France: Girl gets beaten up for immoral sunbathing...

[Anny Nym]

... and public answers with amazing twitter campaign and rally at park.

An attack on a woman in France because she wore a bikini in a public park has sparked outrage on social media.

The 21-year-old victim, who has been named as Angelique Sloss, was beaten up by a gang of reportedly Muslim young women – aged between 16 and 24 – when she was sunbathing with two friends.

Protesters wearing bikinis and swimsuits held a rally at the park, in the northern city of Reims, yesterday despite rain and cold winds.

Hundreds across France joined the campaign on Twitter, posting photos of themselves wearing swimsuits in public places.

Spectators have likened the campaign to the JeSuisCharlie Twitter campaign, following the Charlie Hebdo shootings in Paris in January.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... paign.html

(link not broken, because newspaper)

So what do you think about the whole case?

[Seren Ann]

According to this article by Le Monde (which is a well-established and dependable French newspaper) the attack was not caused by to religious opinions, simply a rude remark that "it isn't summer", the girl in the swimsuit took offence and it escalated from there. I agree, it is unacceptable to judge other people's clothing choices like that and to come to blows over it, but it seems the media were eager to see more into the attack than there really was, leading to strong reactions on social media. The rally in the park was apparently very small, with more journalists than protesters, and I feel rather sorry for them because I can confirm, the weather was very shitty, rain, cold winds...

http://www.lemonde.fr/police-justice/ar ... 53578.html

[MatthewDuggar]

Rather shocking.  

http://scallywagandvagabond.com/2015/07/angelique-sloss-french-woman-attacked-muslim-girl-gang-bikini/

 

[doggie]

http://www.snopes.com/muslim-bikini/

fake

[JermajestyDuggar]

That link is a year old. Do you have anything more recent about this? 

Also the title says girl gang and I think that's silly. Gang is a loaded word. They were a group of young Muslim girls starting shit with her for wearing a bikini. Yet I have seen non Muslim people do that here in the states. If these girls weren't Muslim, this wouldn't even be news. 

7 minutes ago, doggie said:

http://www.snopes.com/muslim-bikini/

fake

Basically what I thought. A girl fight. Big whoop. Nothing to do with religion.

[Mercer]

This story sounds a little off to me.

The victim was sunbathing with friends but was the only one attacked? That makes the motive seem a little more personal than just that she happened to be wearing a swimsuit in the park, particularly since the victim and the perpetrators were in the same age group.

I also don't see any indication in the article of why it is being assumed that this was the action of a "gang" in the sense that the word is usually understood. A group of girls walking around together are not necessarily a "gang." I'm not saying for sure they aren't, but that's a pretty specific allegation that really needs to be backed up with facts. 

Lastly... I work with teenagers, and to be blunt, young people can be really mean. I've heard countless comments by girls about other girls' bathing suits (and lack of coverage thereof) that had nothing to do with religion and everything to do with being catty and hurtful - and for this age group, body image is a really easy target. I'm not saying it couldn't have been religiously motivated, but the fact they criticized her swimsuit does not automatically mean it was.

Religiously based attacks do happen (just turn on the news!) but that doesn't mean every attack is based on religion. This one may turn out to be, but based on that article it seems like a lot is being assumed without much actually known.

 

ETA: The Snopes article is exactly what I was trying to get at, thanks!

[MatthewDuggar]

LOL, thanks!  I really didn't want to believe there were actually Muslim girl gangs....

[Clementine]

There are plenty of self proclaimed sharia police gangs controlling certain areas in Europe. And plenty of pious religious islamist women who love to bash women who don't dress in niqab and call us kuffars and whores. Before the security police started to monitor them, they were very open about it on social media.

The feminists in these areas are speaking up about it, demanding the same freedom as everybody else in the country, and wondering if the laws only apply to white people.

I haven't heard of this incident in France, but you don't have to look far to find both men and women who will bully or attack women who don't dress or behave according to their faith and traditions.

[Imagine20]

Interesting. I'm a Muslim and a feminist. And white. I know Muslims from all over the world. I've never heard any of them say anything about "Western" dress, either. They simply don't care. Even the niqabis I know don't care. 

I will say that I face much more discrimination from Americans and Europeans when I wear hijab. I'm bullied for my choice of religious attire.  Do you know how often my husband and I are called terrorists?  I'm a convert, and the change in the way I'm treated after deciding to cover shocked me.  

People can be bullies and attackers without religion having anything to do with it. You can be an atheist and attack people for their choice of religious dress and traditions. In the West, such religious choices are to be protected and valued, and it's a two way street. I should be able to wear what I want without comments just as much as any other person should. 

[Clementine]

6 hours ago, Imagine20 said:

II should be able to wear what I want without comments just as much as any other person should. 

I absolutely agree. There is an appaling double standard though. When a muslim woman was attacked because of her scarf, media exploded with articles about it, all the top politicians condemned it and it got the headlines for weeks ahead.

When muslim feminists wrote a debate article about how they want to have the same right as Swedish women (their words, not mine) and want to be able to wear shorter skirts, not cover their hair, be able to wear shorts when they are gardening, go out for a meal on their own or go dancing, something that religious men and women in the suburbs prevent them from doing, the politicians just ignored them and other feminists did their best to downplay their story.
Muslim women's right to live the way they want to is a big issue here right now. It's very unfortunate that our politicians and the media has allowed religious extremists to represent "the muslims" and gain control in certain areas.

[Iamhispurity]

I am not so sure, @Clementine.I know several muslim families were there are big differences in dress. For example one girl might dress pretty modest, but not wear a hijab, one wears a hijab and one dresses pretty fashionably and absolutely not super modest.

I have lived in towns with major muslim communities. Never have I been called out for my shorts or cleavage in these communities. There was never a problem with my dress. 

Loads of Muslims here are not even that religious. And even if they are, none of them has been in my face about it, like some Christians or Atheists here are.

In Germany, there are very little areas were Muslims are the majority. They are not a real issue. We have salafism here, yes. But those people are a really small, but vocal, minority. I know of no area were salafist or extremist have control, contrary to the propaganda the right wing movements are spouting. Most Muslims are intergrated really well and contribute a lot to German society.

I know lots of muslim women going to college, living on their own, chosing their own husbands. The people you talk about are a minority among Muslims in Europe. And it hurts me that hate speech about them seems to be so effective.

About the sharia police: there was an incident with one in a town I lived in. It happenend once, they never tried to do anything afterward and the whole community, Muslims included, was appalled by their try to police drinking. They tried that once and were prosecuted for it. It simply is not a major problem of any kind in Germany. Sadly right wing people try to make it look that way.

[Clementine]

I'm just repeating what the women who live in these areas are reporting. It doesn't really help them when other women, who don't live in the same areas and don't have the same problems, are trying to ignore what they are going through. Of course it is a minority I am talking about. But when the extreme minority are allowed to control an area, and get funds from the government, they become a problem for a lot of people.

The jews also have a difficult situation now. Many chose not to display anything that can identify them as jews and have to have security guards outside their schools, kindergardens and synagogues. Many jews are also forced to leave certain areas and now wonder if jews have a future in Sweden. That's also something that our politicians ignore.

[Seren Ann]

There was a thread about this back when it happened, but it didn't draw so much attention. I posted on there with the article I found clarifying the situation.