The co-author of the new book Does God Hate Women? discusses patriarchy, the burka and capitalism

I hate the idea of making special new laws on dress, and all the more so when the laws can't help targeting immigrants or any other vulnerable minority. I also realise that Sarkozy's motives may be very suspect, or at least a mixture of suspect and defensible.

.... One reason I don't flat-out oppose it is because community pressure can force other women and girls to wear the hijab or the burqa, and from that point of view a ban is like any other law that creates a level playing field. If no one can wear the burqa on the street, then no one will be forced to wear it on the street.

This is hard on women and girls who want to wear it but good for women and girls who don't want to. If I have to choose which should be helped, I choose the latter. I respond with great weariness to Muslim women who claim they have reappropriated the garment. Given the reality of what happens to women who try not to wear it in Afghanistan, I think it's simply grotesque to think it can be any kind of feminist symbol. [New Statesman] Read more