Everyday gendered Islamophobia: exploring ordinary attitudes toward Muslim women in Southern France

Abstract

Scholars have emphasized how Islamophobia is a gendered phenomenon that affects Muslim women’s lives in Western countries. Nevertheless, research has most often focused on public debates on Islam within the mainstream media or on the effects of State laws and public policies such as veil bans. Much less attention has been paid to how gendered Islamophobia is produced and practiced by ordinary people on an everyday basis. Complementary to studies on Muslim women’s everyday experiences and resistance to Islamophobia, one of the key features of this article is to focus on the position of the perpetrators. It explores the narratives and reasonings of people with racial and biased attitudes toward Muslim women, in the secular context of France. Drawing on an ethnographic study carried out in the southern French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur (PACA) and 33 in-depth interviews, the article shows that attitudes toward Muslim women are framed in two main and somehow contradictory ways. First, Muslim women are categorized as systematically subjected to a Muslim patriarchy, through a process of racialization of sexism. Second, Muslim women are seen as active subjects, but are then perceived as agents of a dangerous proselytism. These categorizations have in common the fact that they place women under constant suspicion, especially when wearing the veil. Islamophobic policies and public discourses thus find active support among ordinary citizens, extending gendered Islamophobia even in places where religious symbols are not officially banned.