Rule Burkini, Burkini Rules the Waves: English Pools Require “Modest” Dress for Both Muslim and Non-Muslim Swimmers

165px-BathingMachineDontBeAfraidWhile the French are banning the burkini (a swimsuit that covers Muslim women like a burka), various English pools are requiring women to don covering from their necks to ankles –men are required to cover up from their navels to their knees. During these hours, men and women are barred if they are not wearing “modest” coverings in line with the Muslim traditions.

100px-Mankini_(cropped)In Croyton, swimmers are told that “during special Muslim sessions male costumes must cover the body from the navel to the knee and females must be covered from the neck to the ankles and wrists”. In North Lincolnshire, “users must follow the required dress code for this session (T-shirts and shorts/leggings that cover below the knee)”. Presumably, the “mankini” will not be allowed during those hours.

The special sessions raise a different issue than France. The French are, in my view, wrong to prevent women from wearing the outfits in order to use the public pools. For these women, if they are not allowed to wear these outfits, they cannot enjoy public pools.

The English policy, however, has people objecting to the exclusion of men and women from the pool who are unwilling to adhere to a religiously based modesty rule — even for just part of the day. One obvious approach is to allow swimmers to don both regular swimsuits or Islamic swimsuits but not to ban either preference during special hours — leaving the pool open to the public to enjoy as they see fit.

This issue has come up in other contexts, such as a recent controversy over restricted use of gymnasium facilities at Harvard. Ironically, in Saudi Arabia, even the concept of women working out in their own segregated areas are viewed as intolerable, here.

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17 thoughts on “Rule Burkini, Burkini Rules the Waves: English Pools Require “Modest” Dress for Both Muslim and Non-Muslim Swimmers”

  1. AY writes: The JAPS that I have gone out with were anything but slow. I can assure you of that. PARTEE WE DID. I think I was a little wilder than they. Which is hard to believe.

    I used to be offended by JAP. Then I kind of got it. there are east coast japs and west coast japs. I’m west coast. we didn’t care so much about hair and nails because we surfed rode horses and and partied every day. while we came from privilege, sometimes the first generation of our families to “have” it was hard for our parents not to want to indulge us with camp and lessons and horses and braces on our teeth. I don’t blame them at all for wanting us to “know from nice” it was a lovely way to grow up.
    I make fun of myself because I really don’t get things sometimes.
    You may have been wilder than the jewish girls you knew. I was the wildest girl I ever knew. ask anyone. in some ways, I still am.
    my squeeze thinks so and so do my kids.
    not many moms with blue hair on this block.

  2. foo writes: GW mom: being Jewish just means you’re bad a sports; jokes are in our blood! 😉

    you are right about that. I am horrible at sports. always was. I did learn to pitch and developed a decent slider. Hated skiing, hate everything about it: cold, speed, heights.

    I golf, its a very jewish thing to do. tennis is goyish; golf is jewish. football is goyish, hockey is very goyish; baseball is jewish, basketball is very jewish.

    the above is a parody of Lenny Bruce.
    you can look it up.
    jokes are very Jewish. african american comedians are also jewish. so are jazz musicians. composers are jewish. conductors are jewish. tin pan alley is jewish. broadway is very jewish. gay is jewish.
    sorry, can’t seem to stop.

    when all you have is nothing, you can still make fun of it.
    my grandfather told me that. nothing about his life was fun.

  3. GWLawSchoolMom,

    see? I told you I was slow.
    Must be my Jewish genes.
    ********************

    The JAPS that I have gone out with were anything but slow. I can assure you of that. PARTEE WE DID. I think I was a little wilder than they. Which is hard to believe.

  4. I really find the British government’s intrusiveness has reached truly epic proportions. The crazies think our government is oppressive? Sheesh.

    GW mom: being Jewish just means you’re bad a sports; jokes are in our blood! 😉

  5. GWLawSchoolMom,

    “pick pockets and prudes.”

    ********************************

    You sure you did not get lost in the Congressional Chamber, in DC?

  6. AY

    I admitted once before that I was not the smartest girl in the class… am I just dense? am I the joke now?

  7. GWLawSchoolMom 1, August 17, 2009 at 3:55 pm

    this is exactly why I prefer vacationing in france and not england.
    i love ireland and scotland, but england is dirty and unfriendly and besides my squeeze got his pocket picked in the underground at notting hill station last trip and so there you are. pick pockets and prudes.

    *********************

    Anonymously Yours 1, August 17, 2009 at 3:57 pm

    GWLawSchoolMom,

    You sure you did not get lost in the Congressional Chamber, in DC?

  8. GWLawSchoolMom,

    You sure you did not get lost in the Congressional Chamber, in DC?

  9. this is exactly why I prefer vacationing in france and not england.
    i love ireland and scotland, but england is dirty and unfriendly and besides my squeeze got his pocket picked in the underground at notting hill station last trip and so there you are. pick pockets and prudes.

  10. The British government has once again shown an inability to understand the difference between the toleration of diverse religious values and the legislation of theocratic rules of behavior. Of course, the equivalent practice in this country is legislation mandating the teaching of creationism as part of the science curriculum.

  11. “My name-a is ah-V. I have remembered the fifth of September a very much.”

    lol

  12. roflol

    The idea of Borat wearing a Guy Fawkes mask made me spit take my coffee!

    You are bad, Dredd. I’ll have that image stuck in my head all day now. lol

  13. So long as Speedo after size medium are banned I have no problem. There is just something about a Massive Belly and a Speedo that I find offensive. But then again beauty is in the beholder. I just ain’t holding it.

  14. Not as a defense or justification of the English but it’s not as if the they didn’t already have a reputation for being uptight. There are many pages of humor written and performed on that very quirk.

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