# Swimming suits



## luis masci

I know this topic would look a bit inappropriate for most of you in the middle of the winter, but for us, living in the Southern hemisphere, it is summer right now.
This idea popped into my mind, while I was at the beach. I saw most of the men wearing loose shorts, though there were a few of them wearing tight ones (the type I saw a lot in the beaches in Southern Brazil). For women, two- piece suits (bikini) were worn by almost every girl and some adult women too. But although there was a big movement in recent years, against any prejudice about it, I realize I’ve never seen even one woman in topless on Argentinian beaches.
My question is then, how is it in your country or region? What do people wear to go to the beach?
The question is for any place of course, but I’m thinking especially in those countries out of the Western world.


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## alexacohen

Hello Luis,

It is a common sight in Spain. You may see women wearing two-pieces and one-piece swimsuits, and topless, on any beach. Even city beaches.
The men apparently wear the same kind of swimming clothes up here and down there.
Small kids, whether male or female, usually don't wear anything.

I have a faint recollection of a similar thread. But I can't find it.


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## ayupshiplad

As far as Western Europe goes as far as I can recall it's only really Spain where women tend to go topless...people elsewhere tend to be more modest  

I know you were asking about beaches, but another point is that in the UK you normally are not allowed to wear bikinis to swimming pools. I'm not entirely sure why, maybe it's considered 'inappropriate'?


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## Topsie

alexacohen said:


> Small kids, whether male or female, usually don't wear anything.


 
Well they should!  *HATS!* (even t-shirts in the hot sun!)


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## alexacohen

Topsie said:


> Well they should! *HATS!* (even t-shirts in the hot sun!)


 
All right, then.

In Spain you can find women without their bikini tops almost on every beach. 
The fact that they are half-naked doesn't mean that they don't wear sunglasses, flip-flops, caps or straw hats, wristwatches and even bracelets.
Small children may be naked, but most of them wear hats and/or t-shirts when the sun is really hot, even if they aren't wearing anything else.


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## sokol

ayupshiplad said:


> As far as Western Europe goes as far as I can recall it's only really Spain where women tend to go topless...people elsewhere tend to be more modest



I guess you don't travel to the beaches of Austria on a regular basis because it is rather common for women here in Austria not to wear the bikini top.
Well, the majority _will _wear the bikini top, but you will find topless female sunbathers on almost any beach here, and most likely in swimming pools too (though I can't be sure as it is a very rare occurence for me to visit a swimming pool).
It is even possible to buy only the bikini short in some stores, if I remember correctly (I didn't ever buy a bikini, be it with or without top, but I think a friend of mine told me so, some years ago).

Men, some decades ago, wore exclusively tight shorts but nowadays loose shorts are rather popular. Smaller children often are seen wearing nothing at all, but sometimes they too wear shorts and sometimes even bikinis.

Then of course there are nudist sections (called FKK here) which really are public beaches and not set apart from the 'rest of the world' but freely accessible to anyone (well, there's a warning painted on the road saying "FKK", but that's about it) - for example a stretch on the New Danube some 4 or 5 kilometres long which is not only frequented by nudists but also by people wearing clothes (hikers, fishermen, and there's even a heavily frequented bicycle path right through the nudist zone).
The nudists, by the way, don't care at all for people in clothes here in Vienna - or at least, I guess, unless someone would try to take photos.


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## ayupshiplad

sokol said:


> It is even possible to buy only the bikini short in some stores, if I remember correctly (I didn't ever buy a bikini, be it with or without top, but I think a friend of mine told me so, some years ago).


 
You can do that here too, but it's not so that people can go topless! It's for practical reasons, for example, if you need a size 14 bikini top but only a size 10 on bottoms.


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## Outsider

In Portugal, you occasionally see topless women in beaches, but it's not very common, outside the high season, in very touristic regions like the Algarve. My impression is that most women who go topless are foreign tourists (often with their boyfriends lying next to them). I've known of local women doing the same, but much more rarely, and usually in more secluded beaches. There are also a couple of nudist beaches, but of course that's a different situation.

There are no rules banning bikinis, that I know of. The truth is I'm not much of a beach-goer.


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## Hakro

alexacohen said:


> In Spain you can find women without their bikini tops almost on every beach.


