identity, (2) public order, (3) equality of men and women, (4) public safety, and (5) respect for Islam. Although these arguments were distinct from one anoth-
public order and equality of men and women could easily be included under the overarching discourse of national identity. They are listed as separate arguments here because proponents of the ban also used them independently, without referring to national identity. When examples of arguments are cited in this paper, it will be to highlight one argument that a writer used, even if she presented several others in her work. The nuances of these arguments will be explored within the subsections. 1. Reasoning that appealed explicitly to French national identity was the most prevalent type of argument used to support the ban of the full veil. The it to mean different things. Most generally, it is a set of principles, documents, events, and/or beliefs unifying the French people into a single national community. When the French public used this term, people referenced three main national identity was the equality of men and women. According to this perspective, the full veil was seen as a sign of women’s submission to men, and it should therefore be banned. This will be discussed further in section three. The second way that people formulated the French national identity argument is based on French customs: it has not historically been a part of French customs for a woman to cover her face, and the customs of the territory should cause it depended on a static French code of behaviour that resists incorporating new styles and practices (Dieguiste). The third principle that proponents of the ban used when referencing French national identity is laïcité. As the ban was being formulated, the Conseil d’État recommended that the National Assembly remove the language of laïcité from the legal discourse on the grounds that laïcité does not affect individuals or the public space, but rather the state and its public institutions. In the public discourse, however, people often referenced the importance of laïcité in their support of the burqa ban. They generally argued that wearing a full veil dema representative of the Association of Free Thinkers in France, argued that the (Assemblée Nationale, Gerin et al. 94). Because the French national identity was such a widely used, yet poorly
22