opinion poll
The topic of “topless women in the swimming pool” polarized
Allowing topless bathing for everyone – including women – met with greater approval from men than from female respondents. Photo: Annette Riedl/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
Not a nudist republic: According to a survey, many in Germany find themselves bashful. Opinions also differ on topless bathing for women, which some swimming pools now allow.
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.
Significant gender difference
In response to the question “The first baths allow naked upper bodies of women at certain times – what do you think of that?” only 28 percent of the women answered with “very good” or “fairly good”, compared to 46 percent of the male respondents. Looking 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.
Striking: young men (18 to 24 years) answered well below 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. In response to the question “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 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).