Banning beachwear is not the answer

French towns are banning the burkini from their beaches, and it makes no sense.

For anyone who hasn’t heard, this item of clothing is beachwear that follows Muslim tradition and preserves modesty, and is worn by a tiny minority of women who practise the religion. It’s a bit like a Victorian-style full-body bathing costume, except without the jaunty stripes and accompanying monocle.

The thinking, in France at least, is that the ban emphasises their society’s secular nature, discouraging people from wearing religious attire in a country under enormous pressure from immigration and terrorism.

Whether you agree with that or not – and I don’t – the measure is utterly bonkers. If you wear a burkini in at least five towns, you can be fined, and fines of 36 euros each against several women were upheld by a court last week.

However, if you wear a bikini, perhaps one of those string-and-postage-stamps affairs that expose pretty much everything that an anatomy professor would need to complete an educational diagram, that’s totally fine. Presumably, if you wear all your clothes, that’s fine, too. Full Highland dress? Yeah, you can swim. Full Batman costume? Have a nice day. Burkini that closely resembles a diver’s outfit? Nope. Here come the gendarmes.

The arguments about the move – like the French ban on face coverings that’s been in place since 2011 – are flying back and forth, with some saying Muslim garb limits a woman’s rights. But, and I feel this is a better argument, fining women for choosing to wear modest clothing limits their rights even more. It’s sexist and racist and achieves nothing.

France, of course, is having a dreadful time. Its citizens feel under siege, not least because of the Bastille Day horror that killed 85 people. There is a feeling that something must be done and, in these situations, it is right to limit civil liberties to serve the greater good.

But pick the right measures. Yes, control immigration, grant enhanced police powers or watch people more closely. But controlling women’s fashion by banning beachwear? It’s a French farce.