That’s fair.
Woke started out as an encouragement to oppressed people to be aware of injustice.
The problems arose when non-oppressed people adopted it as a tool of political analysis.
I suppose the question is what is the difference between being civilised and being woke?
Far too bodycon! 
Burkinis are just swathes of lycra which sticks to you and no good for swimming.
I swam in the sea at Alexandria about 40 years ago and it was extraordinary, I in my modest one-piece boring training Speedo was a shameless slut while local women who just got into the sea wearing long dresses made of thin cotton might as well have been completely naked when they emerged from the water but they were ok.
Luckily I was with a rowing blue and she terrified the creepy local men by virtue of her hugeness and muscles and I scuttled along in her wake saying rude things in Arabic.
We may need to consider that in many cases it is a Muslim woman’s choice and symbolises her declared piety.
We ought not conflate wearing a veil or chador with the punitive treatments meted out to women in some Islamic countries.
Egyptian women can be both pious and empowered
There may be many aspects for women in the Muslim world with which we disagree from our western perspective, but we should not assume we know best nor that our views are indeed welcome. Without allowing Muslim women to make their own choice, are we not then just adding our own diktats on how they should dress and behave, as we accuse their menfolk of doing?
I agree that in France the country may impose its own rules on who wears what, or does not. All are free to accept the country’s rules or leave. In Europe, given the power of numbers, closing that barn door may well be too late.
I was thinking more of swathes of gathered white linen. One may emerge from the surf looking like bundled laundry but hey ho.
Possibly this, currently available on Etsy
And, for the gentleman
Very frequently it is instrumentalised. When I first lived in Cairo the only hijab-wearing people were old ladies from the country, and the same went for Damascus. The rise of Wahhabism and the Ikhwān changed that. My pupils are often leant on to wear hijab in order to prove parental (not personal) piety, or because it is a good way of annoying people. Boushra Almutawakel who is a Yemeni photographer has an interesting take on degrees of covering up and is eloquent on the difference between tribal and religious requirements.
Married Women in Orthodox Jewry wear wigs when outside the home so that only their husbands can see their hair.
This is all the appalling naming women as tempters of men, who can’t control their own raging hormones!
I’m surprised 
by all the women in this thread who would vociferously argue for the right of women to say “My body, my choice” on any topic except those they personally disapprove of or don’t understand.
And how do you know what we personally disapprove of and, even more, what you suspect we do not understand?
Exhibit A, my Lady!
Very true, and sad to see as a male who has always championed the cause of complete equality. Until some years ago I used to listen every day to Woman’s Hour on my radio in cab and car, as well as at home, because it was a good magazine programme albeit from a feminine point of view. But I later detected an increasing misandry in its treatment of various subjects and gave up on it. It is better since Jennie Murray left but I only hear it in passing these days.
So often the goal also seems to be to pretend there is no difference between men and women, as well as declaring women to be superior. The idea of equal rights and equal worth seems to have been lost.
“Once someone has gotten accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression.” - Some clever person who isn’t me.
I’d be very interested to know how much contact and discussion about these topics any of you have on a regular basis with Muslim teenagers of both sexes (and possibly their older family members), and if you speak Arabic/Persian/etc, for example so you can speak to older people who don’t speak French. Or English.
I spend up to 10 hours a day with the aforementioned teenagers, and hijab and the double standard comes up all the time in private conversation with the girls who also complain about the ever increasing level of restriction and scrutiny they are subjected to in school by some radicalised male classmates and outside by family or friends of their parents, to the point where higher education is restricted. But they feel they can’t do anything about it because the repercussions are too awful.
Edited to add that I’m not claiming to be an expert in the sociology of hijab-wearing among Muslim girls and women in France but pointing out I’m in contact with the grassroots rather more than some of you. And I’m an Arabist.
Never one to defend Abbott but, to the victim, is there a geat difference between prejudice and racism? Everyone will answer that differently, a lot of the time based on personal circumstance, experience and perception. That’s all she did. Starmer is pandering to a powerful lobby.
I wonder if there is also a cultural shift going on, differently in different countries too. A Lebanese Palestinian friend about 40 years old has discussed with (mutual) female friends that she feels naked without headscarf. She makes much effort with her hair even though only immediate family will ever see it. A much younger work colleague and scientist wears a robe as well as scarf, despite conventional jeans and jumpers underneath, and seems very comfortable in her practice of her culture. If there is oppression then it’s being carefully hidden, and not just from me as a man.
France has made much of head coverings while most British really don’t care. I could imagine different cultural factors becoming friction points for the Muslims in different nations. There might also be pushback against the local culture, that makes women want to keep wearing these clothes as part of their culture and identity.
Keep your head covered but go belly dancing?
If this is happening in laicised France, does anyone know what is really going on in UK?
A law was recently passed to stop young girls taken to Bangladesh, Pakistan and India in th e school holidays and forced into unwanted marriages.
Look at how the young people in Iran are making a stand against the intolerance of rigid Islamic government.
Within the white population of UK tge incidence of violence against women is appalling and we are only just now beginning to understand how the forces of law and order have been ignoring the desperate appeals of women for help,
And men, but it doesn’t hit the headlines. Alcoholism and violence is no respecter of gender.
But the only reason (FFS) it is an issue is because the racist, misogynist recipient of multimillion Government contracts is a major donor, This is corruption at the highest level.