AIBU to go topless at the local outdoor swimming pool?

[BrightBlueStar]

It's a glorious day & I'm at the local outdoor pool. It was a right hassle getting here (3 children under 5, queue to get in etc.) but now I'm here it's amazing! HOWEVER realised I've forgotten my bikini top!!! Not wearing a bra so can't use that instead. Going back for a bikini top isn't an option (it's a long round trip, would have to pay/queue again yadayadayada). This has made me think - Could I go topless? Im desperate for a swim and don't care about other people seeing my breasts. I'm not English and where I'm from going topless is more common. But here none of the women are topless.

Is it against the law? Would I be told off?

Would you go topless and if not why not?

*explain away

I think you'd find the other parents soon coming over and covering you up themselves. I know I would. You might walk around in front of your children with no top on but other parents have a right to not have you do it in front of theirs. I don't know any pool in this country that would allow it.

I think there's a public decency act in this country and that would cover it. Only place you can do it is on a designated topless beach and i don't think there are any in this country. Just keep your top on and swim in that :)

Glad someone found a top for you. Think you are amazing for getting out the house and looking after your three. Hope you enjoyed your swim and managed a bit of a rest in the sun too!

www.walkingclub.org.uk/nudist-beach/map.html

A quick Google shows shed loads of naturist beaches in the UK svalentine60 - you'd better take something to shield your eyes and those of any children you might wish to protect from the corrupting influence of naked breasts next time you go near the coast, just incase!

Would you really chase after a topless swimmer and try to cover them up? That would be jolly amusing to watch :o

I think there's a public decency act in this country and that would cover it. Only place you can do it is on a designated topless beach and i don't think there are any in this country. Just keep your top on and swim in that smile.

A common, and inaccurate, belief.
Nudity in a public place is not an offence per se. It only becomes illegal if intended to cause offence. Sitting or laying quietly on a beach without clothes is not illegal. If it was, I and many others would have lengthy criminal records.

I thought we are living in the 21st century, not the 19th!?

Technically showing a nipple deliberately in public could be construed as public indecency, but in practice this is unlikely to happen in this country (look at the number of people, including my mother, who go topless on UK beaches, naked bike ride and in parks). In reality this law is vague and I've never heard of anybody being prosecuted for it this new millennium...

Judgement on public boobies represses us Brits I think: www.mumsnet.com/bloggers/blog-of-the-day#monday

Bodies are harmless

Depends on your perspective. I really don't want to see saggy breasts, bottoms or hairy fat bellies. Put them away.

It's also better to keep covered up so that you don't get sun damage. In particular, the skin around your nipples is very sensitive.

@svalentine60 really? You would chase people up and cover them with.. I don't know towels?
Do you chase topless men around town and cover them up too?

Mulled if imperfect bodies offend you you will obviously be unhappy at public swimming pools and beaches even where everyone is wearing swimwear - plenty of fat hairy sagginess not covered by swimwear if you can't help looking. Best stay in places people are fully dressed.

I got told to cover myself up on a beach in America once. We were a long way from anyone else and I was lying flat but I guess I offended somebody Never dared go topless again.

Some Americans are incredibly prudish Bobby - I suppose like every nationality there are wildly varying groups depending on exactly what area and 101 other things, but there is certainly a very uptight section of society there. An American toddlers group acquaintance told me that kids would never be allowed to play in their garden paddling pool naked in the states and if they did a neighbor would probably call the police!

@Mulledwine1 you don't go to the beach/ pool much then as those views are plenty from both men and women.

ComputerUserNotTrained, it's my observation that when the Tories are in power, negative, judgemental speech becomes de riguer in the media, and the judgy members of the public feel more emboldened to go around telling other people all the ways they're unacceptable. I do not have an academic study to back it up though

@Mulled - "I don't want to see it" doesn't constitute harm. There are all sorts of things I prefer not to see, but I don't impose that preference on everyone unless there's a real reason.

All of this does raise interesting questions about societal norms. If I saw a woman topless in France, Spain or Italy I'd think "completely normal, nothing to see here". At my local lido I'd be which I suppose shows how prudish we are as a nation. Plus, if I got my boobs out in public the sun would disappear - and I don't mean in a good way.

This has fuck all to do with the Tories.

You are completely entitled to disagree with me. I would be surprised if 7 years of a certain type of narrative didn't have a cultural impact.

I don't think it has anything to do with any political party but with a certain social conservatism (with a small 'c'), but I take your point, stealthhippy about creeping changing of language etc.

It's not really the done thing to be topless here OP, I do love it on foreign beaches though how the women seem so carefree to go around with their breasts out! And that it's not a sexual thing in the slightest. That's the way it should be, if they are comfortable.
We're more conservative here - that's fine too but yeah you'd get complaints at a pool.

Actually, you will probably be ok sunbathing topless if you are discrete, but you will probably be asked to cover up if you tried swimming.

Someting has changed in society. In the 70's and 80's toplessness was very popular even braless was popular. But since about 2006 toplessness is declining everywhere so today it is generally nude or prude. If you go to Studland for example there is a nudist section and the rest of the beach you won't find anyone topless. Historically, the non-nude section had about 25% topless. Today you will be hard pressed to see anyone topless.

SevenSpades this thread was posted a year ago.

There are an awful lot of men with bigger boobs/moobs than me, do you think I'd get away with it on that basis?