Topless Beaches: The great equalizers.

We recently traveled to Spain.  I loved it.  I actually teared up in the taxi when we were driving to the airport to return to the U.S.  I became instantly attached to the culture, their attitudes toward life, and, of course, their olives.  I have much to say about the week we spent there.

I took away a lot from Spain but there was one thing that really stood out.

We stayed in Barcelona, a coastal Mediterranean city.  Old and new, Barcelona has the best of both worlds. From incredible things to explore in the city proper, it also has some incredible beaches nearby.  As almost everything closes down on Sundays in Spain we decided we would take the train to a beach west of Barcelona.  This would be our first, and only, adventure out of the city.

We had been told that all of the beaches are topless.  I wasn't sure what to expect but was looking forward to learning about myself in a situation like that.  Husband.  Topless women.  Self doubt.  American Puritan prudence at its best.  I wondered how both of my daughters would react at the beach.  In some ways, they are more shy than I am.

After we stepped off the train we walked about 2 blocks to the sandy shore.  We tried not to stare or let our gazes wander.  I was shocked.  But I wasn't shocked because the beach was topless; I was shocked because none of it bothered me.  It wasn't bad at all.  It was instantly clear to me that all of the hype about topless beaches was just that...hype.  Yes, there were boobs all over the place.  Big boobs, flat boobs, sagging boobs, boobs that really should have been covered up and fabulous perky boobs.  There were even boobs that looked just like mine!  I fit right in.  I didn't go topless but felt great about myself.  It was such a reassuring feeling to know that had I gone topless nobody would have pointed at me.  Nobody would have snickered behind my back.  It was nice to know that I would have fit right in.  They would have walked right by noticing only the fabulous aquamarine colored water and the waves crashing the shore.  This beach was the greatest equalizer of all.  Nothing left to the imagination.  And that was good.

Who knows?  Maybe next time....

Comments

[marcos]

Barcelona city itself has even one naturist beach at the beginning of the "Mar Bella" beach , meaning that in that beach you can join with other fully naked people for your sunbathing. Lately this part of the beach has been taken over by the gay community, but you still find a considerable amount of women there too at times.

I think that nudity in Europe is generally not such a big issue as it is in the US. I lived in Berlin many years and people would go naked in parks at the centre of town or at the lakes surrounding the city. In Spain we are not specifically educated to understand that bodies are simply bodies —just about the same for all of us— but you simply grow with it on the landscape and you don't give public nakedness any particular meaning.

I guess it also reveals something about the attitude towards erotism, namely that nakedness within the appropriate intimate context does have a totally different meaning than when it is exposed as a mere recreational activity.

I remember when a friend from NYC visited me in Berlin and we attended a dance-theatre performance in which all the actors where naked. As art has been doing for centuries, it revealed the beauty of the naked body. My friend told me that that show would be banned in NYC if it was ever to come to the US.