Laws are supposed to be made to ensure safety and protect its civilians. Usually when items are banned by the law, it's because they pose a risk to public safety. The burkini is now an item that has been banned in 11 cities in France. Just recently Nice has become the 11th city in France to ban any (Muslim) citizen of wearing a burkini to the beach. Any woman spotted at the beach by security will be fined €38 (about $43). Why is it banned you ask? Well according to the Mayor of Cannes, it was banned last week because it goes against good morals. This is what he told a local newspaper.
"I considered that unacceptable for hygienic reasons and that in general it was unwelcome. It is banned to avoid any disturbance to public order in the region which was hit by attacks. It is against good morals and secularism. It is the uniform of extremist Islamism, not of the Muslim religion"
Yes, for those of you who don't know, this is the burkini. This Muslim woman in the photo is wearing the newest threat to French society. This fashionable swimming wear has gotten everyone all riled up. This it the 'threat to good morals' that the Mayor was talking about. This head to toe covering that is worn by Muslim women to swim, is a threat to society. This right here is the "uniform of extremism." You can catch all ISIS and extremists wearing this latest Muslim fashion trend when you catch them at the beach.
How dare this Muslim woman in the photo be smiling and fashionable when she is destroying the good morals of France. How dare she be wearing clothes that she chose to wear to feel comfortable in. No, we must stop this. She must be fined for covering up, we can't allow women to pick their clothing.
In all seriousness, when people think of Islam in regards to women they think of silent, docile, oppressed beings who get treated like cattle (according to this radio host I got into an argument with via twitter). None of them have freedom of choice to do or wear whatever they want. They are oppressed and we all need to put on our superman capes to swoop in and save them from the oppressive regime of Islam. So what does France do? They first ban the burqa (face veil) because of 'safety reasons' which started a conversation of women covering their face being a oppression tactic by islamists. And now, they ban another item of clothing that some Muslim women choose to wear. Did you catch that? I said choose. As in a choice, the choice of Muslim women. If you didn't know, Muslim women have free will. We make choices, and if one of them is covering up when we go to the beach, then we'll do it. We're not destroying your 'good morals' by covering up head to toe. You are fining the same women who you deem have no free will, for making a choice.
Matter of fact, let me dive in deeper on how ridiculous this law is. The burkini is literally a long sleeved diving suit with a head piece. If I decided to show up to a beach with a scuba outfit and decided to cover my hair, would they fine me? Technically I could fight it based on the premise that it isn't a 'burkini' its a scuba suit. This is my point, this isn't a ban to prevent disturbance of public disorder and to help secularism. This is directly targeted on religious wear of Muslims. Why is being a covered Muslim woman such a threat? Why is it such a political issue? Why are Muslim women simply living their lives such a political and societal threat?
Laws like this aren't made with the best interest of Muslim women in mind. Discussions about the free will of Muslim women such as "do they really have a choice? Are they really not oppressed?" aren't serious discussions. They are made by people with an answer already in mind. That, Islam is bad and we must remove any symbol of it. We can't allow any depictions of muslim women that don't follow the narrative that they are suffering at the hands of this terrible religion. We can't allow any image of Muslim woman being modern and fashionable and having a good time at the beach with her husband and kids, and being happy. Nope, we can't have that so we'll fine her. We'll fine her for being veiled, ban her veils and hijab, and ban her swimwear and kick her off the beach. And then we'll ask her who her oppressor is.
(The answer is you and your dumb laws France.)
