This is a burkini.
It is a lightweight swimwear alternative for Muslim women who want to go swimming, but who don't want to swim in yards and yards of heavy, waterlogged fabric.
This seems straightforward to me. The burkini is a modest swimwear alternative for Muslim women whose beliefs and religion include clothing mandates for women that they choose to follow. I am not a Muslim woman, so therefore I strongly feel that I have no business passing judgement upon them. I similarly don't pass judgment on women who choose to wear microscopic swimwear, or who sunbathe topless, or who wear shorts and an old t-shirt for beach swimming.
However it would seem that the burkini is now a hot-button issue, with the anti-burkini-ists shouting down the burkini as an insult to feminism and/or a clear link to terrorism.
A Lifestyle article from March 2016 in The Telegraph has recently resurfaced in which Daily Telegraph journalist and columnist Allison Pearson (2) blasted the burkini for sending women, women's rights and feminism back to the dark ages. (1).
After reading the article my first feeling was extreme frustration because Allison equates a woman's choice in clothing with freedom. She points out that "the burkini is woven from shame" (1). So if a burkini is "woven from shame", then what is a string bikini woven from? Exploitation? One cannot call out one extreme without also looking at the other. The writer goes on to cite her experiences in teacher training placements where little Muslim girls were rendered markedly different for their modest Muslim clothing and customs, and in some cases unable to take part in school activities such as swimming. (1).
As if the teachers and fellow students didn't also have the power--and responsibility-- to reach out, learn about their Muslim classmates and in doing so discover those things they had in common as well. The author is a clear and firm supporter of full assimilation for all immigrants, stating that we (in the UK) "should have insisted that the price of admission to Britain was learning to conform with its customs and social attitudes" (1). She goes on to admire Germany for one of its court rulings that mandated that a Muslim girl must participate in school swimming lessons because "the social reality of life in Germany came above her religious beliefs." (1).
Um. What???? Perhaps if the girl had been allowed to wear...oh, I don't know...a burkini...she could've participated in swimming lessons easily.
And thus we come full circle to a place where no matter what, Muslim women and girls cannot win.
But beyond the issue of feminism denied or supported in the guise of the burkini, there was another deeper and perhaps more insidious issue. Allison might be ranting on behalf of the UK but her argument is echoed here in the United States as well, both with roots in the same divisive, poisonous mind-set:
MY way is right because this is MY country. I was born here.
YOUR way is wrong because this is MY country and NOT YOURS. Even if you WERE born here It will NEVER BE YOUR COUNTRY, because you are DIFFERENT.
In a world that is increasingly integrated, where one never knows just which branch on their family tree could also be labeled "immigrant", where one could travel to a different country and find THEMSELVES as the odd-person out, with blaringly different language, culture and beliefs, this is a particularly ignorant and nasty stance to take.
What's even more dangerous, and of which the United States is increasingly guilty, is conflating spiritual or religious beliefs with extremism. Our media is slathered in variations of "Muslim = Terrorism", and in spite of plenty of intelligent, open-minded everyday people yelling out into the void "Being Muslim DOES NOT immediately make a person a TERRORIST", the media circus easily drowns them out.
Isn't it fortunate that the same isn't being done with Christianity? Catholicism? Buddhism? Judaism?
But I digress. Back to the burkini.
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Look at the burkini. Swim pants. Long sleeved swim shirt. Head covering. It seems pretty mild to me. I'm not sensing a particularly anti-feminist vibe coming from this, nor do I fear it. But don't take my word for it. I'm a freaky California liberal after all. Let's put the burkini in context.
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Well how about this? This is swimwear designed to provide total UV protection. Does this scream feminist scandal to you? Does this holler "terrorism"? Or is it acceptable because (a) it is form fitting so we can see the curves of the model's body, and somehow visible curves=girl power (?!?) and (b) her head is not covered up.
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Or how about this? China's "facekini". (4) Remember this? A nearly complete head covering designed to protect the skin from the sun--often also worn with long-sleeved swim shirts.
Perhaps the controversial issue with the burkini is the head covering, in which case, shouldn't we have totally freaked out about the "facekini"? But no. The world saw the facekini, chuckled a bit, and went on its merry way.
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Perhaps the complaint is that the burkini is connected with the Muslim faith and its assumed views towards women and women's bodies. Perhaps religion and cultural and spiritual beliefs are the issues here.
In which case, why aren't we all coming unglued about the periodic sighting of nuns at the beach? A nun's habit is exactly as concealing as a burka--and far more so than a burkini. And I would argue that if, as is occurring currently in France right now, the fear is of inherent terrorism (6), the burkini would make it much more difficult to hide dangerous items than the standard nun's habit. (disclaimer: I am NOT saying that nuns are concealing dangerous items beneath their habits. This is an example, nothing more.)
My point in all this is simple: it is extremely easy to make quick judgements about things of which we know very little, or even absolutely nothing. We look through our British-tinted glasses, or our United States-tinted glasses and we slam and shame anything that screams "NOT ME".
Is the burkini an insult to modern feminism? Is it designed to hide and shame women's bodies, as Allison repeatedly and vehemently insisted in her article?
I don't know.
And it is okay for me not to know because this is not about me.
There are Muslim women who feel their clothing is a vital expression of their faith. And there are Muslim women who may agree with Allison and want to cast off the Burka, the Hijab, the Niqab and/or the headscarf.
In the argument of whether or not burkas and similar garments reinforce or undermine the freedom of the women who wear them, it is for the women themselves to determine...and our job, as fellow human beings, to respect and support their choices and, if needed, fight alongside them for their freedom to be and believe as they choose.
Nothing more. Nothing less.
Sources
1.http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/life/the-ms-burkini-for-muslim-women-shows-britain-is-letting-sexism/
2.http://www.telegraph.co.uk/authors/allison-pearson/
3. http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/2015-Beach-UV-Protection-Pringting-women-full-body-swimear-wetsuit-anti-sun-rashguard-Snorkeling-swimming-Surf/1852700_32495481307.html
4. http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/facekini-china-terrifying-swimwear-trend-hit-beach-gallery-1.1910561?pmSlide=1.1910552
5. https://www.flickr.com/photos/radziecki/172916749
6. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/24/french-police-make-woman-remove-burkini-on-nice-beach
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