Syria issued a conservative new dress code Tuesday requiring women to wear burkinis or full-body swimwear on all public beaches, the latest cultural shift since Islamist-led rebels toppled dictator Bashar al-Assad’s regime last December.
The Tourism Ministry said the new guidelines were made in “the requirements of public interest.”
“Visitors to public beaches and pools, whether tourists or locals, are required to wear appropriate swimwear that takes into account public taste and the sensibilities of various segments of society,” Tourism Minister Mazen al-Salhani said in a directive posted to Facebook.
Not good because no one should tell wear anyone what to wear or what not to wear. Let’s not forget the obsession of conservatives and even liberals with banning hijabs and niqabs in the western world under the guise of "liberating“ women. I find it ridiculous that the whole world seems obsessed with telling women how to dress.
Anyway, this is definitely a hint at the society they imagine and I don’t think it’s a good direction. On the other hand I think westerners don’t understand the Middle East either.
The Middle East is very much class divided and the upper class wouldn’t go to public beaches anyway, while middle class and below is usually very conservative, no matter which religion or even if not religious.
That’s why even without this ban you wouldn’t really see women in a bikini on public beaches because that’s not the culture. You can find it good or bad but that’s how the culture is. Even in Tunisia which people love mentioning it’s not a common thing.
If you go to hotels it’s gonna be different because that’s where all the rich locals will go to be on their own and usually they have a more “western” lifestyle. To illustrate, not even in hotels in Saudi Arabia would they enforce such a dress code (we’re talking about luxury hotels here) because money talks.
I don’t labor under the belief that anyone operating in an area that fraught with fundamentalist religious groups controlling all key functions of society actually KNOW what their own culture is. If half your population can’t speak freely, you don’t have an accurate view of your people’s beliefs.
Yeah I mean that’s definitely true but I think it’s also very western centric to assume that everyone will automatically start stripping naked just because they can. I certainly don’t even though I absolutely can, and I don’t wanna take it away from anyone. It’s just not what I wanna do.
Yeah I’d agree with the idea that a society historically repressed would slingshot to nude beaches right away. I just wouldn’t make commentary on how likely a populace of oppressed people might seek freedoms and make the same mistake of assuming what their culture is when neither of us has heard what the people of said country wants.
I mean I’m from the Middle East just fucked off from there a while ago
And my neighbors are rural Trumpers. I still don’t grasp what the hell it is they’re after.
Big data, plot points from individuals, statistical regressions. That’s what you need to make those claims. If not, it’s personal anecdotes, personal anecdotes from someone who lived in the geographical region, yes, but just anecdotes.
Fair enough, I don’t think you understand how different middle eastern societies are though from your individualistic American society. It’s normal to have 10 siblings and literally 100s of cousins and uncles/aunts. It’s normal to have family spread across the entire Middle East, the entire world actually. Our diaspora communities are huge, we have friends from all kinds of places and we talk a lot. In the end all I can offer you is a perspective, take it or leave it and most importantly enjoy your day!