Choice of a trip

With the expectation of their success in
the early future, I strongly recommend those planning to travel to go to
Sweden. 

Topless Swedish bathers: 'They're just breasts'

Published: 12th November 2007 18:45 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/9078/

They're "just breasts"! This is the rallying cry of a network of
women who have launched a campaign for the right to bathe topless at
Sweden's swimming pools.

A new wave of feminists have been angered by an incident in September
in which two bare-breasted young women were called ashore by a
lifeguard at a swimming pool in Uppsala. When they refused to cover up,
they were asked to leave the premises.

Speaking to The Local, Ragnhild Karlsson , 22, explained the womens' motives for swimming without bikini tops.

"It's a question of equality. I think it's a problem that women are
sexualized in this way. If women are forced to wear a top, shouldn't
men also have to?"

Outraged by what they regarded as discrimination, a group of women in
southern Sweden made a show of solidarity by establishing the Bara
Bröst network. (The name translates both as 'Bare Breasts' and 'Just
Breasts'.)

"We want our breasts to be as 'normal' and desexualized as men's, so
that we too can pull off our shirts at football matches," spokeswomen
Astrid Hellroth och Liv Ambjörnsson told Ottar, a magazine published by
the Swedish Association for Sexuality Education.

In a preliminary action in the middle of last month, seven members of
the Bara Bröst network hopped into a pool in Malmö wearing only bikini
bottoms. Before long, they were whistled to the side and asked to leave.

Two weeks later, seven more women repeated the feat at Högevallsbadet
in Lund. After half an hour's discussion, the woman went back to the
dressing room before claiming a full refund at the cash desk.

A spokeswoman for the leisure complex in Uppsala articulated why the women were not allowed to bathe topless.

"Swimming pools generally require men to wear swimming trunks and women
to wear either bikinis or one piece swimsuits," Inger Grotteblad told
The Local.

"There are three reasons for this. First, there is a security aspect,
then there is a hygiene issue and finally there is what we call
'prevailing manners and customs'. It is above all this last point which
is important here," she added.

Sweden's Equal Opportunities Ombudsman is expected to decide later this
month whether or not to take up the case of the topless bathers.

"Our aim is to start a debate about the unwritten social and cultural
rules that sexualize and discriminate against the female body," said
Astrid Hellroth and Liv Ambjörnsson.

Paul O'Mahony (paul.omahony@thelocal.se/08 656 6513)

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http://www.thelocal.se/9078/20071112/