Are they Spanish or tourists?

I haven't been on public beaches in Finland for decades, but I've been told that monikinis, topless bikinis, are not very rare there.

Recently I spent a two week's holiday in Thailand. Most of the customers in the area were Russian, and on the beach the Russian ladies, practically all of them, wore bikinis, regardless of the age or body shape. (The brochure of our hotel showed pictures of slim girls in bikinis; in reality there were no such beauties. I reclaimed my money but the hotel boss didn't agree.)


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## ayupshiplad

Outsider said:


> In Portugal, you occasionally see topless women in beaches, but it's not very common, outside the high season, in very touristic regions like the Algarve.


 
I saw no topless women on the beach in touristy Algarve in Summer, but I read once that in Portugal you do get topless people, they just happen to be Spanish!


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## Outsider

Actually, Scandinavians and Germans are the ones who are most likely to go topless (or so I understand). But some Portuguese women do it as well.

It's not something _terribly_ common. In a medium sized beach, you can expect to find _one_ woman or two going topless every now and then -- not dozens every day.


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## alexacohen

Hakro said:


> Are they Spanish or tourists?


Both, in fact. You can quickly distinguish who is the top-less Spanish woman and who is the tourist.

The deep pink one is a tourist.


> Originally posted by *ayupshiplad*
> I saw no topless women on the beach in touristy Algarve in Summer, but I read once that in Portugal you do get topless people, they just happen to be Spanish!


That may very well be, but the Algarve beaches are (or were last summer) full of top-less women.


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## Outsider

Well, there you have it, Ayupshiplad. I told you I'm not much of a beach goer, and anyway I don't go to the Algarve in the summer.


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## ayupshiplad

alexacohen said:


> Both, in fact. You can quickly distinguish who is the top-less Spanish woman and who is the tourist.
> 
> The deep pink one is a tourist.


 
But a Spaniard in Portugal is still a tourist!

Anyway, I stand corrected, just really bizarre that I can't remember any topless women in the Algarve


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## Kajjo

The German situation is very similar to the Austrian.

Women wear one-piece swimming-suits or bikinis. Younger women tend to prefer bikinis, older women usually prefer one-piece suits. Some younger women go topless on beaches, but almost never in indoor swimming pools (would be considered inappropriate and probably prohibited in many places if someone would do so).

Men wear tight or loose swimming trunks. When I was a kid, only tight trunks were common, nowadays loose trunks appear to be in fashion for boys and young men. Adults usually wear tight trunks in my experience, because they are much better to seriously swim in.

Young children wear swimming suits (girls) or tight trunks (boys) when indoor. Very young children may be naked on beaches, but only very rarely so indoor.

Most beaches tolerate topless bathing, many beaches tolerate nude bathing, which is not such a big issue here. Nudist beaches are frequent on the Northern and Baltic sea.

Kajjo


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## jonquiliser

In Finland it's neither common nor uncommon; some people do go topless, others not. Nearly all men do, anyway. 

I have never understood the incredible and constant sexualisation of women's breast. 

I remember a disgusting advertisement film clip. First, two men were ogling over young women on a (British or American) beach, all wearing bikini tops and matching beauty ideals; wishing they were in Spain because "there women go topless". Next scene was a Spanish beach, and another pair of men got the lead role of expressing revolt over women going topless - because these women were not young or "beautiful" to their eyes. This is the point where you were supposed to laugh.


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## PABLO DE SOTO

In Southern Spain I would say that some women go topless, but most of them wear bikini which is the "winner" swimsuit for women. It depends on the kind of beach, more topless on isolated beaches and less on urban or semi-urban beaches.
Many women who go topless do not do it all the time, they are more likely to wear the bikini when they walk or have a swim and go topless when they are lying on the towel
It  also depends  if they are alone , if they are with another girl, with the whole family and friends etc.
For women the winner is the bikini and loose trunks for men.
As in Germany, in the seventies, most men wore a speedo or tight trunks but it changed in the eighties, and since then the winner swimsuit are the loose trunks.
Gay men tend  to wear more tight swimsuits, but not every man wearing a speedo is a gay. Some adult men wear it as they wore it when they were young, in the seventies.
I am talking for Spaniards. As you all Know, our beaches are full of tourists who follow their own usages.


