The Burkini

[Bent_Bladi]

From your "vacuum packed" comment, I KNOW you didn't read what was on the site... *ahem*. Do so, (and pay attention to the type of 2imash they use)... and iwleh! ni7na the founders of the trio - mafi "too late" in our vocabulary

[Al-khiyal]

SANTA CRUZ — It took Tahrier Sub Laban more than a year to work up the courage to ask Julie Kimball if she could join Kimball's beginning swim class at UC Santa Cruz.

Sub Laban didn't fear drowning, even though she planned to swim in long pants, a long sleeve shirt, a cotton tee and a scarf. Instead, she feared that her swim attire, which she wore in accordance with her Muslim beliefs, would keep Kimball from letting her into the pool.

"I just didn't know what she would say, and I would always erase it from my schedule at the last minute," said Sub Laban, a junior pre-med major at UCSC. "I was afraid she wouldn't let me swim in what I wanted to swim in"

For decades, Muslim women have had to balance their athletic ambitions with the restrictions of their religious dress. Swimming has posed particular difficulty, and in Islamic countries, women usually swim in pools or during hours designated just for them. No such amenities have been set aside at UCSC. But thanks to Kimball's open mind and, later, a random Google search that uncovered swimwear made specifically for Muslim women, Sub Laban now not only swims, she's also looking forward to taking up surfing and Scuba diving.

Sub Laban had good reason for worrying Kimball would turn her away from the class last spring. Growing up, Sub Laban said she and her sisters had been shooed out of many a hotel pool by managers who didn't want to risk letting them swim fully clothed. She feared Kimball would have similar misgivings.

"When I want to do something, I don't let my religion affect me in any way," said Sub Laban, who lives in Prunedale with her Palestinian father, American mother and three younger sisters. "I wanted to do this. I wanted to swim with my clothes because that's who I am. Whatever held me back is whoever told me 'No.'"

Sub Laban believes it would be immodest to expose a wisp of hair or the narrow of her wrist. She must cover everything except her face, hands and feet and cannot show her shape. Sub Laban said the restrictions, which she sees as a choice as much as a religious edict, are liberating. They allow people to judge her by her personality and wit rather than her appearance, she said.

In the water, however, her bulky clothes weren't liberating at all.

After Kimball gave her the go-ahead to join her spring 2006 class, Sub Laban spent most of her time swallowing pool water from dragging around an extra 10 pounds in sopping clothes. When she wasn't worried about the weight of her two shirts and pants, she fretted her hair would escape from within her hijab.

"Watching her learn to swim, it was almost at first a drown-proofing type thing. It wasn't really swimming, just moving around with all her clothes on and keep from drowning," said UCSC swim coach Kim Musch. Musch suggested Sub Laban try a full-body suit, like the ones used by Olympic swimmers, but was told it would be too revealing.

"For somebody in Western culture and around young women wearing skimpy bathing suits sunning themselves in the sun, it was quite the contrast," he said.

Other hiccups arose when Sub Laban took Kimball's class again in the fall. Primarily, Sub Laban worried that the water she sucked down in the pool would be a problem during Ramadan, when Muslims are required to fast from sunrise to sunset for a month.

Luckily, Kimball was willing to help her work around her obstacles.

"I like how Tahrier says, 'This is who I am,'" Kimball said. "I want to honor that"

In her 20 years at UCSC, Kimball has taught other Muslim students, but none with as restrictive a dress code as Sub Laban's. She made sure to keep an extra eye on Sub Laban at first to ensure she didn't drown, but also pushed forward with teaching her students the basic strokes. When Ramadan approached, Kimball directed Sub Laban toward the breast and back strokes, which would decrease the risk of swallowing water.

Sub Laban continued to swim fully clothed for almost a year. Then late last winter she made her biggest swimming breakthrough. It came not in the pool, but in the confines of her living room.

A friend familiar with Sub Laban's frustrations suggested she go online and do a Google search for Muslim swimwear. There, amid the numerous articles on Muslim women making strides in athletics, was a link to Ahiida, a site that sold swimwear specifically for Muslim women.

