Liberating Women from Opression or Islam?
Liberating Women from Oppression or Islam?
By Hodman Abukar
The Reckoner is collaborating with the student-run newspaper of North Toronto C.I., Graffiti. The following article is written by an NTCI student, and was published in Graffiti’s December 2016 issue.
France established nude beaches along its shores during the 1950’s, becoming one of the first countries to do so. At the time, sexism was heightened, and the rest of the world believed that a woman was not respectable if she was not covered. France decided to fight these restrictions, incorporating both sexual and non-sexual nudity into its art and culture. This allowed French women to be as revealing as they pleased.
Despite its leniency towards revealing garments today, France does have clothing laws that citizens must abide by. For example, the chest and genitalia must be covered. Compared to intensely restrictive Sharia laws, for example, who wouldn’t want to embrace France’s modern clothing laws?
France is a secular country. As a result, its government has banned displays of religion—headscarves, burkas, kippahs, and large crosses—in the workplace and schools. From this sprouted the prohibition of ‘burkinis’ on beaches in various cities. Burkinis, derived from combining the words, ‘burka’ and ‘bikini’, are wetsuit-like pieces that cover both the body and head. Designed by Australian Aheda Zanetti, ‘burkinis’ are worn not only by many Muslim women around the world, but also by women who are simply looking for a modest swimsuit.
In August 2009, a woman in France was stopped from swimming in a public pool because she was wearing a burkini. This was justified by a law that forbade citizens from swimming in street clothes. France was gripped in controversy about Islamic dress and blatant islamophobia was being swept under the rug.
More recently, last August, the mayor of Cannes banned the swimsuit altogether, citing a potential link to Islamic extremism. Around 20 other French towns, including Nice, have joined the ban. As a result, dozens of women have been issued fines. According to the mayor of Cannes, David Lisnard, ‘burkinis’ are “the uniform of extremist Islamism.” It is unclear how a woman who chooses to wear a swimsuit that doesn’t expose all of her skin is propagating “extremist Islamism.” It is also unclear why it is a male politician who gets to decide what is too extreme for women.
The French government has received immense backlash for banning something so benign. Outside of the French embassy in London last August, pro-burkini protesters threw a “beach party”, complete with fake sand and beach balls. Participators sported all types of attire, emphasizing the need for freedom of choice. Alongside trending images, the hashtag, “#WearWhatYouWant,” gained popularity on social media. By allowing people to wear what they want, France would be giving people the freedom to wear whatever makes them feel safe and comfortable.
The French have generally held liberal ideologies, with feminism being popular among the public. Women were granted the ability to wear revealing clothing on beaches nearly 60 years ago. However, in 2016, the country has taken a step backwards. If the French government believes it is liberating Muslim women by forcing them to take off their swimsuits, then it has gender equality all wrong. Feminism is giving women a choice and respecting their decisions. Countries across the world continue to ignore this. Banning a swimsuit is just as oppressive as forcing women to cover up completely. The French government may think it is liberating women from Islamic extremism and oppression, but it seems like another way to “liberate” women from Islam itself.
