There were also pictures of nuns in habits in the water (skirts to mid-calf) & wet suits as examples that people did not object to. So yes, there was religious discrimination in "secular" France...

I remember being at St. Mark's in Venice a few years ago. A young couple in shorts was at the entrance. The young man took a pair of long pants out of his rucksack and handed them to the young woman. She put them on and went inside for the tour. When she came out, she took the pants off and gave them to the young man, who put them on and went inside for his chance to see the basilica.

I found Professor Beattie's article interesting and useful, particularly as it referred to women from the three Abrahamic faiths.
After two comments agreeing with Spotlight, who wrote "it is the height of disrespect and insensitivity to parade your Islamic difference (a nose-thumbing gesture) to a population still reeling from Islamic terrorism." I wish to register my disagreement with all three of you. The women wearing burkinis have every right to wear this garment, as long as they do not feel forced to do so. They were swimming not nose thumbing and I admire their courage, as many were publicly humiliated! I defend their right to wear clothes that they feel culturally comfortable in. What I found shocking was the photo of the police forcing a woman to take off her outer garments in public. That was disrespect. Were police going to remove crucifixes from around peoples' necks as these are not allowed in secular France either? I agreed with Professor Beattie's article. I always wonder why people feel the need to hide behind screen names where they cannot be identified, while they make strong critical remarks about others? Anonymous names are another form of covering up. Why not have the courage to use your real names? Pippa Bonner

I completely agree with Spotlight on all the points made.

I cannot agree with you more "spotlight'' when you precisely identify the real issue behind the dress codes of Muslim women, when you say, " It is the height of disrespect and insensitivity to parade your Islamic difference (a nose-thumbing gesture) to a population still reeling from Islamic terrorism." Burkini remains a challenge even without terrorism. It is a rejection of a host community and culture to which Muslims resort to for protection from exploitation. It is a visible metaphor of refusal to honour and integrate into a welcoming community. Such a mind set leads the host community to consider the Muslims as a threat to its own existence. It sees the exclusiveness typified by the burkini as another open affront as the one finger salute associated with the Daesh (ISIS). It is vital that we remain vigilant always with a clear mind.

a very confused and confusing article--the burkini controversy seems to have been used as an excuse to expound an a lot of other issues that concern the author, but end up creating a non-cohesive tangle of multiple loose ends. Yes, we are generating "more heat than light" in politicised (and often absurd) discussions about sex and gender. And Yes, the way we dress is a way of projecting (or, quite literally in the burkini case, covering up) our identities...and yes we should dress to respect others---family, relatives, fellow workers, etc.--- but the coda about male power intruding on this personal negotiation is simply silly. The Burkinied Muslim woman may not be free to negotiate how she dresses in a patriarchal religion, and that should be of concern to all human rights advocates. Then on the issue of dressing to respect others-- it is the height of disrespect and insensitivity to parade your Islamic difference (a nose-thumbing gesture) to a population still reeling from Islamic terrorism.
I would like to ask Beattie to apply her analysis to the following: how would she feel about a Klu Klux Klan member parading thru a black neighborhood in Alabama in full regalia, pointy hat and all? Or, what would she think about a Protestant Orangeman wearing all his anti-papist regalia parading thru a Catholic neighborhood in N. Ireland?
No place for protest? a simple act of self-expression? ........really?