New Delhi: In a legal response to a woman’s plea for being allowed to swim topless just like men, the government on Thursday ruled that all swimmers at public pools in Berlin will soon be allowed to swim topless, according to the BBC.
The woman, whose identity has not been revealed, had turned to the senate’s ombudsperson’s office for equal treatment to demand that women, like men, should be permitted to go topless should they choose. As per BBC, Berlin authorities agreed they had been victims of discrimination and said that all visitors to Berlin’s pools are now entitled to go topless. In reaction to the complaint and the ombudsman’s involvement in the case, Berliner Baederbetriebe, which runs the city’s public pools, changed its clothing rules too accordingly.
“The ombudsperson’s office very much welcomes the decision of the Baederbetriebe, because it establishes equal rights for all Berliners, whether male, female or non-binary, and because it also creates legal certainty for the staff at the Baederbetriebe,” said Doris Liebscher, the head of the ombudsperson’s office, according to The Independent.
It is not clear when the new bathing rules would be applied. But the decision is expected to be welcomed by Germany’s freikorperkultur, or “free body culture”.
