admire some of their tiles.

Lebanon is not a "stereotypical" Middle-Eastern country in that sense. Beirut is like a mix between Paris and Alexandria in the 1950s with an added dash of Miami circa 1985 and a bit of early noughties Athens to boot.

Indeed, Beirut is one of the only places I have ever been where I have gone out on an evening with my hair and nails done, my glad rags on and a full face ... and still felt like a bag lady compared to the women around me.

So this story kinda doesn't chime with me. If the grand mufti of Lebanon refused to speak to any woman who didn't have her hair covered, then I can't see how he'd be able to even cope with walking down a Lebanese street.

Very odd. Very odd indeed.

Anyone else quite fancy moving to Beirutnow?