Women will be allowed to swim topless in public swimming pools in Berlin
Is this something that is valid and fair, giving women the option to swim freely, or an opportunity for perverts?
Swimming with bathing suits has always been a socially conformed practice.
In other words, the expectation (and legality) has always been that everyone wears one when swimming in public.
And those that don't follow this lawful way of swimming, would be deemed as committing public indecency.
In South Africa, "public nudity is prohibited and it is seen by law as 'indecent exposure'." (KZNNA)
However, that is not to say that you cannot be nude in the privacy of your own home as well as your private backyard.
But it's the use of the word private that gets you thinking. How private is private when it comes to infringing on this law? One country that is turning the concept on its head is Berlin.
After two women were told to cover up for sunbathing topless, one woman was actually thrown out of an open-air pool and then decided to take legal action.
"Authorities agreed they had been victims of discrimination and said that all visitors to Berlin's pools were now entitled to go topless." (BBC)
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Many people are excited about the decision as it supports something called, Freikörperkultur, which means 'free body culture'.
"Foreign visitors to Germany are often surprised - and sometimes downright disconcerted - by the sight of naked Germans frolicking in its lakes, snoring in its parks, or sweating in its saunas. But this is a country which considers public nudity in some settings to be both appropriate and healthy." (BBC)
So, the rule says that every visitor is entitled to swim topless, regardless of gender.
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