Anne Hathaway’s decision to wear a full body swim suit in St Tropez has sparked debate [Getty]
New photos of American actress Anne Hathaway wearing a full-body wetsuit in the coastal town of Saint-Tropez on the French Riviera have sparked comment and debate over the double standards which Muslim women have to endure when they wear similar clothing in France.
The Oscar-winning actress, who announced her third pregnancy earlier this month, has been sporting many looks on her holiday with her husband.
However, it was her long-sleeved, full-length tie-dye patterned wet suit that caught the attention of many, who compared it to modest swimwear that many Muslim women choose to wear.
Many commentators took to social media to decry “double standards”, with Hathaway’s choice of dress at the beach accepted and praised while Muslim women who wear the hijab and full-coverage swimwear are often turned away from public pools and beaches.
Author Nadeine Asbali told The New Arab that there is a clear difference between how celebrities are treated compared to the systematic discrimination Muslim women face for wearing the same garments.
“When we make autonomous decisions about the clothing we wear, we are cast as oppressed victims in need of saving. When non-Muslim (often white) women make the same decisions about their bodies, they are commended as being forward-thinking, edgy and admirable. In the case of Anne Hathaway, she has been celebrated for protecting her pregnant body from the sun, whereas Muslim women in burkinis are routinely banned from public places and considered overly conservative or even anti-feminists. This all comes down to the way non-Muslim women are extended a level of humanity that means their decisions are considered truly their own, whereas Muslim women are perpetual victims to be liberated by white, mainstream feminism,” she said.
“I’ve been in France for almost four years. I was told I couldn’t enter a public pool with my daughter because of my hijab and modest swimwear. I took her home. And then I had to explain to her why we had to leave. Why did the other children get to stay? Why did the rule exist at all? I still don’t know if I found the right words. I’m not sure there are right words for that,” writer and publisher Boutina Azzabi told The New Arab.
“I’m lucky that I can cross borders. We’ve swum in rivers, in the sea, in pools in other countries where nobody looked twice. Just a mother and her daughter in the water. Many women don’t have that option. They live in central France, far from any border, far from anywhere the rules are different,” she continued.
According to Azzabi, the policing of swimwear has nothing to do with hygiene or sun protection, but rather is a direct attack on visible displays of Islam.
“France calls this secularism. But the secularism applied to Muslim women isn’t neutrality toward religion. It’s discomfort with the visibility of Islam specifically. You are welcome, the message goes, as long as you don’t make your faith too visible. As long as you look free in the way we’ve decided freedom looks. And it’s not only states that send that message. It’s hotel managers in Marrakech. Pool attendants in London. Restaurant owners who seat you and then make you feel, for the rest of the meal, that you’ve done something wrong by being there,” she said.
Researcher Rayan Freschi also told The New Arab that the ban on Islamic practices is a manifestation of France’s war against Islam and Muslims.
“Regarded as an internal threat to civilisation, the entire French political spectrum supports the criminalisation of Islam to varying degrees. Since the beginning of the War on Terror, a repressive consensus has emerged around prayer, the hijab, and political aspirations. It is this consensus that explains the lack of domestic coverage of this affair,” he said.
Some said that while Hathaway may have worn the wetsuit for protection from the sun, the reason behind the choice was irrelevant, and that Muslim women should not be penalised or excluded for making similar clothing choices.
Sarah Fraincart, a prominent French-Moroccan rower and politician, also weighed in on the subject.
“No one would think to kick Anne Hathaway off the beach for this swimsuit cover-up. But a Muslim woman in the same outfit is a national controversy. For one, it’s a responsible, stylish choice. For the other, it’s oppression,” she wrote in an Instagram post.
Fraincart also said Laurent Wauquiez, a French member of parliament, was “wretched” after he praised effectively banning the burkini (modest swimwear) in municipal swimming pools in Grenoble.
“I congratulate myself on this new victory. All subsidies to the city of Grenoble have been cut, which had authorised the wearing of the burkini in its municipal swimming pools. Once again, on this issue, justice has ruled in our favour! We we’re right to not back down,” the MP wrote on X on Thursday.
France banned the hijab from public schools in March 2004, while prayers are prohibited in French educational spaces. Many Muslim women who wear the hijab in France also face challenges when it comes to finding employment.
Last year, Amnesty International said France’s hijab ban in all sports would violate human rights and unfairly target Muslim women.
“Laïcité”, or “secularism”, which is theoretically embedded in the French constitution to protect everyone’s religious freedom, has often been used as a pretext to block Muslim women’s access to public spaces in France,” the rights group said in a report.
“Over several years, the French authorities have enacted laws and policies to regulate Muslim women’s and girls’ clothing in discriminatory ways. Sport federations have followed suit, imposing hijab bans in several sports,” the Amnesty report added.
