Fashion Police

The French Parliament has agreed to move on banning the burqa and the veil. Check out this report in The Independent or if you want to do a bit of work on your French, try Le Monde here

This is a great one for crime and deviance - it was a French sociologist of course- Emile Durkheim -who pointed out that laws change over time and are related to the need for social solidarity. It is precisely one of the criticisms of those opposed to the ban that it will criminalise a whole section of French society - Muslim women.

And on culture and identity and gender it is also raises fascinating questions. Why do some Muslims believe it is right to cover the body and the face? Is this the social control of sexuality? Is this, as some sociologists like Anthony Giddens have suggested, a fundamentalist reaction against modernity? Discuss.