|
Akmal, I am horrified by your intention to impose more moral regulations on us as soon as you are democratically able. Stripping off at the beach is a right to which all Australians are born. I would go so far as to say it is actually a social obligation. Getting our gear off at the beach is an act of trust: we are all vulnerable to either ridicule (let's face it, most people have crap bodies) or unwanted attention in the case of the more attractive. The fact that we all accept each other's bodies, beautiful or not, largely without smirk or harassment means that the trust is validated. On this basis, mutual respect and community thrives as much at the beach as anywhere in Australian society. We're all equal at the beach. The system gets screwed up when a woman covers up merely to hide her body from everyone else. They're not vulnerable, but everyone else is. It communicates a lack of trust in the rest of us and lack of interest in complying with our norms, not to mention implying that everyone else is being immoral. So, every burkha which appears at the beach damages one of the most successful elements of our society and blackens the name of Islam quite unnecessarily.
|