'Whatever Our Choice Is': Debate Over Bikini vs Burkini Urges Egyptian Women to Protest Social Contradictions

Weeks after Egyptian women started an online campaign encouraging each other to report every incident of sexual harassment, a campaign that received heavy attacks from voices who blamed harassment on "women's revealing clothes," they took to social media again, but to protest the social pressure placed on women who chose to wear the "Burkini," a swimwear that covers most body parts.

The conversation over Burkinis was triggered by several incidents that were filmed and posted online, where individuals disapproving of the beachwear worn by Hijabi women attacked their outfits and said that "it hurts their eyes to see it."

Other comments expressing dissatisfaction over the Burkini associated it with underprivileged social classes and said that it shouldn't be allowed in 5-star hotels and resorts in the country, calling it "disgusting" and "low-class."

In response to these attacks, many Egyptian women demanded that "women's choices of clothes in pools be respected regardless of others' opinions, as long as it's water-proof."

Some commentators took the chance to point at the striking social paradoxes; blaming sexual misconduct on women's clothes while "rejecting their choices to cover-up" and demanded that society stops interfering in what women choose to wear, "whether they choose to take off or put on more clothes."

Social media comments also highlighted the classist perspective of voices that attacked Burkinis, questioning their reactions if the first lady of Egypt, who is a Hijabi, choose to wear to it.