Non merci to topless bathing
Covered up: Keep your bikinim top tied firmly in place this summer if you're taking to the beaches of France
A decade ago, the sight of bare breasts on a French beach was as common as ice cream and seagulls. From Brittany to Biarritz, stripping off was considered a woman's basic right in a country that pioneered the practice of topless sunbathing and saw it as a byword for sexual liberation.
But those days are over. Take your bikini top off on the Côte d'Azur nowadays and you run the risk of infuriating your sister sunbathers on the towel next door. Their grandmothers and mothers might have happily pranced around the dunes in nothing but a thong, but a younger generation of French women wouldn't be seen dead exposing their bosom in public. In fact, many consider it the epitome of naff.
New feminist priorities such as equal pay in the workplace and a rebellion against the cult of the body beautiful are some of the reasons put forward by French sociologists for the demise of this once national pastime. In a new book, Les Corps d'été, a Social History of Bathing, Christophe Granger writes that in the 60s and 70s, going topless was a sign of "sexual liberation and a return to nature". French women took great pride in baring all, conscious that they enjoyed greater freedom than their counterparts in more prudish nations such as the US.
Today, he says, "it's less about women feeling at ease and free but has been linked to the harsh cult of the body beautiful, where no imperfection is tolerated".
The absence of naked flesh on the beaches of France has caused such a stir this year that Le Parisien recently devoted a full page to what it called "the most eye-catching summer trend". Declaring the death of what was once the country's most popular piece of summer swimwear, a headline proclaimed, "Le Monokini, C'est Fini".
Today's young women have embraced what has been dubbed 'la nouvelle pudeur', or new modesty. A recent poll by the French Institute of Public Opinion found that 88pc of women describe themselves as 'pudiques', and half say they are shocked by the sight of bare breasts on a beach.
As summer looms in Australia, topless sunbathing is the subject of heated debate too. Since the 60s, going without your bikini top has been the norm in this laid-back nation of sun-worshippers. But a move is under way by a group of male politicians to have the practice banned on beaches, including Sydney's iconic tourist havens of Bondi, Coogee and Manly. The largely conservative group claims that the sight of women without bikini tops in public is offensive and not appropriate in situations where families with young children are having a day out.
The plan has flared fury in some quarters, with female MPs and feminists claiming it would make Australia look like a "haven for prudes".
"We don't want to go down the slippery slope of banning activities like this," said tourism minister Jodi McKay.
"What would be next -- banning breastfeeding in public?"
- Gemma O'Doherty
