They say a picture paints a thousand words.
This week France made headlines when armed police forced a woman to remove her swimwear (known as a burkini) on a beach in Nice.
This occurred because some areas in France recently made it illegal to wear this type of swimwear, associated with Muslim faith.
While the ban itself caused a lot of debate, the images which emerged on Wednesday caused an even bigger stir, with a huge number of people outraged at the unnecessary law.
You should be weeping, France. pic.twitter.com/Vn54GE4xlr
— Hend Amry (@LibyaLiberty) August 23, 2016
Many people took to social media to express their frustration toward the subject. But two images that are being shared across several platforms perfectly highlight the sad hypocrisy of the ban.
The first image, which was originally captioned in french, was shared two weeks ago, before the images of the woman on the beach emerged, and while it received attention at the time, it has become more popular since the Nice case.
The lottery of indecency – En anglais, merci @bitofkit pour la traduction ! pic.twitter.com/y1fYq5rGh5
— La sauvage jaune (@LaSauvageJaune) August 22, 2016
The image, created by Twitter user La sauvage jaune is a powerful statement about the censorship that women face regardless of how they dress. If women wear too much, it says that they are attaching themselves to a certain religion, which is offensive to some people. But if a women does not wear enough they are promoting their sexuality which will offend people too.
Between the French and English version of this image, it has been shared nearly 10 thousand times, with many people praising the artist for expressing the tragic accuracy of being a woman.
Another image, which emerged after the Nice incident highlights the ridiculous balance women must try to achieve in an effort not to offend anyone.
The #BurkiniBan – ‘C’est ridicule!’ © Amy Clancy (@AmyClancyUK) pic.twitter.com/yohgEJ6G2J
— Amy Clancy (@AmyClancyUK) August 24, 2016
Essentially it is saying that wearing a bikini is fine, even with a swim hat and wearing a wet suit is fine too, but covering your head and body has too strong a religious connotation for people to handle.
So get the balance right, or could be arrested.
While the ban unfortunately remains in place, it is great to see talented artists highlight the hypocrisy of it all in simple, yet powerful images like those above.
