Topless is on the decline. With a simple observation on beaches and swimming pools in our area, it can be seen that the option of exposing breasts is in the minority. This was not always the case, as the older women in this report remember, who lived through the 1980s as uncomplicated young people. Now they cover up, for health or aesthetics, and are added to the younger girls who keep the two pieces of the swimsuit.
What is the reason for this change? Don’t you like tanning your skin like the old days without leaving marks in your swimsuit, getting rid of the discomfort of suspenders and feeling the pleasure of leaving your body in the open air? Some women practice topless without restrictions, although more on the beach than in the pool. Another part, the majority, think so. They say it depends on who they are with, which strangers they share space with, and also how they value where they are, whether it is a beach close to home or far away, and whether it is frequented or not.
Finally, there are also those who prefer to keep the two pieces of the bikini or switch to the entire swimsuit. The latter cite health, comfort or “body shame” reasons. In this last group there are older women over 50, who in their youth did practice topless.
For Malen (37 years old), born in the Basque Country, topless is exceptional. First by custom, since on the north coast it is not as common as on the south or the Mediterranean to see half-naked women. And even if he now lives in Barcelona, ??he has no longer incorporated this habit. Then, for health. “I think it’s a sensitive part of the body that needs to be taken care of and I prefer not to expose it to the sun.” It is the opposite of Zy (26), also Basque, who takes the sun as uncovered as possible to show off afterwards in clothes without a mark on her body.
“I’m not about to take anything off,” laughs Carme (59 years old), imitating with a hand gesture the consequences of the force of gravity. “My body can no longer be shown like it was years ago, I think you have to accept it before making a fool of yourself,” he adds.
There are also those who find the contrast of white on brown attractive, like Anna (55), who thinks about her partner. “I think it has an erotic point”.
“I used to do it when I was young, but I haven’t for years, it’s just that I’ve put on a lot of weight,” admits Montse (62). “I don’t need it either, I sunbathe naked on the terrace. Sometimes, if I go on a trip, because no one knows me… Other times, on the beach, in a quiet corner. But what’s more, almost no one my age takes off their bra on the beach anymore, much less in the pool, and to be the only one…”.
For Mònica (57), it is more comfortable to wear a garment to support her voluminous breasts. “If you don’t wear it you must always be thinking about the movements”.
Beatriz Gimeno, feminist researcher, explains that “old age, ugliness, fatness continue to have a great influence on women, and more so than in other eras”. First, because the feminine ideal of the perfect body is repeated in a thousand images on every screen. And second, because, supposedly, there are ways to achieve it (sport, diets, cosmetic surgery). If you’re not attractive, it’s because you haven’t put in enough effort, Gimeno quips. And this also applies to the new generations. Among young French women, women with C cup bras are the ones who go topless the most, by far compared to the rest.
“Constantly, and at different stages of life, we are at war with our bodies. When we’re young, when we grow up, when we’re old. Not feeling formidable makes us feel bad”, says Alba Alfageme, a psychologist specializing in sexual violence.
Most young girls do not have problems with the men around them. “But there are looks and looks. Some are very unpleasant”, affirms Marta (29 years old) with a grimace of disgust. She especially remembers the one of a guy in Greece who, moreover, thinks he photographed her. Her friend told her that yes, that she too thought he was a “pig”, but to let him be. Marta was left with the discomfort of not having sung the forty.
“You notice this, you know how to distinguish a simple look from another with a sexual meaning”, adds Mònica (also 29). “He’s telling you he wants to card you and that’s intimidating,” he adds. Therefore, caution. “I like to go topless, but it depends on where. Before I take off my top, I look to see if someone can make me feel bad,” confesses Patrícia (30 years old).
“I’ve sunbathed only in a thong three times, on fairly empty beaches,” says María (22). “However, there was one… Looking at my nipples. I don’t like it, I feel vulnerable, too exposed. And the fact that the bikini bothers me when I wear it tied at the nape of my neck and end up adjusting it to the shoulders, which doesn’t look so pretty.”
“It’s suffocating to be a woman”, Alfageme is indignant. “I should insist on the idea that they are not to blame for the excitement they generate.” On the other hand, he continues, topless bans in private swimming pools are justified by the “disturbance of coexistence” they allegedly cause by showing nipples. “Where does the responsibility lie? Is it the woman who generates the aggression? Why aren’t men asked what’s wrong with their tits?”.
Fortunately, there are also girls who are not affected by this. “I don’t care if they look or not. It’s their problem”, answers Alba (20). “I want to be brunette and I don’t think I’ll be looked at or photographed, the truth.” “Topless is more comfortable, it doesn’t leave a mark and it’s cheaper, I save the top part”, explains Clara (29) from Barcelona. “And if someone looks, I say: ‘What are you looking at?'”
The fear of someone recording or photographing their bodies also bothers them. This is what happened to Claudia (28) and her friends, some time ago. They didn’t realize they were being recorded (they were just sunbathing and swimming) and then a friend warned them that they were dating on a porn website. They reported it. This type of complaint is exceptional, according to the police.
Young people are very aware of the risk of images. “If we take a group photo, I cover myself with my arm. It’s not that I don’t trust my friends, but you never know how this photo will circulate”, says Mònica (29).
Interestingly, many young women are not worried at all about showing their bottoms. María, like many of the young women named here, wears a thong. “It has nothing to do! It’s just an ass. It wouldn’t make sense to wear a thong as underwear and then have to put on big swimming trunks.”
Rules are spreading across Europe to preserve women’s right to show their breasts. In France, on the beach of Sainte-Marie-la-Mer, the French Gendarmerie asked some young women to cover up due to the complaints of a family. And the Ministry of the Interior had to clarify the situation. Berlin swimming pools have been forced to allow topless swimming after a French resident sued them for being kicked out of one.
The Generalitat has also reminded town councils of the rights of women in municipal swimming pools. However, the presence of the same is diminishing, especially in small towns. “Sometimes there is only one woman and she is the teacher or the pharmacist. And he gives up. This has to do with how they build their reputation”, explains Alfageme, who admits, with sadness, the danger of this retreat with the values ??of the riding ultra-right. “The risk is that others say and decide about women’s bodies”, he points out.
