All go topless in German public pools

A German city has authorized toplessness for women in public pools.

In a measure aimed at increasing gender equality, the city of Göttingen in central Germany will be the first in the country to allow the practice of female topless swimming in its indoor and outdoor pools.

The initiative took place on May 1 as a test, limited to weekends, and is set to expire at the end of August.

The basis of the temporary regulation that recommends that “all swimmers at indoor and outdoor pools should be allowed to swim topless at weekends” seems to be a gender identity conflict that took place in a city pool.

A transgender swimmer was asked to cover up, and the swimmer protested, saying that they identified as male. The pool operator told the swimmer to leave, and the individual was subsequently banned from the facility.

The new regulation has sparked new debates in the city related to the “limited equality” that is now afforded to all genders.

Why should women be allowed to be topless only on the weekends, and only for a few months?

But officials say that the new practice shouldn’t take place during the week when school swim lessons are held.

Meanwhile, the local press, the Göttingen Tagerblad finds it “amazing” that “this small city in the middle of Germany is suddenly not only in the headlines nationwide, but even internationally.”