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## luis masci

ayupshiplad said:


> another point is that in the UK you normally are not allowed to wear bikinis to swimming pools. I'm not entirely sure why, maybe it's considered 'inappropriate'?


Why not??? I can’t believe it.


alexacohen said:


> Small kids, whether male or female, usually don't wear anything.


Seeing nude kids on the beaches is extremely rare here in Argentina. I’ve even seen small girls (about 4 or 5 years old) using bikini tops, which is absurd to me.
So I have to think we are too prude. However we allow bikinis all over any swimming pool.


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## ayupshiplad

luis masci said:


> Why not??? I can’t believe it.
> 
> .


 
I think it's because such open display of flesh indoors is considered OTT. I don't think it's across all swimming pools though...

Another point is that certainly when we do swimming at school, girls have to wear a swimming costume and not a bikini!!! (But guys must wear speedos!)


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## Pedro y La Torre

ayupshiplad said:


> I know you were asking about beaches, but another point is that in the UK you normally are not allowed to wear bikinis to swimming pools. I'm not entirely sure why, maybe it's considered 'inappropriate'?



Are these community pools or something because that seems a pretty outrageous law. That definitely doesn't happen in Ireland, in the gym I go to, women wear bikinis into the jacuzzi and/or pool every day.


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## PABLO DE SOTO

ayupshiplad said:


> I think it's because such open display of flesh indoors is considered OTT. I don't think it's across all swimming pools though...
> 
> Another point is that certainly when we do swimming at school, girls have to wear a swimming costume and not a bikini!!! (But guys must wear speedos!)



In Spain if you go to a public swimming pool you can wear whatever you want, but if you go to a swimming course, or you are a sports swimmer (nadador deportivo ¿se dice así?) bikini and trunks are not allowed.
I have always supposed it's a matter of comfort for the swimmer (professional swimmers do not wear bikinis).


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## sokol

In Austria there is certainly no restriction at all concerning swimming suit or bikini in public swimming pools: both certainly is allowed.

There was only one restriction now abandoned (I think) by most swimming pools, if not by all of them: you *had *to wear a swimming 'cap' (I don't know the correct English term for this, German "Schwimmhaube") - the thing most professional swimmers (except the ones with a shaven bald head) still wear, for hydrodynamic reasons [coined after aerodynamic here by me spontaneously, hope that's okay with you].

This, the hydrodynamics of swimming suits, certainly too is responsible for professional swimmers wearing suits rather than bikinis, and even some male swimmers wear suits in the hope that this improves their hydrodynamics. (Others wear short trunks and think that it'll do for the rest of their body if they shave off their body hair.)

And if you forgot your swimming 'cap' or didn't own one you had to by a cheap plastic cap - or you weren't let in.
As already told, I don't think that this still applies here in Austria. But again, I am no regular at swimming pools - last time I visited one should have been 2006, no - 2005, rather, I think. (Without needing a swimming cap, by the way.)

Ah yes, and concerning the discussion wether it is considered appropriate going *topless *in public swimming pools: now that I thought a little bit about it, I am quite sure that in swimming pools this is a common occurence if the pool lies in open air, with lawn around for the sunbathers and _some _space: in this case you surely will find somewhere at least some women taking their bikini top off for sunbathing.
It would only be rather unusual if they would go swimming topless there.
And as, if the pool is under a firm roof, there would be no point really in taking off the bikini top for 'neon-light'-bathing, I think it would be considered quite unusual if a woman would take off her bikini top in an indoor swimming pool.

So much for the 'obsession' of the male with naked breasts ...  I think at long last the time has come to move on to more earnest topics.


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## ckj2

> Another point is that certainly when we do swimming at school, girls have to wear a swimming costume and not a bikini!!! (



What exactly is a swimming costume? I've heard of them, but I don't think I've ever actually seen anyone wearing one.

Anyways, in Canada (and the US too I think, although I haven't travelled there much so it may vary), women do not go topless unless they are at a specified "nude beach". In fact I think it's illegal for anyone to be completely nude/for a woman to be topless on a public beach.

On regular beaches, generally bikinis are worn, some women prefer one-piece bathing suits or a "tankini" (a tank-top style top and bikini style bottoms)... men wear loose swim trunks (shorts), although occasionally you see a man in a "speedo" (tight bathing suit). Boys wear the same as men and girls the same (usually more conservative) as women. 

