Free Republic

Women will continue to be barred from bathing topless at an indoor pool in the central Swedish town of Enköping following a decision by the town council’s recreation committee on Tuesday. Prior to the decision, committee member Stefan Brandberg cited concerns about the health of young girls in his opposition to the proposed lifting of the ban. “We believe that it can contribute to anorexia—there is a risk for that,” he said to the newspaper Expressen. Monica Hällgren, chair of the Enköping recreation committee, confirmed that one of the central arguments for leaving the ban in place was concern over...

Two Swedish women who want to be allowed go topless in the nation's swimming pools have had their case rejected by Sweden's equality watchdog. A ruling released on Friday underlined that women's bodies were different from men's: "There is a physical difference between a woman's upper body and that of a man," said Equal Opportunities Ombudsman Anne-Marie Bergström. "There is also a great difference between how people in general perceive men's and women's bodies. It is therefore hard to maintain that [the topless bathers] were in a comparable situation to men who bathed with naked upper bodies." Ragnhild Karlsson, 22,...