The use of “ostentatious” or “visible” was debated but in the end legislators chose “conspicuous.” But in proposing the use of “ostentatious” or “visible,” the French republic revealed the way they approached Muslim modesty. According to Scott, “Muslim modesty is taken to be sexually aberrant by French observers, who condemn it not only as different but as somehow excessive (ostentatious, conspicuous), even perverse” (153). The words “ostentatious” and “conspicuous” had sexual connotations in reference to the display of the body. For the French republic, clothing that covered more were more sexual and so the veil that de-sexualized a female body was highly sexual to the French republic. The approach threatened the French republican system that celebrates “open” sexuality rather than a “closed” one. The unfamiliarity of a “closed” system was disturbing because they could not see something they were so accustomed to
The use of “ostentatious” or “visible” was debated but in the end legislators chose “conspicuous.” But in proposing the use of “ostentatious” or “visible,” the French republic revealed the way they approached Muslim modesty. According to Scott, “Muslim modesty is taken to be sexually aberrant by French observers, who condemn it not only as different but as somehow excessive (ostentatious, conspicuous), even perverse” (153). The words “ostentatious” and “conspicuous” had sexual connotations in reference to the display of the body. For the French republic, clothing that covered more were more sexual and so the veil that de-sexualized a female body was highly sexual to the French republic. The approach threatened the French republican system that celebrates “open” sexuality rather than a “closed” one. The unfamiliarity of a “closed” system was disturbing because they could not see something they were so accustomed to