Generally, people wear the same to the pool as to the beach, although if they are going to the pool for more fitness/athletic purposes they probably have a more athletic bathing suit. There are no rules against bikinis in pools though.


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## ayupshiplad

ckj2 said:


> What exactly is a swimming costume? I've heard of them, but I don't think I've ever actually seen anyone wearing one.


 
A swimming costume is the British English for swimsuit (or at least I think it is, given that people in the UK understand and use it but elsewhere they don't!)


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## Sí se puede

In the South East United States, most of us would have not know what to think of topless women on beaches!  In fact, I'm not sure it's even legal.  I have been to the beaches in South Carolina several times and even the women who are topless while laying on their stomaches are frowned upon.  However, it is very common to see bikinis and children tend to wear little two-piece swim suites.  Guys usually wear long, baggy swim suites and no shirt.  In my neck of the woods anyway....


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## luis masci

ckj2 said:


> What exactly is a swimming costume? I've heard of them, but I don't think I've ever actually seen anyone wearing one.


To me the answer is too simple. I think Ayupshiplad was referring to one-piece suits.

The responses of this topic are very interesting. However the following part from the original post remains still unanswered:


luis masci said:


> The question is for any place of course, but I’m thinking especially in those countries out of the Western world.


So I’m going to ask to those who are participating or just reading this thread, and know a bit about (whether by travel or just by hearing) how it’s in countries like for example China, Iran, Iraq, India, Egypt , etc. 
I suspect we might get some surprises.


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## vampares

It is illegal for males to be "discernably turgid" by many local statues, so speedoes could, _theoretically_, be in violation of the dress code.  It is an special kind.

I've seen guys swim w/ tee-shirts on.  I have never seen anyone topless on a North American eastcoast beach (of the four times I've been).


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## PABLO DE SOTO

luis masci said:


> The responses of this topic are very interesting. However the following part from the original post remains still unanswered:
> 
> So I’m going to ask to those who are participating or just reading this thread, and know a bit about (whether by travel or just by hearing) how it’s in countries like for example China, Iran, Iraq, India, Egypt , etc.
> I suspect we might get some surprises.



I can tell you something about northern Morocco beaches.
There are usually more men than women on the beaches and men use to wear any kind of shorts or loose trunks. As an anecdote, I have seen some men in underwear on remote or isolated beaches where locals who live close to those beaches use to go ( They are very poor people who don't have a swimsuit).
There are less women on the beaches because married and older women do not use to be "half naked" in a public space, but you can see many girls or young women wearing a bikini (NEVER going topless).
It's also usual to see older women fully dressed on the beach and they never have a swim or even approach the sea, they use to stay under the umbrella.
In rare occasions I have seen  fully dressed women having a swim but I have seen them, what is really extraordinary for my western eyes. The dress those women wore was the typical moroccan djellaba.
There are also many emigrant moroccans who live in Europe and spend their holidays in Morocco. Those emigrants wear the same swimsuits we wear in Europe.


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## sokol

As for Muslims living here in Austria, in a village where I have relatives a group of refugees from Muslimic Chechnya are living.

When in summer some Chechen women went to the local swimming pool and did go into the pool _with all their clothing on_ this caused a great upset because it was considered unhygienic by the local population. Anyway, the women (all of them married women) refused to wear conventional swimming suits for religious reasons.


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## luis masci

sokol said:


> Anyway, the women (all of them married women) refused to wear conventional swimming suits for religious reasons.


That is the point. Seems to me there is a link between the prohibition for showing the human body(or should I say the woman's body?) and religion (and this seems to work out in similar way in every religion).
As always, women are the most affected ones with stuff like that, while for men there are not prohibitions at all.


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## ymisa

Sure there are Muslim women who believe they should not appear with bikinis or swimsuits in public, but for that reason they most often avoid going to the beach or the pool rather that trying to swim with their clothes on which is a very awkward scene for me as a Turkish person, too. Swimming with clothes on would never be allowed in a pool but some uneducated women may rarely try to do so in a public beach. 
I believe conservative women would generally avoid such places, and therefore in Turkey one would normally see women with swimsuits and bikinis on them at the beach, though not going topless.


