So Sarkozy calls the burkini a 'provocation.' Whether women cover or uncover their bodies, seems we're always, always 'asking for it.'
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) August 25, 2016
J.K. Rowling is exceptionally good at Twitter. In a post-Harry Potter world, she’s becoming nearly as well known for her 140-character mic drops as her world-dominating Y.A. writing. Her latest tweet heard round the world came in response to France’s ridiculous Burkini ban.
“So [Former French President Nicolas] Sarkozy calls the burkini a ‘provocation,'” she wrote. “Whether women cover or uncover their bodies, seems we’re always, always ‘asking for it.'”
Rowling was referring to Sarkozy’s recent comments on burkini bans in coastal French towns. Several groups are currently battling the bans on full-body bathing suits that allow fundamentalist Muslim women to swim while holding true to their religious beliefs, but Sarkozy argued that burkinis are intentionally divisive.
“Wearing a burkini is a political act,” he said on August 24, “it’s militant, a provocation.”
Several people besides Rowling have pointed out the hypocrisy of calling a full-body covering provocative while leveling the same criticism at women who wear little clothing.
https://twitter.com/Alexis_Verger/status/768771512044322817
https://twitter.com/CyberWanderlust/status/768820284824649728
Rowling’s tweet has caught fire, being re-tweeted over 35 thousand times and favorited another 38 thousand times, but she’s far from the only person speaking out against the ban. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stepped up to once again prove that Canada is France’s cool little brother, stating that such a ban would never fly in The Great White North.
