If You Ban the Burquini, You Should Ban All Swimwear

The story of a French pool prohibiting a Muslim women from wearing her burquini has gone viral on the Internet. The official in charge of the public pools in that region is quoted as saying:

"These clothes are used in public, so they can contain molecules, viruses, etc., which will go in the water and could be transmitted to other bathers. . . . We reminded this woman that one should not bathe all dressed, just as we would tell someone who is a nudist not to bathe all naked."

Not to mention that the fibers in the fabric could clog the pool filters. The unsanitary argument is a good one, but the nudist argument doesn't hold water.

The simple solution is to require nudity in public pools, but only after swimmers take a soap shower first. This is a posted policy at every nudist venue I've visited.

There's no way to know if anyone has bathed before getting into a public pool, and many people wear their bathing suits under their clothing. In addition, many people don't wash their suits on a regular basis, so who knows what sort of bacteria is thriving between the threads.

Not to mention the fact that the person wearing a wet bathing suit is at risk of getting a yeast infection.

In the 205 Arguments and Observations in Support of Naturism, the following is second on the list:

Bernard Rudofsky writes: "The custom of wearing a bathing suit, a desperate attempt to recapture some of our lost innocence, represents a graphic expression of white man's hypocrisy. For, obviously, the bathing suit is irrelevant to any activity in and under water. It neither keeps us dry or warm, nor is it an aid to swimming. If the purpose of bathing is to get wet, the bathing suit does not make us wetter. At best, it is a social dress, like the dinner jacket."

Putting on clothes to swim or sunbathe is a form of mass insanity, brought on by centuries of religious and cultural opression of the human body.

You want public pools to be sanitary and fair to all? Then nudity is the simple, natural solution.