I found this on another board which also discussed the recent attempt by France's Sarkozy to ban the burka. I really liked this post and wanted to share it:
From my experience I would suggest that women who wear bikinis are the bravest women in the world. And I would suggest that only those men who support their right to freedom of speech, self expression, equal rights are equal in status to be called brave. Any other man or woman is a coward.
Just yesterday, as I sat in my car at a red light, I watched a woman in her late 60's to early 70's cross from one side of the street to the other, heading to the beach. She sported not just sunglasses and a visor, she wore a white floral bikini top and a matching skirted bottom. She had not just a beach chair in tow, but her husband. She walked with purpose to the sandy shores. So did he. She walked tall, elegant, carrying her beach chair. She was bold and beautiful. Her skin, lathered with lotion, caught the sunshine and glistened. Her wrinkles bespoke the wisdom that comes with age. I am beautiful, I am free. So was he. He dares to go, where fundamentalist fear, his hands bound carrying his beach chair. I will dare to suggest that he was obviously mindful of not just the beauty that walked in front of him, but of his own inner strength of character, wisdom, freedom, power, and yes, beauty.
When I go to the beach I notice that women in bikinis come in all shapes, sizes, ages, and races, refusing to be ashamed of their bodies, or their very essence of being. Even pregnant women sport bikinis today; they too refuse to be ashamed. Women in bikinis, and one piece bathing suits stake their claim on the beach and at the pool sides, the battle scars of life revealed, and dare to proclaim I am beautiful, I am free, I am wise, I am powerful, and yes, I too have strength of character.
Perhaps this is what upsets fundamentals so much; the bikini is a bold in your face statement against religious tyranny.
It has become as well, and is ever growing, a bold in your face statement against secular mankind’s obsession with youth, false beauty, and tyrannical compulsions of perfection.
Young women and men are often confused as to what exactly is beauty, but the men and women of the generation before them speak loud and clear when they refuse to cave in to religious tyranny of any ilk.