Catalonia, a region in northeastern Spain known for its pro-independence movement, has taken a stand for another cause: women’s right to go topless in public swimming pools.
The regional government, led by the Catalan Republican Left (ERC), has reminded local councils that they must allow women to bare their breasts when swimming or sunbathing, or face a possible fine of up to €500,000 ($590,000).
The policy is based on a 2020 Catalan equality law that aims to prevent discrimination based on sex, gender, religion or dress. The law also stipulates that breastfeeding and the use of full body bathing suits, such as the Muslim “burkini”, should be allowed in public pools.
However, some municipal swimming pools have banned the practice of toplessness, leading to dozens of complaints each summer from a feminist group called Mugrons Lliures (Free Nipples).
“This is a gender equality issue: Men could [go topless] and women couldn’t,” said Mariona Trabal, spokesperson for the group.
The Catalan government’s department of equality and feminism has sent a letter to local authorities stating that preventing women from going topless “excludes part of the population and violates the free choice of each person with regard to their body”.
“We don’t know why they have taken so long, but we are very happy,” Trabal said, regarding the letter.
The issue of toplessness has also been controversial in other contexts, such as a Pride event in Murcia, a city in southern Spain, where a singer was covered with an LGBTQ flag after performing topless. After her performance, she said she had been questioned by local police.
The Free Nipples group has launched an advertising campaign to support women’s right to go topless, with a video claiming: “The sexualisation of women starts when they are young and it accompanies us all our lives. That we must cover up our breasts in some spaces is proof.”
Neus Pociello, executive director for the Catalan Women’s Institute, told The Telegraph that the campaign was targeted at ending discrimination.
“We wanted to try to combat the discrimination that women suffer sometimes when they go topless in some situations like swimming pools,” Pociello said.
Catalonia is not the only place where women have fought for their right to go topless. In 2019, a federal court in Colorado ruled that a city ordinance banning women from exposing their breasts in public was unconstitutional. In 2016, three women were arrested in New Hampshire for going topless at a beach and challenged the state law that prohibits such conduct.
The Free Nipples group hopes that their campaign will inspire other regions and countries to follow Catalonia’s example and respect women’s freedom of choice over their bodies.
Relevant articles:
– Spanish swimming pools in Catalonia told not to ban topless bathing, BBC News, 27 June 2023
– Public swimming pools ordered to let women go topless, news.com.au, 28 June 2023
– Public pools in Spain must allow women to swim topless in major win for feminist activists, Mirror, 27 June 2023