Last year it was the first time I saw women wearing a ‘burkini’ on the beaches of Morocco. It was during my summer holidays that I saw women playing in the water with their children. It was a new sight for me. Usually on the beach women would be sitting under their umbrellas, hidden from the sun. They would prepare lunch, or gaze at the ocean, where their husbands and children would be enjoying themselves. I always wondered what went through their minds. Looking at the ocean, seeing the open sea and realizing how that ocean of freedom will never be theirs to enjoy. It’s only meant for men and children, as women have to cover up. I also wondered what it would take for women to rip off their headscarves, throw them in the air and yell out: ‘to hell with all those imposed standards on so-called feminine morality!’ And: ‘Adieu, community pressure!’
The ‘burkini’ has proven to be a solution for muslim women to – finally – be able to enjoy the waters of the ocean. The garment has given muslim women more freedom of movement. Something we should all applaud.
Yet several mayors in France have decided to outlaw the garment on their beaches. The measures are meant to protect the country’s ‘laïcité’, yet their outcome is so unbelievable, not to say absurd. Apart from the religious aspect of the measures, I don’t think any government should tell it’s civilians what to - and what not to - wear on the beach. I am perfectly capable of deciding weather I want to sunbathe in the nude today, or if I’m feeling more like keeping on my t-shirt. That’s up to me to decide.
In this particular case the measures are even more ludicrous because of the motivation behind them. The French mayors believe that the garment reminds others of the islamist terror attacks that France has recently dealt with. So with laïcité in one hand, and the fear of islamist terror in the other, women are being punished for something they have absolutely no part in. The idea that women who cover up, even when on the beach, are fundamentalists, is incorrect. In this regard the name of the garment is ridiculous because of the false reference to the burqa.
Burqa + bikini ≠ burkini
The burqa is a garment worn by fundamentalist women, whether or not out of free will. Their entire body has to be covered: hands, feet ánd face. The burqa turns women into shadows. Creatures that reside in this world, yet aren’t allowed to actually exist. A woman who wears a burqa will never (be allowed to) wear a burkini. A woman who wears a burka lives in captivity. Her husband, her father, her brother or her community owns her. Women who wear burkinis are your run-of-the-mill muslim girls. The headscarf-wearing lady behind the checking account in your local supermarket, or the überhip muslim girl, rocking her designer outfit. The only thing you achieve by banning the burkini is taking away the opportunity for these girls to swim in the sea.
The idea that a fundamentalist muslim would wear a burkini and surround herself with half naked people on the beach, just so she can be able to take a dive into the sea, is so laughable it makes you wonder: who in the world is advising the French authorities in their war against terror? Fundamentalists don’t go to beaches, let alone they would visit a public beach where they would risk being confronted with other peoples ‘immorality’.
France has a history of debating the headscarf. In public schools it has been forbidden since 2004. Current Prime Minister, Manuel Valls, is known to be a supporter of a total ban on headscarves, also at universities. If Valls would have his way, the headscarf would be outlawed everywhere. In 2011 France banned the niqab from public places.
The thing is, in banning the burkini, the authorities have given islamists and excuse to their argumentation of not belonging. ‘They don’t want us here, we’re not equal to them,’ thus creating a bigger division in a country already divided.
The aim seems to be to emancipate women out of the headscarf. Whoever wants to achieve that, needs to take a different route though. The headscarf isn’t the problem here, it’s only a symptom of patriarchal religion in which men have given themselves all the freedom of the world, and women are left with absolutely nothing. And that’s exactly what’s so wrong with ban on the burkini.
That little bit of freedom muslim women enjoy thanks to burkini, to be able to swim in the sea and experience the feeling of being carried away by a wave, is now taken away from her. In that respect the mayors have more in common with the fundamentalist men than they themselves realize: they want all freedom for themselves and grant none for muslim women.
