Paris is set to crackdown on swimwear at its public beach:
PARIS, July 31 ? Paris is proud of its spirit of exhibitionism, so the front-page newspaper headline last weekend that the city?s man-made beach was enforcing a ban on thongs and bare breasts came as a bit of a shock.
Not only that, the article in the tabloid Le Parisien reported, but the police might go so far as to hand out a $48 fine for anyone who refused to cover up.
?Heat wave or not, appropriate dress is required,? the article proclaimed. Even if the thermometer hits 98 degrees in the shade, it added, ?young women in search of cool relief are requested to stay decent and not expose their bodily forms to the eyes of passers-by.?
Of course, some French-men and women still have that spirit of 1789 inside them:
Among some sunbathers, the flouting of the dress code mingles with relief that it might not be enforced wholeheartedly.
?We have so many problems in our country that deciding whether you take off your top or wear a thong is so trivial,? said Monique Ferrero, a 42-year-old government employee whose bikini bottom was rolled to show off her buttocks. ?What?s more important is that people who have to work all summer have a place to sunbathe and feel like they?re on vacation. If it?s forbidden to be bare, I don?t care.?
There seem to be as many men as women with bare buttocks. But the consensus seemed to be that only women were at risk.
?To stop women from wearing thongs, it?s just so outrageous,? said Rafael Santos, a tanned and well-oiled Brazilian property manager whose tiny Speedo revealed part of his buttocks.
It’s not exactly Liberte’, egalite’, franternite’ but its something.
August 11th, 2006 at 3:56 pm
[...] First it was the crackdown on revealing swimwear in Paris, now the French are apparently upset about photographs of a leading politician in a bikini: PARIS, France (Reuters) — Paparazzi photographs of Socialist presidential hopeful Segolene Royal in a turquoise bikini have raised eyebrows in France and underlined the spread of celebrity culture into France’s traditionally sober political coverage. [...]