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Whores and Niqabées: The sexual boundaries of French nationalism

journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-09, 14:10 authored by Julie Billaud, Julie Castro
This essay seeks to analyze the recent reconfigurations of French nationalism, taking as an entry point the legal treatment of veiled Muslim women and prostitutes over the past two decades. We argue that the bodies of prostitutes and veiled Muslim women, both of which have been targeted by successive legal interventions in order to exclude them from the public space, have become central political sites for the state to assert its sovereign power and trigger nationalist feelings. This comparative analysis of gendered “lawfare“ (which John Comaroff has defined as the judicialization of politics and the resort to legal instruments to commit acts of political coercion) provides insights into a new form of nationalism that strives to foster “sexual liberalism“ as a core value of citizenship in order to enforce a virile nationalism, prescribe new sexual normativities, and criminalize immigrants and those living at the social margins.

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Published version

Journal

French Politics, Culture; Society

ISSN

1537-6370

Publisher

Berghahn Journals

Issue

2

Volume

31

Department affiliated with

  • Anthropology Publications

Research groups affiliated with

  • Sussex Rights and Justice Research Centre Publications

Full text available

  • No

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2018-07-16

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2018-07-16

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