Walking along the esplanade at Balmoral in the sun (the
Australian Balmoral, not the Scottish one!) I was nostalgically reminded of the days when
a beach like that would have been full of ladies happily sunbathing, topless. I
remember our first visit to the South of France, when to my amazement most of
the women on the beaches from Cannes to Monte Carlo had rejected the top half
of their bikinis – some time before this was happening in the UK, even when the
weather was warm enough. When did that fashion start? On the continent I
suppose as early as the 1950s, but it was probably in the 1960s that topless
sunbathing became ubiquitous on beaches almost everywhere. There were attempts
to ban this, of course – and indeed both left-wing governments (Russia) and
right-wing ones (the US) were equally hysterical in legislating against women
appearing in public with bare breasts. Women however were determined to do what
they wanted with their bodies, and being free to explore their top halves to
the sun was one of them. The ‘bra-burning of the late 1960s was political in a
way topless sunbathing or swimming was not, I think; but there was a sort of
politics involved, after all – the determination that they should be free to
wear, or not wear, what they wanted.
Strangely, today, to quote Wikipedia, ‘media reports in
recent years note that the number of women sunbathing topless on French beaches
has markedly declined, and that younger French women have become more
disapproving of exposing breasts in public. Even in
some parts of Europe generally considered to have a liberal attitude towards
toplessness, such as Sweden, surveys show there is considerable resistance to
its acceptance.’ So once determined they had the right to expose their breasts
if they wanted, women have gone into reverse and are determined – as some have
put it - ‘to keep their breasts for their boy-friends’. Fine, if that’s the
real season; but fashion has always been strongly allied to changing social
mores. Are we set for a return to Victorian values? (watch out for the return of
the crinoline, ladies).
Just interested, that’s
all.
