A turning point: In some pools, women are now allowed to swim bare-chested. The reactions are mixed: slightly more Germans tend to give a positive assessment. However, the difference between the sexes is clear.
In swimming pools there is a kind of two-class society when it comes to the dress code: While men are allowed to be “topless”, women have to cover their breasts. Some baths, for example in Göttingen in Lower Saxony, are now doing away with this. The new regulation has become a hot topic of the summer, for which there is now a representative YouGov survey commissioned by the German Press Agency.
According to this, 37 percent of adults in Germany rate it positively if, for example, the dress code in outdoor pools that women have to wear something on top is abolished. In the east (44 percent) there are more than in the west (35). Nationwide, 28 percent see it negatively, 26 percent are undecided (“partially/partially”), the rest made no statement.
However, there is a clear gender difference: In response to the question “First baths allow naked upper bodies of women at certain times – what do you think of that?” only 28 percent of the women answered “very well” or “fairly well”, while the figure for the male respondents was 46 percent. If you look at the age groups, the agreement among men is above average among the 25 to 34 year olds, the 45 to 54 year olds and the men over 55. It is striking that young men (18 to 24 years) answered far below on average only 32 percent positive, while women of the same age are particularly positive (41 percent).
When it comes to nudity, there is also a certain degree of polarization in Germany. When asked “How much do you like visiting nudist places, i.e. places where you have to be naked, such as saunas, special thermal baths or beaches?” 18 percent answered “very much” or “rather like”. For men it was 27 percent, for women only 10 percent. According to the survey, young men (18 to 24 years) have an above-average affinity, while women in the same age group are below-average enthusiastic about it.
When asked “Would you consider yourself modest about nudity?” 57 percent of women answered “yes,” compared to just 40 percent of men. Young women up to their mid-twenties were also particularly modest when it came to self-assessment. Older men aged 55 and over are particularly shameless among men (62 percent “no”, only 32 percent “yes”, the rest not specified).
