I’m always ready to bring important news to my readers so here is a breaking story. Topless bathing in public pools has been legalized!
But not in Thailand, no way! We don’t even wear bikinis here unless we wear a t-shirt over the top, at least not in public. All those sexy outfits in the magazines and nightclubs are a different story. And this story is about the city of Malmo in Sweden. The funny part of the story is this quote from one of the councilmen:
“We don’t define what bathing suits men should wear so it doesn’t make much sense to do it for women. And besides, it’s not unusual for men to have large breasts that resemble women’s breasts.”
Well, it definitely isn’t Thailand. I don’t think I have ever seen a Thai man with large breasts. I’m sure they exist but it must be pretty rare.
I was looking for a photo I could post with this story. Hard to find something that wasn’t too revealing. And I found that shot advertising the Bare Pool at the Mirage in Las Vegas. I think the ladies from Sweden would be quite comfortable there.
Topless bathing story via The Inquisitr.
Tags: topless
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June 28th, 2009 at 2:15 pm
Ah – so the world-famous Swedish beaches are now topless?
I’ve heard that argument before – that men’s suits are subject to regulation, so women’s should not be, either. Seems a bit artificial, though. Women’s breasts have a much stronger association with sexual activity than do men’s, whether real or simply cultural. But it seems to raise the question of whether public nudity at beaches should be legalized – at least in specified sites.
I admit to being quite surprised at your title – I couldn’t imagine Thailand leaping to accepting topless-ness at beaches. I didn’t realize that even bikinis were no generally acceptable. I assume they’re tolerated on foreigners at the resorts? I seem to recall photos to that effect.
June 28th, 2009 at 2:22 pm
Actually it’s not the beaches in Sweden, it’s the public pools, which seem a lot more up close and intimate, so it’s a bigger deal.
Yes, Thai girls are pretty shy about wearing bikinis. But the tourists, of course, are not. And Thai people are used to it. But there are some tourists who insist on going topless and that is illegal in Thailand. It also is insulting to a lot of Thai people.
June 28th, 2009 at 2:38 pm
Insulting in that it shows a disregard for Thai laws, or in showing a disregard for the Thai cultural norm for decency? Or do the tourists pull a beach version of an “ugly American” act at the wrong beaches? That would be offensive, I suppose.
Here, it’s my understanding that toplessness is technically illegal everywhere, but is tolerated in certain beaches. People who find toplessness offensive are assumed to avoid those beaches. (Public pools … that’s rather a different issue.)
Not to hijack the discussion, but how can I buy you a cup of coffee? You don’t have the link here on the new blog.
June 28th, 2009 at 2:50 pm
The law isn’t so highly respected here, you may have noticed. It’s about be insulting to Thai culture. Like how we all have a responsibility to help the monks do their job and not be tempted to misbehave. And then we see a monk is on alms round in a beach town and a tourist is walking around topless or in a very revealing bikini.
I put the latte link back up at the top left. I’d love one!
June 28th, 2009 at 11:19 pm
This isn’t really surprising. It’s already common in Swedish cities in the summertime to see many topless girls sunbathing on the grass in public areas. Nothing really new here.
June 28th, 2009 at 11:23 pm
And frankly, you can’t expect tourists in revealing bikinis to go running when they see a monk. They have no clue and why should they? They likely will only be in Thailand for a week or two. If you expect them to know every single thing about Thai culture, well, you’re way too optimistic and it really should be up to the monks to realize when they’re in a place that has many tourists the high likelihood that they’ll be in bikinis, and thus avoid these areas. They similarly are supposed to be avoiding nightclubs and massage parlors, right? Same thing. And if they’re topless, well, someone needs to tell them such as a policeman that they can’t bathe topless. But in the interest of tourism in tourist areas concessions are made and often probably nobody even tells them to cover up, so I find your gripe about this misguided.
June 29th, 2009 at 1:28 am
I guess that’s the way it is, foreigners don’t care about the local way of life. They should get to wear whatever they like when they visit a foreign country. The monks should stop going on alms round where there are foreigners. And the local people should not worry that the monks no longer go on alms round past their homes/businesses and they no longer get to make merit, after all, they are making money because the tourists are happy.
June 29th, 2009 at 6:46 am
As a historian I find this so funny. The US is noted for it’s prudery, but the Lowell Thomas filmed trips to Africa (in the 1930’s) showed native women bare breasted. Actually the world has so many different mores that sooner or later a standard code will be needed. In most of Europe’s beaches bare breasted is no a big deal. The easy way is a Welcome To Thailand brochure to keep everyone up on local mores so misunderstandings do no occur. Yet, people are going to be shocked when others are out of the supposed norm. watching a girl in a bikini riding a bicycle in the super hot Denver summer is a bit disconcerting even for a person like me because it is unexpected.
June 29th, 2009 at 1:43 pm
Some beaches in europe are already topless.
Who cares everybody sees breasts one time or another.
June 30th, 2009 at 9:53 am
Well reasoned response to J’s foolish post. For many farang everything is measured by baht and satang. He’s likely the same fellow who complains loudly when confronted with the two price system. Keep up the good work!
June 30th, 2009 at 10:21 am
Same is true for many Thai people, everything is about money. But not everyone.