I went to an outdoor pool yesterday and the sun-bathing culture is quite funny. There are customs of how to dress, customs of how to move. The women wore bikinis, as this was the custom, but it was clear they would be just as comfortable naked if that was the custom. The women clearly liked to show off their bodies, but at the same time it seemed to me they would be almost as comfortable wearing burkas. Yes, they would be hot, but even sadder than wearing burkas is sun-tanning. These women were lying being baked by the sun and for what? For being tanned as is supposedly considered sexy? If burkas would be considered sexy they would be happy wearing them.

They also enjoy the lying in the sun. The heat. But it is so much more custom. So much more that women are supposed to look tanned. They won't just wear a burka, they'll wear a tan which causes cancer.
The comparison with the burka might seem strange as while the burka is a symbol of women's submission the tan was historically a symbol of their liberation. Still, they are very similar as at the end people act by customs, and the subjugation to how one "should look" effects their lives, whether by force or by choice - and the ones made by choice are not less severe.

Quite right, Mike. There are dress codes everywhere and suitable outfits for every activity : 

People doing a certain activity, also enjoy being well dressed in it.


As for the bikini –“getting tanned by the swimming pool” activity, it might seem like a strange and laid back one, but it requires a lot of backstage work to keep a fitting body for a bikini in today’s esthetical standards, and sure, the girls enjoy showing off what they’ve been working on for a long time and had to hide during the winter. They know that there will always be a public to admire them, people around the swimming pool are usually divided into two categories –the ones that enjoy looking and the ones that enjoy being looked at. Isn’t that just the natural order of things?