In many places in the world, day-to-day survival takes precedent over all other activities and swimming is just another non-essential activity that gets very little thought. Yet, in places where swimming pools are abundant, the suggestion that swimming should be made available to all is not unreasonable. On the surface, France is one of those places where everyone should have access to swimming. While the pools, beaches and lakes may be plentiful there, the etiquette around swimwear in some locations restricts swimmers to a narrow range of choices and some pools have banned swimming in a one-piece suit which covers the arms and legs even when these swimsuits have been specifically designed for swimming.

This is the case in Grenoble, France where the Alliance Citoyenne group has held regular protests at two pools in the city as seen in the photo. At my local pool in Leeds, UK different types of one-piece swimwear is frequently worn and no one even bats an eyelid. I certainly do not feel in anyway threatened by this practice. Recently, in Liverpool I went ‘wild swimming’ at the city docks in 12 degree water and many of the swimmers there were in wetsuits. So, why is there a problem with swimming in a suit that covers most of the body? For one, the name often given to this type of suit (‘Burkini’) reveals an association that some objectors make to Islam and their grievances about this religion are then projected onto the group of women who wish to swim in a one-piece swimsuit. Moreover, the suit itself has also become the locus for contested debates around areas such as secularism, gender, immigration and ideas of ‘Frenchness’. While this blog will not debate these topics here, it is suffice to say that ASw supports the right of everyone to have access to swimming facilities and that swimmers should not be excluded on the basis of wanting to wear one-piece swimwear. In 2021 when most pools and swimming locations are populated by different people wearing different types of swimwear, banning women who want to wear more modest swimwear seems very shortsighted. More about the Alliance Citoyenne group can be found in the Friends & Links page.