The company's synthetic "Burqinis" paired a long top and pants, which could be buttoned together. Best of all, an attached hood meant Sub Laban could get rid of the scarf and her worries about stray hair.

The founder of the Australian company, Aheda Zanetti, grew up Muslim in Australia after moving there from Lebanon when she was 2. She said on the Ahiida Web site that living with the restrictions of traditional dress inspired her to create special swimsuits and other sportswear for Muslim women.

Sub Laban said the design fits her needs perfectly. It is lighter, more comfortable and more stylish than her old outfit, and she can swim in it without gulping pool water. And if it didn't lessen her chances of drowning, it at least lessened people's concerns that she might. Even Kimball couldn't wait to try it.

"I wore it, my daughter wore it, and as a Speedo person, the scarf part was great," Kimball said. "But if you're not used to wearing clothing [while swimming], it's something to get used to"

For Sub Laban, however, the transition took no time at all. Now her sisters and some friends all have suits, and her mother is asking when Sub Laban will get one for her. Even other UCSC students may benefit from her trials. Kimball said she already has another woman she suspects is Muslim e-mailing her about the class.

Aside from basic swim strokes and fashion sense, Sub Laban said she has learned plenty since taking the plunge into swimming. For one, she's not going to worry so much about people denying her opportunities because of her faith.

"Now I don't think I'll wait too long to ask" to participate in activities, she said. "I have the courage to have more strength to just go and ask"

And, she said, she learned one other liberating lesson:

"To Google"

Swimming no longer a struggle for Muslim woman at UCSC

[Al-khiyal]

French woman threatens legal action over 'burkini' ban

August 12, 2009 -- A 35-year-old French convert to Islam has threatened legal action after she was evicted from a public pool for wearing a "burkini" – a veil, trouser and tunic covering that she said allowed her to swim while preserving her modesty. The case revolving around the pool east of Paris has reopened France's bitter row about how Muslim women can dress. Carole, who would not give her surname, bought the suit while on holiday in Dubai and wore it swimming with her children once at a local pool in Emerainville. The second time she wore it, she was banned. "What annoys me is that I have been made to believe this is a political problem," she told Le Parisien. Carole, who converted to Islam at the age of 17, said she would seek advice from anti-discrimination groups.

The local authorities in Emerainville said the case had nothing to do with Islam, but regulations stated that garments bigger than standard swimsuits, including men's board-shorts, could not be worn in pools for hygiene reasons. In recent years, local politicians in some areas have protested at proposed women-only swimming hours as an affront to the French republic, where everyone is equal. When a town in Rhône-Alpes ran a trial women-only swimming session at a public pool last year, a local councillor from Nicolas Sarkozy's ruling centre-right UMP party denounced it as the takeover of a secular, republican public space for religious reasons.

A parliamentary committee is currently considering whether to introduce a law to ban women in France from wearing full Islamic veils in public places after a petition from 50 MPs calling for restrictions on veils with face coverings. The communist MP André Gerin, who heads the parliamentary committee, said the woman's burkini swimsuit was "ridiculous" and "clearly a militant provocation". He said a political agenda was behind such clothing and his committee would look at "fundamentalist pressures" encroaching on sporting dress codes in France. Critics have warned that focussing on niqabs, or full veils, is a marginal issue in France. A recent security services survey estimated that around 300 women wore them. In 2004, France banned standard headscarves and all conspicuous religious symbols from state schools.

[Bent_Bladi]

lol the guy next to me in class was reading this article instead of taking notes :O but damn... let me post another article about it:

BBC NEWS | World | Europe | French pool bans 'burkini' swim

and check this out:

Emerainville Mayor Alain Kelyor said "all this has nothing to do with Islam", adding that the swimsuit was "not an Islamic swimsuit" and that "that type of suit does not exist in the Koran".

^that guy is sooooooooo ... ;ASKDJAKJS;FAKSJ;FA what an idiot --- all those Muslims in your country and i won't hesitate to say you're stupider than some of the trashiest rednecks here

[Al-khiyal]

Modestly active