Authorities In Spain Say Women Should Swim Topless At Public Pools To Help 'Fight Discrimination'

Is it time to move? I don't know if I would go that far, but any place encouraging topless swimming is worth taking a closer look at.

Authorities in Catalonia, Spain are encouraging women in the region to swim topless at public pools to end the sexualization of women and help fight discrimination. Their Department of Equality and Feminism released a video on social media last week to get the message out.

The video was released on "world topless day" and included the caption, "The sexualization of women starts at a very young age and accompanies us all our lives. The fact that we have to cover our breasts in some spaces is an example of this. It's also discrimination."

"On world topless day, we demand the liberation of our bodies."

Department of Equality and Feminism, Government of Catalonia

There's a World Topless Day?

In addition to the attempt to fight discrimination, the video also pointed out the double-standard when it comes to men and women going topless in public. It included an image of a topless man with text that translates to "this nipple is free" on it.

That was followed up with a picture of a topless woman with her hand over her breasts. The text on that image translates to "this one is not."

Department of Equality and Feminism, Government of Catalonia

Like I said, any place that encourages topless swimming is worth taking a closer look at. Catalonia already has topless beaches. It would only make sense to extend that to pools.

It isn't clear how swimming topless in public pools would accomplish ending the sexualization of women or fighting discrimination. But I'm going to assume those in charge have run the numbers.

In Spain, local councils decide the regulations at public pools. A similar campaign in Barcelona in 2021, by Mariona Trabal, co-founder of the Free Nipples campaign was successful.