Recently in France, a mayor of a
beach front city has banned burkinis. If you are unfamiliar, these are
swimsuits that allow Muslim women who wear the traditional hijab to still be
able to participate in beach activities and swim in public. The mayor cited
that hijab’s are a sign of Islamic extremism. In response, the president of Kyrgyzstan
said that “women in mini skirts don’t become suicide bombers”. Now, I could go into how this is restricting
the freedom of religion, the freedom of speech and just wrong being able to
essentially restrict any woman who adheres to a code of modesty that she can’t
do what every other woman does.
But that’s not what I am going to be
focusing on, because I think that this perspective has been thoroughly
discussed. And so while I throw my support behind this argument, let’s look at
something else.
While I am not Muslim and I do not
wear a hijab, I feel that my rights are being restricted. When it comes to
normal every day clothing, I’m usually not one to be a stickler and I can often
be caught wearing things that aren’t very modest. That can be short
shorts/skirts, crop tops or low cut tops. But ever since I was a kid, I never
liked having to wear bathing suits.
My parents didn’t care if I wore two
pieces and I often wore my favorite two piece in my backyard pool. However, if
I was going somewhere public, I might choose my one piece I had inherited from
a friend who had gotten into diving. And I still felt uncomfortable in that
one. When I went to pool parties, I would keep on my external clothes as long
as possible and maybe even swim in the cotton cheer shorts I was wearing over
my one piece.
To me, this law is enforcing what I
already knew: when it is time to swim, we as society only accept women who show
almost every inch of their skin. I hate that swim suits bottoms are as revealing
as underwear. I hate that when I go to a store, my only options for modesty is
a swim skirt that barely covers my butt or, now as an adult woman, a one piece
with “tummy tucking abilities”. Maybe I don’t need my tummy tucked. Maybe I
want a cute skirt that goes almost to my knees that can go in the water. Maybe
I just want to enjoy swimming without worrying about my butt falling out the
way I can go to Zumba and wear as much or as little as I want. I like options,
I like the freedom of options.
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| Image from a report by the BBC |
Does one have to be prude to demand
they be able to walk down the street in whatever they are forced to wear
swimming? Why are we forcing children to participate in this? I’m mad that my
country is forcing me to either wear a full burkini or a string bikini. Is
there not an in between? Why aren’t people as mad as I am about this? Why can’t
I dress comfortably without being stared at when I go to a pool?
Today, women are fighting to free
their nipples. They want to dress as provocatively as they want without being
judged. As a free American woman, I am demanding to be able to dress how I want
without being judged. And if I need to buy a burkini and cut it to my own
satisfaction, so be it.
