I think you misunderstand me. Sure, it doesn't change -- but try being, say, a 19 year-old male carrying, say, a Pakistani passport, or whatever (no, I am not Pakistani ). Anyway, as I said, this is not the issue here.

Nor, incidentally, am I on a French-bashing expedition here, by any means. I am a male of Middle Eastern origin, of a "certain age" as they say , who speaks French fluently (it's the language I speak with my wife, though she is of the same origin as myself) who was brought up with a strong affinity for French civilization and culture -- an "evolué" product of the "mission civilisatrice", you might say .