The German city of Göttingen will become the first in the country to allow topless swimming in its swimming pools. A measure intended for more equality between the sexes, which will take effect on May 1.
According to the German magazine Stuttgarter Zeitung, the municipality has declared that this measure will be limited to weekends, and this until the end of August. A decision that makes the city of Göttingen a pioneer on this element of the debate on equal treatment between the sexes, which aims to be able to show one’s bare torso in aquatic leisure establishments, such as swimming pools.
As a reminder, this new measure was motivated following an incident that occurred last fall, in one of the city’s swimming pools. An officer had asked a bather, whom he considered to be a woman, to cover his chest. But this person had refused because he identified as being male. She had been banned from entering the establishment.
a lively debate
This situation provoked a lively debate within the municipality, which today is far from over. Some elected officials in Göttingen regret the decision to restrict this possibility to weekends only. The municipality justified itself by indicating that this should not compromise school swimming lessons during the week.
The director of an aquatic center told him in a local newspaper that a compromise had to be found with “users from other cultures”, for whom nudity can be disturbing.