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## Elibennet

This is a very interesting thread, Luis. A friend of mine who has lived in Munich for 3 years told me that it is very common there for men and women to bathe completely naked in the river that runs through Munich. I really thought this was weird, but what some Germans have said in this thread suggests that what my friend told me is not true! What do you think?


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## Sepia

What I think is really interesting is not so much where you might see women swimming without a bikini top, or how many women are doing it, but how other people view it when they do. That is what I find especially nice about Spain (at least the Balearic Isles) Germany and Scandinavia: Although most women would not drop the bikini top, then when some prefer to do so, nobody really seems to bother. Public swimming pools are a different story (compared to beaches). But even here things are changing. Recently women activists swam toples in public swimming pools in Sweden. At the beginning they were kicked out because it was against the rules - although they argued "When men can, why can't we". In stead of making a big problem out of this (diplomatic as Swedes are supposed to be, according to stereotype) the managements of the public swimming pools began bending the rules by simply saying: "OK, as long as we don't have any complaints from the men, we see no reason to take action."


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## tvdxer

luis masci said:


> I know this topic would look a bit inappropriate for most of you in the middle of the winter, but for us, living in the Southern hemisphere, it is summer right now.
> This idea popped into my mind, while I was at the beach. I saw most of the men wearing loose shorts, though there were a few of them wearing tight ones (the type I saw a lot in the beaches in Southern Brazil). For women, two- piece suits (bikini) were worn by almost every girl and some adult women too. But although there was a big movement in recent years, against any prejudice about it, I realize I’ve never seen even one woman in topless on Argentinian beaches.
> My question is then, how is it in your country or region? What do people wear to go to the beach?
> The question is for any place of course, but I’m thinking especially in those countries out of the Western world.



Men: Generally loose shorts, sometimes very long.  "Bikini bottoms" are associated with Europeans and are almost never worn, except in swimming races.

Women: Usually two-piece swimsuits if they're under 30 - 40; bikinis are common, as are less revealing two-piece suits.  Older women may wear one-piece swimsuits, but they aren't common on younger women.

Very young children: I'm GUESSING that in the past it was more acceptable for them to be nude on the beach, but with worries about pedophilia and the like this is no longer the case.


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## tvdxer

Sepia said:


> What I think is really interesting is not so much where you might see women swimming without a bikini top, or how many women are doing it, but how other people view it when they do. That is what I find especially nice about Spain (at least the Balearic Isles) Germany and Scandinavia: Although most women would not drop the bikini top, then when some prefer to do so, nobody really seems to bother. Public swimming pools are a different story (compared to beaches). But even here things are changing. Recently women activists swam toples in public swimming pools in Sweden. At the beginning they were kicked out because it was against the rules - although they argued "When men can, why can't we". In stead of making a big problem out of this (diplomatic as Swedes are supposed to be, according to stereotype) the managements of the public swimming pools began bending the rules by simply saying: "OK, as long as we don't have any complaints from the men, we see no reason to take action."



I'm curious: in countries like Spain and Germany, where from what posters have said, the majority of women do not go topless, what would motivate those who do to do so?  

Are they more comfortable with their bodies?
Less "prudish"?
Don't want tan lines?


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## sokol

tvdxer said:


> I'm curious: in countries like Spain and Germany, where from what posters have said, the majority of women do not go topless, what would motivate those who do to do so?


As for Austria, the explanation really is simple: most of the women going topless, *if asked by men,* would *say *that it's for the *tan lines.*
But alas, we men never will know if this is _exactly _the truth. 

Some might say that they feel *more comfortable* without the bikini top, but then these most likely are nudists anyway and won't wear any clothes at all (or, on beaches where FKK is not allowed, they content themselves with going topless).

It is not likely at all that a woman ever would say to a man that she'd like to show off her body even if this were the case, but anyway I think this is exactly what most topless women *do not want* to do. However, I've known one girl for whom exactly this was the case (although she didn't admit to it, ever, and it would have been extremely unpolite to confront her with a direct question about that): she just liked to tease the men around her with going topless even when going somewhere indoors (e. g. a restaurant, or as she visited my family, at home even with our parents present: at first she did sunbath outdoors, topless as ever, then she went indoors and didn't bother putting the bikini top on - my brothers and I at the time were boys exactly in the right age to being teased by such women).


