If nothing specifically prohibited this practice, the rules were reviewed after the complaint of a bather unhappy not to be able to go to the pool in simple swimming trunks.
AT Schöneberg, the swimming pool is famous for its mosaic floor, its ten-meter diving board and its Olympic basin where the American swimmer Mark Spitz broke several records. For the rest, nothing remarkable or exceptional. The men are in swimming trunks, the women in bikinis or one-piece swimsuits.
>> Germany: women can now swim topless in Berlin swimming pools
Louise, a 35-year-old Berliner, has not yet bathed, bare chest, but she says she is ready to do so. “I think that’s a good thing, there’s nothing wrong with the female body and breasts. It’s often sexualized when women show their breasts and that’s a mistake.”
“It’s a question of fairness. Men can go to the bare-chested pool. Why can’t women?”
Louise, a Berlinerat franceinfo
One in two Germans is in favor of the generalization of this measure
In reality, nothing prohibited women from bathing topless in Berlin swimming pools. But obviously, some employees were misinformed and they fired a swimmer wearing only swimming trunks.
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The affair caused a certain stir, and the Société des Bains de Berlin, which operates 67 establishments, therefore had to clarify things, explains its spokesperson, Matthias Oloew : “Our house rules say that all bathers must wear a bathing suit, but it is not specified that women must wear this and men that. If you are a woman and want to swim only with swimming trunks , no problem. And if a man wants to wear a bikini, no problem either.”
“We welcome all of our customers as they are and as they want to be seen at Berlin’s swimming pools, on an equal footing.”
Matthias Oloew, spokesperson for the Berlin Bathing Societyat franceinfo
For Soraia Da Costa Batista, lawyer for the Association for Individual Liberties, it was important to put things right. “To impose different rules of dress for men and women, compelling reasons are needed and there is no reason to dress differently at the pool: it is an important clarification for gender equality”she says.
In Cologne or in Goettingen, topless bathing is also permitted in the town’s swimming pools. One in two Germans say they are in favor of the generalization of the measure, according to a Kantar poll for the German magazine Focus.