What an appalling suppression of a woman's right to choose what she wears, the ban on the burkini is by some French mayors. After all no one can claim it's a "security risk". I’ve seen it stated that people don't like it. Well, that's tough. Get over it. It's an item of clothing for heavens sake. What happened to tolerance? Given the choice I would much prefer to see a woman in burkini than an overweight, middle-aged woman flaunting her over abundant flesh in a bikini. That definitely is an assault on my senses.
Of course a slew of lame excuses are being proffered to justify this idiotic decision. Can you believe hygiene is one of the justifications? The burkini consists of an outfit made from swimsuit material, which covers the body from head to ankles. The face is uncovered. It resembles a wetsuit with a built-in hood. That said, many wetsuits are also hooded. But the wetsuit manages to avoid ruining public order or offending anyone’s sense of hygiene but the burkini doesn’t. Problem solved ladies, just wear a hooded wetsuit. Whilst we are at it, someone better tell our elite swimmers who don full length suits they are a hygiene risk.
The way the mayor of Cannes is carrying on the burkini is a grave threat to civilisation. This costume, Mr Lisnard declared, “ostentatiously displays religious affiliation”, could “disrupt public order”, and might even, in the words of one official, demonstrate “an allegiance to terrorist movements”. Could disrupt public order? Some meathead might object to a women’s choice of clothing and therefore might cause a ruckus so you ban the clothing? Unbelievable. I wonder how Mr Lisnard feels about Orthodox Jewish women who also wear modesty swim suits?
I commented on a column covering the story in The Independent. One (ill informed) male challenged me over my comment about the suppression of rights. He asked what women in the ME were doing about fighting for rights. One of those ‘nudge, nudge, wink, wink smartass replies. I presented him with ample proof of rights-movements in Saudi, Iran, Syria and Afghanistan (yes I know Afghanistan isn’t in the ME). In reply I received a score of “thumbs down responses”. How absurd is that? When I pointed out how brave these women were. The fact some had even lost their lives. A score of thumbs down again. Beggars belief to be honest. It says a lot about the responders.
Woman have fought for years for the right to choose (not to be confused with woman being FORCED to cover-up). Now, they are having their rights stripped from them because of ignorance and the lack of ability of some people to move beyond bigotry and hatred.
Anyone who believes in freedom (if they are genuine that is) must see the absurdity of banning an item of clothing that does nothing more than preserve the modesty of the wear. It isn’t a burqa it's a swimsuit. It stuns me that more women are not condemning the ban. We will decide what we wear and that applies to all women not just some.
"There are two powers in the world; one is the sword and the other is the pen. There is great competition and rivalry between the two. There is a third power stronger than both, that of the women." ~ Muhammad Ali Jinnah
Time for women with pens to speak up..
