Just as summer is ending, the story dominating the news is a seasonal one: the banning of the swimwear item known as the burkini. Bathing costumes have from time to time been controversial and indicative of more than simple tastes in fashion. Several readers of this magazine will remember a time, not so long ago, when a girl in a bikini could faced arrest for indecent exposure, if she ventured on to a beach in Malta. Back in the 1950s the bikini was considered obscene and, yes, unCatholic.
The bathing costume has also been a class indicator. Given that swimwear, flimsy as it is, is very expensive, the poor, not so long ago, could not afford them, and this is still the case in many countries today, where people swim in either any old pair of shorts, or nothing at all, if indeed they swim.
