France once championed the liberation of women’s bodies. The first catwalk to show a woman’s navel was at Molitor’s swimming pool in 1946, where a tiny two-piece bathing suit was presented. It was a scandal. No model wanted to show it off and the designer Louis Réard had to hire a stripper, who did not mince words in his comments and said that showing the woman’s body in this way was like dropping an atomic bomb on Bikini Atoll, where nuclear tests were scheduled.
He was right. The piece was not immediately popular and caused the reaction of Catholic countries, which banned it. The navel generated a reaction similar to that of the nipples now.
Brigitte Bardot’s exposed breasts in the 1960s and 1970s encouraged many French and European women to wear bikinis or even take off their tops and show off their bare torsos. It was the time of free love and female empowerment. Uncomplicated body on beaches, swimming pools, parks.
But toplessness no longer has the symbolic meaning it once had, when some women saw it as a way to remind men that their bodies and sexuality belonged to them. If in the eighties 43% of French women younger than 50 showed their breasts, today only 16% show them.
The survey by the French public institute IFOP, published two years ago, in 2021, reveals that, globally, only four out of ten French women have ever tanned topless in a place exposed to the gaze of strangers, and only 12% have done so in the last three years. Those who answer in the affirmative also hold their bodies in great esteem, and consider their breasts to correspond to the dominant beauty canons. Or they have a higher social and cultural level than the rest, with a higher proportion of women in managerial positions. According to the study, this has to do with holiday destinations. More affluent women sunbathe in places away from urban and frequented beaches, with more working girls, and can reach deserted and exotic beaches.
In fact, topless bathers on frequented public beaches reach 19% (less than in 2019), while on deserted beaches it is 33%. Not all expose their breasts equally. 37% show them upside down; 28%, on the back, and only 17% in the two positions.
The main reason cited by all French women for covering up is related to health (53% mention the risk to the skin), but young women under the age of 25 explain it mainly in terms of safety and social pressure. In particular, half fear suffering lewd looks from men, approaches, assaults or being an easy target for exploited photographers.
Regarding the appreciation of her body, one in two prefers not to risk hearing derogatory comments. Although it’s not the breasts that worry them the most (25%), but the belly (35%), it’s revealed that women whose bodies conform to today’s beauty canons show more than the rest .
And, specifically, those who are “very satisfied” with their breasts (18%) or who wear breast implants (33%). And more those who wear C cup bras than those who have other sizes.
