[2008.06.07] Muslims in France 性，谎言和世俗主义

On paper, the case has nothing to do with religion. The groom, an engineer, applied for an annulment because his bride, a student nurse, had lied to him about her virginity. Under the French civil code, an annulment can be granted “if there was a mistake about the person or the essential qualities of the person”. The judge declared the marriage void since it was “founded on a lie about her virginity”, which the bride acknowledged, and this constituted an “essential quality” in the eyes of both parties. The bride did not contest the annulment.
在理论上，案 件与宗教毫无关联。新郎（工程师）因新娘（护生）在童贞问题上向其撒谎要求解除婚姻关系。根据法国民法，“如果当事人或当事人基本品质存在欺骗行为”，婚 姻关系可被取消。法官依据“女方对处女身份撒谎”宣称婚姻无效，新娘对此供认不讳，而在双方看来，此案是以“基本品质”为根据。新娘对解除婚姻的判决并未 提出疑义。

Yet the verdict was baffling. Lawyers were at a loss to explain why virginity, even if lied about, is an “essential quality”. The judge, said Ségolène Royal, the former Socialist presidential candidate, would never have agreed to the annulment had a case about false virginity been brought by a woman. The uproar was louder because the couple are Muslim. Fadela Amara, the (Muslim) junior minister for inner cities, who has previously campaigned to defend women from traditionalist pressures, called it “a fatwa against the emancipation of women”. Elisabeth Badinter, a feminist and left-wing philosopher, said she was “ashamed” of the French judicial system, and added that “women’s sexuality is a private affair”. The verdict, she added, would force ever more Muslim girls to seek plastic surgery to reconstruct their hymens.
不过，此判决是令人迷惑不解。律师对童贞问题（即便说谎）为何是“基本品质” 惘然若失。法官表示，假如关于谎称童贞的诉讼是由女方提出，社会党前任总统候选人贺雅尔(Ségolène Royal)一定不会同意取消婚姻关系。争议更为激烈的原因是这对夫妇是穆斯林。为保护妇女免受传统压力而积极活动的年轻的城市事务部长(穆斯林) 阿玛拉(Fadela Amara)声称“处女情结会阻碍妇女解放运动”。女权主义者和左派哲学家巴丁特(Elisabeth Badinter)表示对法国司法体制深感耻辱”，并补充说“妇女的性欲是件私事”。巴丁特还指出这一判决将会迫使更多穆斯林女孩通过外科手术来修复处女 膜。

Most intriguing of all is the stance of Rachida Dati, the justice minister, born to north African Muslim parents. As a young woman, she had her own marriage annulled, after agreeing to it to please her family. Initially she backed the judgment, arguing that it would protect the woman, who seemed to want a quick separation. This week, however, she changed her mind, and sent the case back for review. Amid heckling in parliament, she accused the Socialists of abandoning young girls to the rule of “big brothers” when they were in power.
司法 部长达蒂(Rachida Dati)的父母是北非穆斯林。最引人关注的也正是其本人对本次事件的表态。作为一名年轻的女性，作为一名年轻的女性，达蒂曾为取悦父母解除了同丈夫的婚 姻关系。达蒂最初支持法院的判决，并认为判决将会对那些似乎想要尽快结束婚姻的妇女提供保护。然而，达蒂在本周改变了立场，并把案件驳回复审。在议会上的 激烈质问中，达蒂指责社会党在执政期间，纵容穆斯林家族中的“成年男性”任意处置家族中的年轻女性。

The case may not have been about religion. But it has exposed the sensitivities of the secular French republic, home to Europe’s biggest Muslim population, about the right balance to strike between respect for Islamic tradition and a firm assertion of French law.
案件或许并不涉及宗教问题。不过，此案已暴露出世俗法兰西共和国（法国是欧洲穆斯林居住最多的国家）在尊敬伊斯兰教传统和坚决捍卫法国法律之间寻找适当平衡点的敏感性。