So you're walking along the beach, spending the day with your family and trying to enjoy the last few weeks of your summer vacation. As you slowly make your way along the shore, a man in uniform approaches you, demanding you remove your shirt at once. This shirt, the one you put on to prevent getting a sunburn? Or maybe you covered up because your new tattoo is healing. Maybe you're realizing your bikini isn't quite kid-appropriate, and so you're respecting the children at the beach by covering up. Regardless of the reason, imagine this man thrusts a can of pepper spray in your face as you try to explain the situation, claiming that he will not hesitate to spay you is you do not comply.
So what do you do?
Well, on August 23, a woman by the name of Siam was not given a choice as to whether or not she could remove her burkini covering at a beach in Nice, France. The 34 year-old mother was told she had to comply with Nice's new ban on burkinis, following the Bastille Day truck attack in July. The burkinis in question are merely athletic pieces of clothing that many Muslim women wear in order to be able to participate in athletic activities, while remaining covered up.
The Guardian reports that the ban on burkinis was put in place because the burkini, “overtly manifests adherence to a religion at a time when France and places of worship are the target of terrorist attacks”. Essentially, these women are not allowed to feel comfortable in their clothing because the French government is trying to control an aspect of their life that should not be controlled by anyone.
This is not the first time the French government has put a ban on clothing with religious value. In the early 2000s, children were no longer allowed to wear hijabs, large Christian crosses or Jewish kippas to public school. This is yet another example of the French government trying to control an aspect of these people's lives that are not theirs to control.
When looking at the broad scheme of things, I have to ask myself this- is it really 2016? Has our culture developed so little, that we are still prejudice against those who choose to honor their religion with their clothing? And on a separate issue, why do the French authorities think it is okay to tell a woman what she can and cannot wear?
I'm not saying I completely misunderstand where the intent of the ban is coming from- when people are scared, they act out in the only way they know how. After the Bastille Day attack, the French nation is terrified beyond belief of what could happen to their country next. But prohibiting a woman from being comfortable in her own skin, forcing her to remove her clothing that respects the religious practices she abides by, is not the way to promote a united front.
The greater issue is to insure the safety of the people of France, not to create unrest and controversy with laws that, if we really think about it, won't really protect anyone. Are they afraid of a woman hiding a gun within the fold of her burkini? If that's the case, what's to say the hundreds of other people in the beach, dressed in bikinis and shorts, aren't hiding guns in their beach bags? The French government does not need to react out of fear and anger. They should react rationally and promote a united front, protecting the rights of all their citizens.