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## Outsider

tvdxer said:


> Very young children: I'm GUESSING that in the past it was more acceptable for them to be nude on the beach, but with worries about pedophilia and the like this is no longer the case.


I think this is true all around the world. I still see naked children on beaches occasionally, but it's mostly just babies.

Another thing that I don't think was mentioned is toplessness in little girls. A couple of decades ago, many girls in Portugal would not wear a top until they reached puberty and their breasts started to grow. This may have been changing because of pedophilia fears and (mostly, I think) the influence of fashion.


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## sokol

Outsider said:


> Another thing that I don't think was mentioned is toplessness in little girls. A couple of decades ago, many girls in Portugal would not wear a top until they reached puberty and their breasts started to grow. This may have been changing because of pedophilia fears and (mostly, I think) the influence of fashion.



Same here: when I was young girls didn't wear a bikini until they were 11-12 years old; this has changed now and it seems that the age at which girls start to not going topless any more seems to fall rapidly.
As for the cause, I agree that fears of pedophilia might be one of the reasons.


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## alexacohen

tvdxer said:


> Are they more comfortable with their bodies?
> Less "prudish"?
> Don't want tan lines?


That's the answer, and it doesn't matter if the person who asks the question is male or female.


> Originally Posted by *sokol*
> Anyway, the women (all of them married women) refused to wear conventional swimming suits for religious reasons.


The Muslim women living in my neighborhood go to the swimming pools wearing the same outfit as everyone else: swimsuit.
Topless is not allowed in swimming pools (public ones) or how do you call them, water parks?


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## TraductoraPobleSec

alexacohen said:


> Topless is not allowed in swimming pools (public ones) or how do you call them, water parks?


 
Are you sure, Alexa? Practicing top-less is permitted indeed here in Barcelona.


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## belle_gique

I would wear a bikini (or a two piece) and so do my friends.  My German friend (male) considered it appropriate to invite me a naked sauna with him and for me (I am Scottish) this was a bit too far!  

For swimming pools, in my region in Scotland it's fine for women to wear bikinis (actually, it's only really the older women who wear swimsuits - one-piece) but men have to wear tight speedos, not "shorts" because it is considered unhygienic otherwise.  As far as saunas are concerned in my region, the dress-code is specified outside - normally swim suit/bikini and speedo/shorts but not naked


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## sokol

alexacohen said:


> That's the answer, and _it doesn't matter if the person who asks the question is male or female._


So finally a mystery solved, thanks. 


alexacohen said:


> The Muslim women living in my neighborhood go to the swimming pools wearing the same outfit as everyone else: swimsuit.


I probably should have added that the Chechen women to whom I did refer above were from a rather traditional background (I don't know if many of the Muslims of Chechnya are traditional or if this is more of an exception, however I _do _know that the Chechens I was talking about above indeed _were.)_



belle_gique said:


> As far as saunas are concerned in my region, the dress-code is specified outside - normally swim suit/bikini and speedo/shorts but not naked


A sauna and no nakedness allowed? How strange.

In Austria it would be completely normal; however, there are hours for women and men, and mixed hours where one should expect naked persons from both genders. 'Family' sauna hours too exist where the regulations sometimes are a little bit strange (just a few days ago there was something in a local paper stating that there was a 'family sauna' where women could enter with their kids whereas men could _not _- that is, enter the sauna with one of their kids).

Only the steam baths attached to some swimming pools are not supposed to be 'naked saunas', but then they aren't proper saunas really.


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## belle_gique

sokol said:


> So finally a mystery solved, thanks.
> 
> A sauna and no nakedness allowed? How strange.
> 
> In Austria it would be completely normal; however, there are hours for women and men, and mixed hours where one should expect naked persons from both genders.




Yeah my German (Bavaria) friend was quite offended at the thought of wearing shorts to the sauna here!  But then for me, it's embarrassing to imagine being naked in front of a friend (sauna or no sauna) ... maybe it's "British" haha


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## Outsider

Maybe next time you can compromise, and ask to wear a towel. Don't people often wear towels in saunas? I've never been to one.


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## sokol

Outsider said:


> Maybe next time you can compromise, and ask to wear a towel. Don't people often wear towels in saunas? I've never been to one.


