So small French towns have decided that women’s modest swimwear is the equivalent to the black arm bands students got in trouble for wearing to protest the Viet Nam war. If they were, being from the USA freedom of speech, I would expect their protest to be respected. But they are not even protesting, or weren’t at the start. These women don’t seem to be protesting or supporting anything except their convictions that God would want them to be modest on a beach. There is something about the sight of a woman forced to disrobe on a beach that is distinctly unsettling and uncivilized — and uncivilized is not a word we usually associate with French. It is a failure in the separation of church and state, in that state is persecuting people for following their religion.
Many of us had not heard of a burkini, but if we are of any Abrahamic faith at all we know that scripture commends modesty — that tempting men visually is about as friendly as drinking in front of an alcoholic if you are expecting them to focus on anything else. We usually pursue laws that advocate consistency with conscience, so that would mean laws that at a minimum do not prohibit modesty.
Even in a secular world, my doctor has a poster on the wall that says most skin cancer is catalyzed by sun exposure before age 18. A burkini seems like it might be a useful fashion to help prevent skin cancer, especially given we can’t sweat well with sunblock on skin. Maybe we should all wear burkinis. Perhaps the fashion industry could take note.
I am taken back to the first day of fourth grade in a new Kansas town, when I was ejected from school for wearing pants. I remember running home (I was allowed to run home alone!) and mom’s shock. The embarrassment, the anger and the slow realization that these people were requiring that I dress less functionally, less rationally just to be more girlish in their sight. I was angry then even as I put on the mandated dress, and I empathize with the burkini crowd now.
I appreciated being able to wear pants most days for the decades of my corporate career long after those dress codes were gone. I hope the French can see there way to welcoming burkinis, and that we all do. Given global warming and skin cancer, maybe they should be the next big thing.
Order historical fiction novel Rekindled with the button below.
