Is topless sunbathing over? It certainly is in France, according to French Elle, if the coverline on its new summer issue is to be believed: "La Fin Du Topless Sur La Plage?" – which translates, verbatim, to "Is this the end of toplessness on the beach?"


Ever since Brigitte Bardot took off her top on the French Riviera in the 1960s, the correlation between topless sunbathing and women's liberation has been entrenched in French culture as a sign of true equality. Many others followed suit and the breast and beach were reclaimed. News that so few women are now going topless (just 2% of women under 35 said they did) seems extraordinary – and depressing.


"Globalisation and Americanisation of women's portrayal and sexiness in France has pushed away gentle (and generally harmless) French eroticism towards porno, frontal, hyper-sexualised consciousness," she says. "Nudist, beach-like freedom is not what it used to be ... breasts no longer feel innocent or temporarily asexual."...

Though probably universal, this attitude towards topless sunbathing has had the biggest impact in France. ..."

But: "It is still the norm in Germany, according to one recent survey, which suggests almost a third of Germans and Austrians sunbathe naked. A straw poll in the UK also suggests it's equally de rigueur: one in six women we asked said they have or would sunbathe topless: "I don't think about skin cancer or being photographed or activism when I go topless," says Jess, 32 of north-west London. "I just want an all-over tan."....."
(50 percent rule is observed)
[link to www.theguardian.com]