Separate but

Written by

Ophelia Benson

in

The BBC reports:

An investigation has been launched in France after female staff at the Eiffel Tower were replaced by male colleagues for the visit of a Hindu religious group.

A delegation of around 100 people linked to the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS) group visited the iconic landmark in Paris on Saturday.

People? I think they must mean men. If women were allowed to be in the delegation they would surely be allowed to be in the Tour Eiffel staff.

“Women were asked to leave their places of work” and felt “humiliated”, staff union representative Diane Davoine said. The tower closed on Monday as staff went on strike to show their outrage.

Damn right. Allons enfants.

BAPS – a movement whose beliefs originate in the 18th Century – strictly separates men and women, including in temple activities and building entrances.

No, that’s wrong. That’s a prettification. BAPS excludes women. Separation is one thing and exclusion is another. The women were excluded from the visit to the tower.

In a statement reported by AFP news agency, staff at the monument said that during Saturday’s visit, female employees were also “instructed not to go through or cross certain areas while the delegation was present”.

Because women are filth, you see. Women are filth who deliberately make men think about sex instead of holy whatever.

In a statement on X, BAPS said the trip was “arranged in conjunction with the Eiffel Tower team at the start of normal opening hours to avoid disrupting or inconveniencing others”.

It apologised “for any pain or inconvenience caused”, adding “we believe in the universal values of mutual respect and service”.

No you don’t. You exclude women; that’s not mutual respect. Fuck off.

Comments

4 responses to “Separate but”

  1. Athel Cornish-Bowden Avatar
    Athel Cornish-Bowden

    I’m glad you posted this. I was’t sure how widely it was publicized outside France, and was thinking of finding a relevant article to post it in myself. But you have done better than I would have done. So far the extreme right politicians have come out with the right response, but I haven’t heard any comments from the more moderate ones. I hope I shall. The president of the company that manages the Eiffel Tower came out with some very feeble comments this morning: he needs to go. It wouldn’t have been enough just to say no to the ridiculous demand; he should have said no, with no discussion.

  2. iknklast Avatar
    iknklast

    Did they prohibit women visitors? It seems unlikely you could visit the Eiffel Tower without encountering females…unless you also restricted allowed visitors.

    And doing it at the start of business was not the best way to inconvenience the fewest; the only way to do that would be to do it outside of business hours. Doing it at the start of business hours, you would inconvenience huge numbers of people.

    Religion has a lot to answer for. They are not responsible for the repression of women; that seems to have preexisted at least the Judeo-Christian-Islamic religions. They are responsible for exacerbating, enforcing, and giving divine sanction to the repression of women.

  3. Athel Cornish-Bowden Avatar
    Athel Cornish-Bowden

    Did they prohibit women visitors? It seems unlikely you could visit the Eiffel Tower without encountering females

    No. Indeed, many of the religious leader’s party were women. I think the idea is that women are OK as ornaments to the great man’s importance, but not when they’re just doing their jobs as lift operators, etc. I think

    Donald Trump might agree.

    I’m reminded of JD Vance’s planned visit to a pub in the Cotswolds. I don’t think he asked for all women to be hidden, but he didn’t want any of the people who live there to be visible, not to mention blocking the roads with his motorcade and trying to get personal and private information from the residents.

  4. Mostly Cloudy Avatar
    Mostly Cloudy

    The Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha sect has been accused of using forced labour to build one of its temples:

    https://edition.cnn.com/2021/05/12/us/new-jersey-baps-hindu-temple-suit/index.html

    Also, Martha Nussbaum has pointed out in her book “The Clash Within” that far-right Indian politicians like Narendra Modi and L.K. Advani have attended BAPS events. They seem like a nasty bunch.

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