layman wrote:I do think there is a bit of ironic sexism here on the part of the french. Dont get me wrong, I hate burkinis, bukhas and the rest. Banning them is both illiberal and counter productive though.
France is in an identity crisis. They don't know how to treat their Muslim co-citizens who are a legacy of colonialism and the Algerian war. French citizens of Algerian, Moroccan, Tunisian origin are now part of France. There is no way of changing that.
The burkini does not become a political symbol unless the French want it to become a political symbol. I can understand that women who are not used to exposing their body may want to wear a burkini, which on many women is more aesthetic than a bikini. Wearing a burqa or niqab is a different matter. I think it is spooky and an obstacle to integration. It should be banned in public wherever identification is an issue.
And the health issue is not irrelevant. The habit of sun-bathing is a very recent phenomenon. It has led to a drastic increase skin cancer in all Western countries. A close friend has been diagnosed with Melanoma, which is one of the most deadly cancers. She has to cover herself in the sun. When I see young people frying their skin in the sun, I want to tell them that they are signing their own death warrant. The skin is one of our most important organs that does not forget anything. A single sun-burn today can kill you in 30 years time. And cancer is not a pleasant way to go. The Western habit of sun-bathing should not pass unquestioned. Exposing your skin in the burning sun is not cool, even if everybody is made to believe that.
The group pressure that makes people want to have sun-tanned skin is no better than the group pressure of having to cover your body, in fact, the latter may be more sensible, especially in sun-scorched places in the ME and North Africa.
PS: The French even partially banned the headscarf. My grandmother who was a protestant farmer's woman wore a head scarf all her life, like many other women of her status did at the time in the North of Europe. Why should we now start to ban it?
Edit: It is even worse than that. The burkini ban is outright racism because it presupposes that everybody wearing a burkini is a terrorist suspect. That's like saying that everybody wearing a suit is suspect of being a bankster. We'll be back to witch hunts next.