They do, and of course you can perfect the art of hiding everything you don't want to be seen by the towel.


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## Hakro

Wearing swimming suit in sauna? Disgusting!


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## Macunaíma

It's one of our most incomprehensible paradoxes that we Brazilians, so used to the scantiest bikinis ever made (we recognize tourists on Brazilian beaches by their 'huge' bikinis) and the semi-naked dancers in carnival parades, are so prudish when it comes to nudity. Going naked to a public sauna is simply unthinkable here and even topless sunbathing can cause quite a stir on a public beach. It does seem like hypocrisy, but in fact it's not. I can't quite explain what it is. The catholic element in our cultural background, formed of so many diferent and contradictory influences, maybe? I don't know... but the fact is: I wouldn't recommend that a European woman go topless to the beach in Brazil unless she's prepared to be looked at as a freak. And, of course, people would be well advised to wear a swimsuit to the sauna


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## sokol

belle_gique said:


> Yeah my German (Bavaria) friend was quite offended at the thought of wearing shorts to the sauna here!  But then for me, it's embarrassing to imagine being naked in front of a friend (sauna or no sauna) ... maybe it's "British" haha



Some advise, belle_gique: if it were *a* friend and not *your *(boy)friend your friend was a bit 'adventurous' to ask you visiting a mixed sauna _[with_ nakedness, of course ] with him - well not necessarily 'adventurous', it really would depend on your relationship.

Certainly you *can *be good friends and go (naked) to a sauna in Austria and (I'd guess) in neighbouring Bavaria too without any sexual context attached, but in some circumstances (e. g. if you weren't _that _close) I would consider this strange. The circumstances would very much depend, no general rule could apply here.



Macunaíma said:


> It's one of our most incomprehensible paradoxes that we Brazilians (...)


Well, it is  ... especially if you know the book Jorge, um brasilheiro [insert author here]. Austria, by the way, is Catholic too, and Spain also, for that matter.

So probably another explanation than religious puritanism for no nakedness in saunas nor toplessness on the beach being allowed in Brazil should exist.


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## suzanne joy

The really weird thing is that here in France, men aren't allowed to wear swim shorts in pools.  The public pools in my city make speedo-type bottoms compulsory for men!  No one has been able to tell me WHY, but the French men don't seem bothered by it...  

BTW, it's very very common to see topless women on the beach here.  I would say 40% of women go without their bikini tops.  All ages, too.


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## belle_gique

sokol said:


> Some advise, belle_gique: if it were *a* friend and not *your *(boy)friend your friend was a bit 'adventurous' to ask you visiting a mixed sauna _[with_ nakedness, of course ] with him - well not necessarily 'adventurous', it really would depend on your relationship.



 I learn something new everyday on WR!  At the time, I did wonder, but I put it down to cultural differences.  Thanks Sokol


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## avok

As Turkey has the most beautiful beach in the world according to the German Newspaper Bild, I need to write something too ! 

Here in Turkey women wear one piece swimsuits, bikinis and monokinis. Men wear loose shorts. Those shorts get longer each year out of fashion. Women who go topless are usually German, Scandinavian tourists. The most beautiful girls in swimsuits are Russian girls and some Russian men wear thongs!

Conservative people have their own swimsuits : Haşema and another haşema

While I was in Barcelona I saw topless women but they all looked Nordic to me, I don't think they were Spaniard.


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## ayupshiplad

belle_gique said:


> As far as saunas are concerned in my region, the dress-code is specified outside - normally swim suit/bikini and speedo/shorts but not naked


 
I go naked in the sauna at my gym about half of the time and I am also Scottish!


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## belle_gique

Woah I'm such a prude  haha.  In Aberdeen?  In the South it's just not done (well not anywhere I can think of ... this has got me thinking!)
Until I read these posts I thought it was a stereotypical Scandinavian thing or something haha x


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## Macunaíma

sokol said:


> So probably another explanation than religious puritanism for no nakedness in saunas nor toplessness on the beach being allowed in Brazil should exist.


 
But it's *not *forbidden, only nobody does that  And the Brazilian character can be described as anything except puritan. That's why I think it's such a paradox.


