Yet in her new book, Sex and Secularism, feminist historian Joan Wallach Scott does just that. It would seem an odd moment therefore to question how well secularism advances feminist social change goals.

Secularism – the separation of religious institutions from the state, and the elevation of enlightenment notions of reason and equal rights over divine revelation for the chosen few – is in trouble. Schools in particular the discourse on Muslims and Arabs in general.By Joan Wallach Scott, Princeton University Press, 2018 Important book because it challenges the ban on the veil in public Very much connected with demonizing the 'Other.' This is an Postcolonial guilt and fear, and nationalist ideologies. What feeds these representations is racism, Scott contends, is not about French Muslims, but about the dominantįrench view of Muslims. Secularism, individualism and sexuality in separate chapters. The controversies surrounding the headscarf then she discusses racism, Laws do not challenge the structure of gender inequality. Must be extended to Western societies and practices, therefore the ban Also, patriarchy is notĪ uniquely Islamic phenomenon and the concern with gender inequality Other words, the Islam we know today is modern. Recent geopolitical and cultural exchanges that are global in scale. Islamic headscarf is a modern, not traditional, phenomenon, an effect of She contends that a number of studies argue convincingly that the It represents a threat of Islamic separatism. Veil is the ultimate symbol of Islam's resistance to modernity, anĮmblem of radical Islamist politics, and a symbol of the clash ofĬultures. That Muslims can never become fully French. The standard and sexual modesty implicit in the headscarf as a proof Supporters of the ban say different things and view sexual openness as

How is it that banning headscarves represents modernization? It also exposes the constant creation of the so-called 'clash of Herīook attempts to uncover the long history of racism behind the 2004 ban. She argues that the ban is symptomatic of France'sįailure to integrate its former colonial subjects as full citizens. Values and that the headscarf is a symbol of Islam's resistance to Public schools in France was to uphold France's liberal secular On wearing 'conspicuous signs' of religious affiliations in Joan Wallach Scott's book refutes the view that the 2004 ban Princeton University Press, 2007, 208 pages. The Politics of the Veil.' Retrieved from 2008 Association of Arab-American University Graduates 17 May. The Politics of the Veil.' The Free Library.

Scott politics of the veil