Which, IMO, is completely crazy as it pretty much negates the concept of being a secular country and having religious freedom. France is the same with regards to religious jewellery, I don’t see why it’s such a big deal.
Sort of, but the ones I saw were much less form-fitting than those in the link. They seemed to have about 4x more material and were really drapey so you couldn’t see the wearer’s body at all. The ones in the link you provided look like a ‘sexier’ version of the ones I saw. But same general principle.
Countries like France etc. that have had up close and personal historical experience with the effects of contending religious opinions might well tend toward extreme caution on these issues.
This is pretty much my understanding. In Turkey, there is actually an active Islamist movement that many citizens find worrisome, seeing how it could repeal the country’s secularism if it gained power. Wearing veils in governmental institutions is seen as a symbol of this movement opposed to the country’s values.
As for France, they’ve been holding to their form of secularism since the Revolution, while overt Catholicism in the public sphere is seen as a symbol of absolute monarchy, or authoritarian government anyway (see Pétain’s for example, which is actually a recent example).
Of course, all this is GD material, and I’m not saying I’m necessarily in favour of these strong forms of secularism, but I’m pointing out that there are arguments on both sides.
Kind of off topic, but IT is not a big deal, how it is used is another thing.
Groups use conformity of dress to pressure people. For instance a gang may say you live in our turf wear a blue shirt. But if a school requires ALL students to wear white shirts, it lessens the gangs power.
If a Muslim family requires a daughter or son to behave a certain way he just thinks he has no option. If the government say, “You can’t do that,” he/she realizes he does have another option.
As it happens they ARE in power and haven’t rocked the boat all that seriously. More on the fringes, like attempting to lift the prohibition of headscarves in universities. This last caused them difficulties and is part of the reason they push only lightly - Turkey has built in curbs to such things ( or if you like, to democracy 
). The constitution allows the the judiciary to trump elected officials if the constitution ( and the hardcore secularism it enshrines ) is threatened and the army is also more than willing to do so.
Oh, okay. But surely these are the moderate, democratic Islamists. Are there more extreme and less democratic Islamists in Turkey?
According to Olympic rules, yes.
According to hidebound Islamic rules, no.
I just wanted to note that I saw two different Muslim women today swimming in Bodykinis, which are similar to the items Scarlett linked to above, but from a different company:
I have to admit that they looked relatively comfortable. Accordding to the website, they’re about $140 each.
You couldn’t swim competitively in one, of course, but anyone who used one probably wouldn’t have a problem with the competitive Speedo suits, either. It’s not as if the Bodykini is doing an awful lot to disguise the body shape.
Here are video spots:
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1029044/the_bodykini_modest_swimwear/
I know this isn’t GD so I know I’ll get my peepee whacked for it, but…
I looked all over that site, but I can’t find the baby bump packed with C4 plus detonator option!! 
That was in really poor taste, Hail Ants, and also extremely not funny. :mad:
Yeah yeah, I know. Sorry.
But when I read a masthead like, “Dynamic Swimwear & Sportswear for Today’s Muslim Female” it just strikes me as oxymoronic, in a funny/tragic way. Its the ‘Muslim Female’ line. Not woman, female! Its like something out of an alt-history novel:
“WiFi ID Tags for Today’s Active Slaveowner!” or “Ciga-Littles! The Cigarette with the Smooth Bubblegum Flavor!”
(and it was a little funny!)
Well, either that or maybe English might not be their first language.
Anyway, chances are when you go to the pool you don’t notice a good chunk of the Muslim women because they are dressed just like everybody else. And the most covered-up swimming women I have ever seen was at an Indian waterpark (where surely a good chunk were Hindu) where everyone wore lycra leggings and a large lycra tee shirt.
Yeah, my Muslim (Dagestani) ex-boyfriend came to visit me in the U.S. while we were dating. It was summer, and back then I used to go play soccer in the park with a bunch of (mostly male) friends a couple of times a week. I had a very difficult time convincing him that it was perfectly fine for him to wear shorts, not just in the park playing soccer, but even on the way to the park.
Even when I told him to look around on the street so he could see that practically everyone was wearing shorts, he was rather uncomfortable with the whole thing. And he wasn’t exactly what you might call super-observant (drank alcohol, ate pork, had a Jewish girlfriend, etc.)
Here’s a fun link to modest swimwear for the Christian woman.
oh good heavens! those look like the old gym class wear of yore. circa the 40’s and 50’s.
Actually, they look to me like the original swimwear women wore when recreational swimming first became popular around the turn of the century. Minus the candy striped stockings (and the burka headdress the muslim ones include).
Apparently, they were not only made of thick fabric (that wouldn’t turn transparent when wet) but they also sometimes included weights to keep the waves from flipping them up and exposing too much (ankle, I guess!)
Yikes! Has anybody seen one of those swimsuits being worn on the beach?
The old suits were certainly thick but I’m sure I remember reading in someone’s memoires that as soon as they got wet they stretched and clung - either outlining all sorts of bits of the anatomy or half falling off :dubious:
I remember in the movie Her Majesty Mrs. Brown, the late-middle-aged Queen Victoria going swimming in multilayered dress, for modesty’s sake. I’d be afraid I’d drown if I had to go swimming with that much sodden material dragging me down.
All of the Muslim-oriented swimwear for which links have been provided above look like they would become more or less form-fitting once wet, which would defeat the purpose, I would think.