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## Sepia

Hakro said:


> Wearing swimming suit in sauna? Disgusting!


 
That is not the only problem - I wouldn't want clothing on my body accumulating water (sweat), maybe hang loosely and thus allowing the water to reach the 90°C room temperature, and when I move it touches my skin and burns ...

I couldn't imagine anyone wanting that to happen.

Who would go dressed in a genuine sauna!!??


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## ayupshiplad

Sepia said:


> That is not the only problem - I wouldn't want clothing on my body accumulating water (sweat), maybe hang loosely and thus allowing the water to reach the 90°C room temperature, and when I move it touches my skin and burns ...
> 
> I couldn't imagine anyone wanting that to happen.
> 
> Who would go dressed in a genuine sauna!!??


 
How can a bikini/swimming costume move? They are skintight!


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## belle_gique

ayupshiplad said:


> How can a bikini/swimming costume move? They are skintight!



And you're not normally in long enough for it to heat up to be honest (unless the bikini straps have plastic or metallic strap-adjusters ... ouch)


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## Hakro

belle_gique said:


> And you're not normally in long enough for it to heat up to be honest (unless the bikini straps have plastic or metallic strap-adjusters ... ouch)


Long enough? A small metal part takes the surrounding temperature in a few seconds.

Luckily the human skin has a wonderful ability to cool down, using evaporation of water (sweat). Even a thin gold or silver necklace is no problem as long as it's tightly against your skin. But it's quite normal that you bow in the heat and then the necklace hangs loose and gets hot - you'll notice soon that you forgot to take it off.

I have no personal experience of wearing bikini or swimming suit in sauna but I believe that it gets wet of sweat very quickly, and then the evaporation keeps the metal parts cool enough.

But after all - sitting in sauna in a sweat-filled swimming suit? Disgusting!


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## ayupshiplad

Hakro said:


> But after all - sitting in sauna in a sweat-filled swimming suit? Disgusting!


 
But it doesn't fill _up_ with sweat and you get sweaty anyway so what difference does it make?


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## Hakro

ayupshiplad said:


> But it doesn't fill _up_ with sweat and you get sweaty anyway so what difference does it make?


The difference is that most of the sweat evaporates from the skin but it collects in the textile.

After all, it's a matter of taste, of course. I only expressed my opinion.


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## alexacohen

Hakro said:


> The difference is that most of the sweat evaporates from the skin but it collects in the textile.
> 
> After all, it's a matter of taste, of course. I only expressed my opinion.


No, it's not an opinion, Hakro. Wearing clothes into a sauna (a true sauna, that is) only means that the clothes will get drenched in sweat.


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## ayupshiplad

Hakro said:


> The difference is that most of the sweat evaporates from the skin but it collects in the textile.


 
Presumably most people shower after saunas though anyway?


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## belle_gique

ayupshiplad said:


> Presumably most people shower after saunas though anyway?



I just wikipedia-ed it to figure out where the confusion is coming from, and it seems there are two types of sauna (dry heat and wet heat - that would explain why in some saunas the bikini doesn't get drenched) and it says as well that although in the UK you shower (like at my sauna, you MUST go for a cold shower every 10-15mins) in Europe it is a faux-pas.  It also said in some saunas in Europe they serve alcohol?!


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## Hakro

alexacohen said:


> No, it's not an opinion, Hakro. Wearing clothes into a sauna (a true sauna, that is) only means that the clothes will get drenched in sweat.


That's right, Alexa, but maybe some people like it. I don't.


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## Hakro

ayupshiplad said:


> Presumably most people shower after saunas though anyway?


Some people do; many Finns go to swim in a lake instead. In wintertime we have to saw a hole in the ice for swimming. But you don't need to wear a swimming suit, there's nobody watching.


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## Sepia

ayupshiplad said:


> But it doesn't fill _up_ with sweat and you get sweaty anyway so what difference does it make?


 
I don't know what saunas you guys go to - real saunas do heat up, and normally the idea is that the sweat pours out and cleans the skin from within. How could anyone want clothing to hold that back?

And even swimwear does not always stay close to the skin all of the time when wet. And people do spend half hours or more in a sauna. But risk of injury or not, why should anyone do that?

It really amazes me that anone would go dressed in a sauna, and personally, I have never seen anyone do so.


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