A DW-Webvideo about the Burkini has become a viral Hit. Hundreds of DW Users worldwide discussing on the net over the right of women to free movement and their freedom to decide against it.
Watch the Video
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Bikini or Burkini?
The Burkini is a combination of head scarf, tunic and Leggings, and is worn by some Muslim women as a beach suit. As the French authorities wanted to prohibit him last year on France’s beaches by law, has also been discussed controversially in Germany about the Burkini. Photos of French police officers, which instructed Muslim women, their Burkinis in Public, spread in the Internet and triggered a variety of reactions: Some of them protested against the controls, others hailed the operation as a defense of French secular values.
The recently published Video “Bikini or Burkini?”, the development of the German beach fashion since the beginning of the 20th century. Century, was clicked in a few days, almost a half a Million times, on the English, German, Arabic, Turkish, Chinese and Persian Facebook pages of the DW. The reactions to the Video show that remains controversial is how much skin women should reveal in Public, and what does that have to do with freedom, Power, and politics.
Female nudity as a political Protest
Female nudity have used feminist movements of the past, to fight against the oppression of women. In the Western world, nudity was a Form of political protest during the sexual Revolution of the 1960s. She was regarded as a threat to the Patriarchal order.
In the recent past, the radical was founded-feminist Femen group in the Ukraine and now domiciled in Paris, known thanks to barbusiger protests against the sexual exploitation of women. In addition, nudity has been used to demystify the female body and to de-sexualize the male gaze. And to argue that a woman has the right to wear what she wants, without it is to be understood as a sexual invitation.
France, 2016: police officers are the Burkini ban
Nowadays, many a woman plays with her nudity – even without a socio-political message. Kim Kardashian West’s glossy Nude that broke the Internet in 2014 to a Halt, has to do with the image of a culture in which female nudity is less Protest than Profit.
But, it is emancipated to show some parts of the body and not others? Be urged Western women, take off their clothes, the way Muslim women are forced to cover themselves?
“We can’t stand for freedom and then make exceptions”
Among the various comments on our Burkina Faso Video Unity reigned in at least to a point. “The difference between a Burkini and Bikini is that the Burkini is not freely chosen. It is a duty, a social pressure”, writes a Persian User.
“We can’t stand for freedom and then make exceptions. Either you support their choice to say what you want, or not,” says a reader of our English page.
“In my opinion we have to place a veil over the eyes of the Arab men,” says an Arabic User. “I don’t exclude myself there.”
Are women forced to wear Burkinis? This can’t be a flat rate of say. There are different reasons why women wear Burkinis. The cultural Background plays a role.
From religious to political Symbol
The attempt to ban the Burkini in France, was made under the assumption that he was a to Look provided a religious Symbol. However, as soon as the ban was imposed, transformed it from a religious Symbol to a political Symbol, freighted with the memory of the humiliation that France has done to its minorities from the former colonies.
However, even if the freedom is practiced to select: Makes the turned the Burkina Faso to present-day feminist demands less backwards? May. But every snap judgement about what he represents, you can quickly shoot over the target. This leads some of the DW readers to the conclusion that the right to wear the Burkini, should be respected, such as the right to reject it.
Burkini: a blessing or a curse?
One of our readers is of the view that Muslims would be better to stay at home, than to wear the Burkini in Public. Another reader commented on Twitter: “we will do everything possible to be around other cultures, the more we allow it, that the Western culture is thrown back 100 years or more.”
However, the Burkini is not to displace the Bikini in the Western world. In fact, the full-body swimsuit allows many Muslims to have access to a public space that was previously off-limits to you.
There remains the question of whether the Burkini, is comfortable to wear and on a hot summer day. Only a few women answer this question. For a lot of men do, your opinion about it, what should women wear on a hot day at the beach.
France has the Burkini ban already lifted. But the Burkini debate seems far from over.