Added: Guadalupe Sowers - Date: 18.12.2021 06:30 - Views: 43517 - Clicks: 2690
Cue the burkini police.
Photographs showing armed French police asking women to remove their burkinis swamped our newsfeeds this summer. The two-piece sportswear, which is made up of a hecarf and long-sleeved tunic, and which is preferred by some Muslim women, is not too dissimilar to wetsuits regularly warn by surfers.
The religious connotations of the burkini, however, mean that it has become acceptable for women enjoying themselves on French beaches to be publicly shamed, humiliated and ordered to strip in front of armed police.
It will come as a kick in the teeth to the women who were forced out of their clothes across beaches in France this summer that a nudist park in Paris has been approved, because the rights of those who would rather eschew their clothes must be respected.
The hypocrisy is absurd. Many in France argue that the burkini is oppressive to women, epitomising patriarchal control over their bodies, and therefore can be banned in the name of freedom from coercion.
The end of naturism? A nudist beach closesBut the very act of banning the dress is in itself coercion. Hecarves, niqabs and burkinis are not compulsory in Islam; they are a simple matter of clothing choice for some Muslims.
Ceasing to police what women can and cannot wear would be a good place to start. thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies. Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later?
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Nude people in Paris
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Paris public park opens experimental nudist zone