Burkinis unlikely to face a ban on our beaches

Would its citizens rise up and protest in support of Muslim women having the freedom to wear the body-covering swimwear (a combination of a burka and a bikini)?

Or would they support the ban, claiming, as France’s women’s rights minister Laurence Rossignol has said, that the burkini is the “beach version of the burqa” that “has the same logic: hide women’s bodies in order to better control them”?

So which is the correct freedom? The freedom to wear it or the freedom to not wear it? And is it right that Muslim women should be dictated to about what they should or shouldn’t wear, whether it’s by fellow Muslims or a local authority?

Given recent deadly attacks by Islamist extremists, France is, understandably, far more twitchy about Islam and Muslims, but why target women and what they wear on the beach?

Surely they should be concentrating their resources and energies on tracing and clamping down on Islamic extremists who may be planning further attacks – after all, those who have committed the atrocities in France have all been men, not burkini-wearing women.

However, there is a political element to the beachwear, as Rossignol has pointed out, because it has led to confrontations on beaches. “It is not just the business of those women who wear it, because it is the symbol of a political project that is hostile to diversity and women’s emancipation,” she said.

And I have to say that I agree with the French Prime Minister, Manuel Valls, who is backing a burkini ban on the grounds that they are based on the “enslavement of women”.

There is an argument that some Muslim women choose to wear a burqa, niqab or burkini, but is it the case that their “choice” has come about through a lifetime of social, religious and family pressure and therefore is not really a choice?

Surely an all-covering garment required to be worn only by women, and not men, can only be an indication that their bodies are regarded as something to be hidden, acting as a medieval symbol of ownership by their men. How significant the revelation last week that a five-year-old boy was schooled by Anjem Choudary to shout “Shame” at women not fully covered up.

That a small boy is given the power to dictate to adult women how they should dress is shocking to us in a modern westernised society, yet this is exactly where it happened.

It is a step backwards in countries that moved on from medieval times long ago and went through women’s emancipation and the feminist movement last century, and yet melding a Christian or secular society with increasing Muslim populations is a dilemma faced by the UK, by France and by other westernised countries this century.

M Valls, France’s PM, has described the burkini as “not compatible with the values of France”.

Is it compatible with ours? Do we have a society where men and women have equal rights or do we accept that Muslim women are the exception from that?

It’s not really up to a local authority in this country to decide, and anyway I can’t somehow see Brighton and Hove City Council issuing an edict that would dictate what a woman – any woman – can wear on its beaches.

I think the burkini will be safe on Brighton’s beaches.

LAST week, I watched a Channel 5 programme called Celeb Trolls: We’re Coming To Get You, which was presented by former The Saturdays singer Frankie Bridge.

Frankie has been the victim of online trolls and in the programme she talked to other celeb victims, including former The X Factor contestant Chris Maloney, who was so traumatised by the experience that he was admitted to the Priory for treatment and underwent numerous surgical procedures to alter his appearance.

There was also Denise Ferguson, the mother of murdered toddler James Bulger, and a woman from Brighton who has endured five years of abuse.

The programme tracked down two of the trolls, thanks to the help of Frankie’s team of experts, and Chris was able to talk to his abuser, who had threatened to kill him and hurt his nan.

But apart from the shock of being confronted by his victim, what punishment will the troll face?

None, not even a public shaming, because we weren’t allowed to see his face or know his name.

Afterwards, Chris said he felt liberated and free after extracting an apology and an explanation over a mobile phone from the perpetrator.

But I would suggest that he, and Denise Ferguson, and anyone else who has been targeted by trolls simply sign off from social media and deprive the trolls of their victims.

Perhaps it will give the social media giants the message that trolling is simply unacceptable, and that it’s up to them to tackle it or lose business.