Bikini Body Vs Burkini Body: Why Is Keeping Our Noses Out Of Women’s Bodies Still So Hard?

A few weeks ago David Lisnard, mayor of Cannes, signed a decree that forbids to wear a burkini on the public beaches. The decree was soon issued by numerous other mayors of the nearby cities on the Côte d’Azur. A couple of Northern Italy regions started discussing of issuing it as well.

For those who do not know it, the burkini is a bathing suit, it looks pretty much like a diving suit, it covers the body from head to toe and it is anything but flattering . Muslim women – some of them – use it to go to the beach as their religion forbids them to expose almost any part of their body.

Of course the decree didn’t go silent, it quickly turned into a media matter and, consequently, into social media matter. Twitter exploded and #burkini almost became the official hashtag of this summer. Everyone had an opinion: naturally a lot of people accused Lisnard, and France in general, of being racist and discriminating. But an equally high number of people considered the decree essential in order to protect the costumes of the occidental society and “to avoid the Muslims taking over too much space in a country that isn’t their own” (yes, thank you, we’ve heard this before).

We read articles, tweets, posts and picturesque hashtags, and all we could think of was: Do you guys know how many Occidental, non-Muslim, women look at themselves in the mirror and literally dream about going to the beach in a burkini?

via Giphy

Whether it is because they don’t like their bodies, or they do not enjoy exposing it, or because they suffer from a severe psoriasis or, very simply, because they get badly sunburnt, the answer is: more than few (personally sometimes We sometimes also wish we could commute to work in a burqa-without-the-ini). And in most cases, the reason for wanting to hit the beach sporting a burkini is neither psoriasis nor general lack of body confidence, but the depressive thought of having to endure judging gazes and rude comments such as “take”, “leave”, “small tits”, “ugly ass”, “hot”, “dump” etc.

These women regularly end up forcing themselves into an “occidentally beach appropriate bikini” for exactly the same reasons for which Muslim women force themselves into a burkini: in order to avoid breaking the costumes of their society.

Someone might argue that Muslim women are forced to wear a burkini by their oppressive husbands and their equally oppressive religion. Might occasionally be true, but religion (in this case Catholic moralism) is also what forbids topless for all women including pre-teen girls and, generally speaking, it is mostly – occidental – men who prevent women from sunbathing without a top.

In both cases what emerges is an urge to control women’s bodies and to frame them into decrees or, at the very least, social laws. But forbidding Muslim women to wear a burkini means behaving exactly like their oppressive husbands/religion: forcing them to uncover instead of forcing them to cover, is there really that much of a difference?

via Giphy

A discussion could be opened on the fact that burkinis really are ugly, beyond ugly, and that no woman could possibly ever look good in one, so it’s best to ban them. Makes sense, but then again, men sport flabby bellies, white hairs on their chests and, urgh, embarrassingly revealing slips and no one has ever thought of signing a decree against these monstrosities for the sake of the public decorum.

Of course Muslim women could very simply avoid going to beach, thus freeing themselves from the burkini and the rest of the world from the hideous sight of it. Surrendering in this way not only the freedom to cover/uncover their bodies just as they please, but also the freedom of choosing where to spend their holidays! We are so amazed by the fact that they haven’t already done so….

So what should we do? Simple: nothing. Nothing at all. We could finally start keeping our noses away from female bodies and finally grant them the free choice of uncovering themselves without spoiling their sun tans with rude staring and acid remarks, or of keeping cool undercover without forcing them to “undress like all the rest”.

via Giphy

And next time you see a woman in a burkini, remember she might as well not be wearing it because she is forced to do so: she could be a Muslim woman who has voluntarily decided to obey the Islamic precepts, or a Catholic, Buddhist, Atheist, Rastafarian woman who has decided she is sick to death of the occidental fashion with its rude remarks. Or she has a severe psoriasis!

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