Why Did France Ban a Bathing Suit?

But for those who oppose the bans, they’re discriminatory and unjustified.

“The ban constitutes a grave and illegal breach of fundamental freedoms,” says Rupert Colville, a spokesman for the United Nations’ human rights office. The bans, he says, also “fuel religious intolerance and the stigmatization of Muslims in France, especially women.”

The showdown over the burkini is only the latest controversy over the principle of secularism, which has been a defining feature of French political life since the French Revolution in 1789. The idea is to keep government out of religion and religion out of government in order to protect the rights of French citizens. But critics say the principle is increasingly used to justify measures that single out—and discriminate against—Muslims.

In 2004, France banned religious symbols in public schools, including large crosses, Jewish skullcaps, and Muslim head scarves. A 2010 law made it illegal for Muslim women to wear veils in public that cover their faces.

A number of factors have made France ripe for a clash between Islam and Western values. France has one of the largest Muslim populations in Western Europe—about 5 million out of a total population of about 66 million. Most are immigrants or children of immigrants from former French colonies in North Africa, and their integration hasn’t gone smoothly. Many live in ghetto-like suburbs outside major cities and feel alienated from the larger society. Many experience discrimination in education and the workplace. 

France has a long tradition of expecting newcomers to assimilate into French culture rather than keep their own traditions, including public displays of religious faith. By contrast, the U.S. has traditionally been more accepting of religious traditions brought by immigrants.

Aggravating the situation in France are the recent terrorist attacks, including those in Paris last November that killed 130 people and an attack that killed 86 people on the French Riviera on Bastille Day, France’s independence day, on July 14. Anxiety in the wake of the attacks prompted officials to enact the burkini bans.

In late August, the media began to take notice. A French magazine reported that three police officers in Cannes, a famous Riviera resort, surrounded a young woman wearing a tunic (a long, loose-fitting shirt), leggings, and a head-scarf. The officers fined the woman, who was a third-generation French citizen, and told her to leave the beach. A similar incident in the city of Nice was captured by a photographer, and those photos (above), published in two British newspapers, set off a debate on social media.

Some Twitter users posted photos of nuns wading into the water wearing their habits and wondering whether the French police “would make these ladies take their clothes off too.” (The photos turned out to be from Brazil, not France.)The language in the beach bans mentions neither burkinis nor any other garments by name, but there have been no reported cases of Catholic nuns or members of any other religious group  being asked to remove their outfits.

Outside of France, most observers are perplexed by the bans. In other parts of Europe, like Germany and Britain, the sight of Muslim women covered modestly at the beach has drawn little attention. 

In August, a French court overturned bans on burkinis in Cannes and a nearby seaside town. The court said that the bans violate basic freedoms and are illegal because burkinis pose no proven risks of disruption to public order, nor do they threaten hygiene or decency. The ruling doesn’t apply to the other towns with similar bans, but legal experts say it’s likely to make future challenges easier.

Whatever the courts decide, the issue isn’t going away. Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who’s seeking the office again in this spring’s election, has vowed to change the country’s constitution to allow the burkini bans.

The nationwide uproar over the burkini is surprising to those who sell the bathing suits. Fashion designer Vanessa Lourenço has marketed the swimwear to Muslim women for years.

“Most of our clients,” she says, “message us saying it is the first time that they were confident enough to be at a public beach enjoying themselves with their family.”