PSA: Boracay Island may soon ban “extremely skimpy” swimsuits and public nudity on their beaches.
Coun. Maylyn Aguirre-Graf of the Malay municipal council in Aklan province told Inquirer.net that they’re mulling over the said ban. “We will be discussing possible measures but among those is to amend existing ordinances or pass a new one.”
The discussion after a Taiwanese woman was arrested and fined P2,500 for wearing a thong bikini in Boracay. According to the “Daily Mail,” police tracked her down in her hotel after seeing her photos online. Malay police chief Jess Baylon told “Inquirer,” “Several residents and tourists took photos of her on Wednesday and Thursday because of what she was wearing. It was literally a string. In our conservative culture, it is unacceptable.”
There are currently no ordinances in Boracay regarding what kind of swimwear one should wear at the beach. But authorities still fined the Taiwanese woman based on a provision of an ordinance that prohibits taking of lewd photographs.
“We want Boracay to be a family-oriented tourist destination. This is also why we stopped beach parties,” said Natividad Bernardino, general manager of the Boracay Interagency Rehabilitation Management Group.
The ban on public nudity is understandable—although in an ideal world, we should celebrate all bodies and let people go nude if they want to. But prohibiting skimpy swimwear based on the obvious slut-shaming of a female tourist is both tricky and sexist.
How do you define a skimpy swimsuit? What may look skimpy to one person may not be the same to another, especially how swimwear can look different on everyone. If the ban is passed, women will be policed and shamed for what they wear on the beach. It places the blame on the women not to wear anything “indecent,” else someone might think malicious thoughts.
Plus, you’d never see an incident where a man is arrested and fined for wearing a Speedo at a beach. That’s considered skimpy in society’s standards, right?
Boracay may be doing its best to rehabilitate its image, but it shouldn’t be at the expense of their tourists who are simply vacationing in their chosen swimsuits.
Photo courtesy of Unsplash
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