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STOCKHOLM — A group of Swedish women is making waves by taking their tops off at public swimming pools in a protest against what they call gender-biased rules on swim wear.
About 40 women have joined the network and staged topless protests in at least three cities, said Sanna Ferm, 22, one of the founders of the group called Bara Brost, or Bare Breasts.
"The purpose of the campaign is to start a debate about why women's bodies are sexualized," Ferm said Wednesday.
She said the fact that men can be bare-chested in public swimming pools but not women is "a concrete example of how women have fewer rights than men."
Reactions from other swimmers have ranged from support and encouragement to anger and even indifference, she said.
The network was formed after two women who were swimming topless in a public swimming pool in Uppsala, north of Stockholm, were asked to cover up or leave.
Women can sunbathe topless in the summertime at beaches around Sweden, which is known for its relaxed attitude toward nudity, but they are required to wear tops at public swimming pools.
Inger Groteblad, a manager at the swimming facility in Uppsala, said it was a matter of security.
"We want to make sure that girls don't get subjected to sexual harassment," she was quoted as saying by tabloid Aftonbladet.
The women have filed a complaint against the facility to Sweden's Equal Opportunities Ombudsman.
© 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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| Swedes battle to expose breasts | livenews.com.au | Tue Nov 20 | 1 |
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{"commentId":1206965,"authorDomain":"incredulous"}
I won't believe it until I see it with my own eyes. Photos, please.
(and you thought there was no upside to being skeptical?)
{"commentId":1206965,"threadId":"179552","contentId":"1114257","authorDomain":"incredulous"}
- 1 vote
#1 - Thu Nov 22, 2007 3:18 AM EST{"commentId":1207163,"authorDomain":"pooja77"}
{"commentId":1207762,"authorDomain":"cobbs"}
In Rochester, New York there was a group of women who called themselves the Top-Free Five who protested the fact that woman were required to wear tops on swimsuits and that men were not. This was treated as a gender biased law and was struck down by the state's highest court. So for the past 22 years or so women can go topless in NY without getting arrested. Not that cops don't try but if it's pointed out to them about the change in the law and they still arrest someone they open themselves up to being sued for false arrest.
For more on current Top-Free events and to find a group to help if you have a problem go Here
And yes The Incredulous One there are pictures
{"commentId":1207762,"threadId":"179552","contentId":"1114257","authorDomain":"cobbs"}
- 1 vote
#3 - Thu Nov 22, 2007 12:48 PM EST{"commentId":1222228,"authorDomain":"scoutniagara"}
In Ontario, women are supposed to have equal rights and are able to be top free anywhere men can be, but no woman has challenged that right in our swimming pools. Pool operators, ask the women to leave, then if they don't charge them with trespassing. At our local St. Catharines Lakeside Park, I haven't noticed any women exercising their right to be top free.
{"commentId":1222228,"threadId":"179552","contentId":"1114257","authorDomain":"scoutniagara"}
#4 - Wed Nov 28, 2007 9:29 AM EST{"commentId":9142238,"authorDomain":"bandernas"}
If we just start doing these things- getting topless - normally, everyone will get used to it and consider such actions as normal as walking around without a hat. I mean, normally seeing topless girls all around you, will have no more malicious effect on anyone's mind anymore.
{"commentId":9142238,"threadId":"179552","contentId":"1114257","authorDomain":"bandernas"}
#5 - Sun Aug 30, 2009 2:20 AM EDT{"commentId":10404699,"authorDomain":"breelaboy"}
{"commentId":10404704,"authorDomain":"breelaboy"}
{"commentId":10424095,"authorDomain":"brianalampton"}
{"commentId":10424145,"authorDomain":"brianalampton"}
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