I have been following the French #burkiniban news on Twitter and other stories about women being kicked off of airplanes and it gets more and more alarming for me personally—I often wear a headwrap and now feel that I am pressured to not wear one when traveling.
France's burkini ban is a dangerous move for feminism:
A full-body wetsuit garment for Muslim women is at the centre of a controversy in France, and the debate is raising difficult questions about feminism, Islamophobia and the country's values. At least six towns on the Mediterranean coast have banned the burkini — a swimsuit that covers the torso, limbs and head — and three more are threatening to do the same. The mayor of Cannes, David Lisnard, who was the first to forbid the beachwear on the basis that it disrespected "good morals and secularism" and posed a threat to public order, called the burkini "the uniform of extremist Islamism."
Women who break the law face a fine of €38 (£33; $42) and several Muslim women have already been penalised. France's secular political establishment was united in backing the measure, but failed short of bringing it to a national level. Prime Minister Manuel Valls said in an interview published Wednesday in the La Provence newspaper the burkini reflects a worldview based on "the enslavement of women ... That is not compatible with the values of France." Many Muslim women regard the ban as sexist, Islamophobic and — most of all — counterproductive for the purpose of assimilating Muslims in the country.
"It's a blatant violation of women's rights — the right for women to decide what to wear and their freedom of movement," Rim-Sarah Alouane, a religious freedom expert at the University of Toulouse and a Muslim raised in France, told Mashable. "Women are not even asked for their opinion: They're dictated to by male officials what they can wear on the beach."
On Al Jazeera’s “Inside Story—French 'burkini' ban: secularism or security?” host Folly Bah Thibault discusses the issue with her guests: Jacques Myard - French member of Parliament and member of the opposition Republicans party, Yasser Louati - human rights and civil liberties activist and former head of International Relations for the Collective Against Islamophobia in France, and Anne Giudicelli - security analyst, and founder of the security risk consultancy firm, Terrorisc.
I agree with this French feminist: women are damned for what we wear—whether bare or not bare.
The hypocrisy about French secularism is patently obvious. Catholic religious garb is not banned.
Nor are wet-suits:
Air travel for women who are wearing a head scarves becomes more problematic, as self-styled vigilantes “report” on them for suspicious activity.
Three British Muslim siblings were left traumatised after being escorted off a plane in London and interrogated on the tarmac as armed police kept watch, after fellow passengers accused them of being members of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group.
Sakina Dharas, 24, her sister Maryam, 19, and their brother Ali, 21, were on board EasyJet flight EZY3249 from London's Stansted Airport to the Italian city of Naples on August 17.
Sakina told Al Jazeera on Tuesday that as the plane was about to take off, a crew member ordered the siblings off the aircraft and escorted them down the staircase to the tarmac, where they were met by armed police and an MI5 agent who questioned them for one hour.
Earlier, two passengers - also travelling to Naples - had told authorities that the siblings had been looking at a mobile phone screen that showed either Arabic text or the words "praise be to Allah", Sakina said.
"A passenger on your flight has claimed that you three are members of ISIS," the MI5 agent said to the siblings, according to Sakina, a clinical pharmacist.
This story in the Guardian about the woman on the beach being forced to take off some of her clothing, by police is distressing.
Photographs have emerged of armed French police confronting a woman on a beach and making her remove some of her clothing as part of a controversial ban on the burkini. Authorities in several French towns have implemented bans on the burkini, which covers the body and head, citing concerns about religious clothing in the wake of recent terrorist killings in the country. The images of police confronting the woman in Nice on Tuesday show at least four police officers standing over a woman who was resting on the shore at the town’s Promenade des Anglais, the scene of last month’s Bastille Day lorry attack.
After they arrive, she appears to remove a blue long-sleeved tunic, although one of the officers appears to take notes or issue an on-the-spot fine.The photographs emerged as a mother of two also told on Tuesday how she had been fined on the beach in nearby Cannes wearing leggings, a tunic and a headscarf.Her ticket, seen by French news agency AFP, read that she was not wearing “an outfit respecting good morals and secularism”.
Meanwhile, here in the U.S., I’m looking forward to the Headwrap Expo, which is going to be taking place in September in Dearborn, Michigan, which will include interfaith panel discussions between Sikhs, Muslims, Christians, Jews, Rastafarians, and other spiritual communities who incorporate some type of covering.
There is an interesting side-note to this issue—as a result of the controversy, global burkini sales are up. The designer of the burkini says that 40 percent of her sales go to non-Muslim women.
I believe women should have a right to choose. They should not be forced to wear hijab in certain countries, nor should they be forced to wear bikinis, or other Euro-style swim-wear or street dress in others.