RECENTLY, MOSTLY IN FRANCE, there has been a big brouhaha about the “burkini.”
According to the French authorities, the burkini is “religious apparel” and therefore, in the land of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity, forbidden.
Are kippot (yarmulkas) also forbidden, or a Sikh’s dastar? What about a sari, a sure sign of a Hindu woman? What about a galabiya or thawb?
Granted, wearing a kippa or dastar or sari CAN make the wearer a target for a bigot – or in the case of a burkini on a (not so) Nice beach by the cops.
Orthodox Jewish women, if they swim in mixed company, also “cover up.” Some Jewish sects that take rabbinical Judaism beyond the limits, have taken up the hajab. (Does that mean they still must wear a wig?)
One thing I find strange about the French – I find many things strange things about the French – is that unattractive people are allowed to display their “wares” on the beaches (and probably elsewhere) sans concern for the modesty of others. That’s permitted, but a woman who feels modest only when her body is 99% covered is forced to uncover . . . and is fined, too.
What next?
I can understand a Muslim’s anger at the French government – as I also can understand the non-Muslim’s anger at the immigrant Muslims’’ take-over of French communities and the imposition of Shiria law on the non-Muslim population.
For all that, I think the burkini flap simply is a façade hiding the real problems with which France must deal. Another dose of perfume won’t cover this stink.
Let the women dress as they wish.
