Yes, it's all over the news, if your news is set to follow articles with a form of the term "head covering".
The facts are: a woman in France takes her family to a local swimming pool dressed in the modern "burkini" style swimsuit -- it's OK for a while, but finally she is formally asked to leave -- the reason given is "hygienic reasons" (I can recall certain public pools that we cannot swim in with shorts and tops of any kind, for hygenic reasons).
So one cannot swim in public in France (and some other places in this world) if one wishes to be modestly attired.
If someone can give me the doctor's report on modest attire in pools being unhygienic, PLEASE pass it on. I don't understand this one, and am not willing to wade through the comment sections of the various reports on this to find it.
Here are a few, some with illustrations:
- http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/08/12/Woman-in-burkini-banned-from-pool/UPI-73581250121344/- http://www.xpress4me.com/news/uae/dubai/20014554.html- http://www.theweek.com/article/index/99470/The_ban_on_French_burkinis- http://www.smh.com.au/national/burqini-creator-pours-water-on-french-ban-20090813-eiyk.html
http://bollywood.rightcelebrity.com/?p=1267------------
EDIT: The hygiene rule was bugging me, so I wanted to pass this on to you all as well. The health issue as addressed
in the press:
"An official in charge of swimming pools for the Emerainville region, Daniel Guillaume, said the refusal to allow the local woman to swim in her "burquini" had nothing to do with religion and everything to do with public health standards.
"These clothes are used in public, so they can contain molecules, viruses, et cetera, which will go in the water and could be transmitted to other bathers," Guillaume said in a telephone interview.
"We reminded this woman that one should not bathe all dressed, just as we would tell someone who is a nudist not to bathe all naked," he said.
Guillaume said France's public health standards require all pool-goers to don swimsuits for women and tight, swimming briefs for men - and caps to cover their hair. Bathers also must shower before entering the water."
Of course, I also found this comment elsewhere ...
"Just having people in a giant tub of water is pretty unhygenic. That's why they chemically treat them. So I think maybe the reason, isn't so reasonable."
For more on unhygienic swim pool behaviour, see this article at About.com
