NiqaBitch

'NiqaBitch' unveil themselves in Paris | Nesrine Malik | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

Just when you thought the niqab ban story had no more legs, it goes burlesque. Two French women have taken it upon themselves to register their opposition to the niqab ban in France by covering their faces but baring their legs in miniskirts. The duo, who call themselves NiqaBitch, have posted a video where they stop traffic and turn heads and sashay in heels down the streets of Paris. Portmanteau in name and in dress, they merge the sacred and the profane. The footage is tongue in cheek, all rather typically French. "We were not looking to attack or degrade the image of Muslim fundamentalists – each to their own – but rather to question politicians who voted for this law that we consider clearly unconstitutional," they said. "To dictate what we wear appears to have become the role of the state."

Somehow, the trite juxtaposition isn't as lowbrow as one would think. Like a good advertisement, it makes a clear, simple, powerful point. Bypassing all the ambiguity of the debate, it goes straight to the viscera, eliciting a range of responses. Some have observed that the public's reaction is less unfriendly than usual because it's clear the two women are not wearing the burqa for religions reasons, which highlights the Islamophobic aspect of opposition to the niqab. At one point a policewoman asks for a picture. Once the law comes into effect, she will be obliged to fine them. It proves that covering up per se is not the point. It's what it entails, and what value judgements we then make based on that – a tenuous position indeed from which to legislate against any form of dress.

In discussions about the niqab, this opposition's argument of last resort is that public nudity is the polar opposite of full coverage and hence the same laws should apply. The video subverts that argument by rendering exposed and covered flesh two sides of the same coin but as manifestations of personal freedom of dress. Is it mocking the niqab? As the campaign is in protest against the niqab ban, I think not. But even if it were, so what? What I like about the video is its iconoclasm. Both the religious and secular could do with being less precious and heavy-handed about what women would like to wear.

However, it is not a novel idea. Personally, I think it is reminiscent of a sinister orientalist fetishising, one that hides an exotic woman's face but lays bare her body as a faceless sexual object, mystified by lack of character but simultaneously made accessible. But that is just my own visceral reaction. Ultimately, it is about choice.

Another display has also been hitting the headlines. "Princess Hijab", a 20-year-old guerrilla artist, traverses Paris incognito spray-painting hijabs and niqabs on male and female models on posters and billboards. She claims it is not a political point she is trying to make, rather an examination of contradictions inherent in mainstream culture.

But is it art? What impact do these kinds of demonstration make? Perhaps none at all in the immediate term, but what is encouraging is that the concept of the niqab is being decoupled from religion and incorporated into popular culture, examined and discussed in terms of freedom of choice, artistic expression, and redefinitions of sexuality and personal space. All in inimitable, indigenous French avant-garde fashion. It is a hallmark of integration and a repudiation of the state's transgression into the realm of personal freedom.

NiqaBitch secoue Paris ?! (REMIX Mild Lyrics) SD

NiqaBitch secoue Paris ?! (REMIX Mild Lyrics) SD