It's the men holding hands that I have a problem with! Hope no one drops the soap!
there's really nothing in the Qur'an which demands that women be dressed this way in Islam: it's the men who wish to continue to control their women. of course modesty is another issue altogether.

"drops the soap"

Now that one hadn't cross my mind yet. I was too slightly irritated with seeing the men exclude the women while they have all the fun...alone. And yes, I did notice the holding hands bit too, odd.

This is such a boys' club that you can't believe it and they use religion as a rule to enforce their behavior. When I was in the Mideast, I wasn't allowed to go to the parties unless I sat with the women. You would be surprised at how smart the women really are and how much they know is happening, but they also know that to fight against the system is pointless. Women get locked up for life and worse when they speak out. Read Benazir Bhutto's book and become a supporter.

These women not having simple freedoms disturbs me. And the law in some of these countries are just insane.

Well, you can now buy "modest swimwear".....how would you like to wear this get up to the beach??
http://www.modestkini.com/?m=r&cat=11

It might be modest, but you would have a hard time getting a decent tan in one of those.

I see certain women here in Maine wear the full gear when swimming.

The real issue is that with Americans, presumably, their garb is a matter of their own choice rather than someone else's. More often than not in Islam, this garb is enforced by the males of the family. According to them, a woman being immodest (wearing western garb or adopting western customs in public) shames her family. Thus she deserves to be killed for violating this principle.
I simply object to women being treated as chattel. To me this is little different from imprisonment and it begins with their minds at an early age.

They should be free to wear whatever they want at anytime, as long as it's decent in public.