THE world has a new symbol of freedom and resistance: the burkini. Thanks to the bigoted idiocy of a few French municipal councillors and some overzealous gendarmes, Muslim women who cover their bodies while on the beaches of the Mediterranean coast now face harassment, fines, and public humiliation — all in the name of "secularism" and (wait for it) "good morals".It is tempting to try to understand this sartorial manifestation of Islamophobia in light of so-called jihadist activity in Paris, Nice, and elsewhere; the French government is irrationally fearful (the very definition of a phobia) of clothing that, according to the official line, "overtly manifests adherence to a religion at a time when France and places of worship are the target of terrorist attacks".But to do so is to ignore the long history of attempts to legislate female Muslim attire — a history intertwined with French colonialism.Western critiques of the practice of hijab (covering) typically demonstrate the same bl...
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