Public swimming pools in the Spanish region of Catalonia have been ordered to let women go topless — or face hefty fines.
The idyllic northwest Spanish region officially passed the law in 2020 under a Catalan equality bill after Free Nipples’ activists fought for the topless law to take effect.
As a result, the regional government has allowed to fine authorities who don’t follow the ruling by up to $A820,000.
Despite this, some public pools still haven’t adhered to the new legislation – sparking fury among human rights advocates.
The frustrated group have reportedly lobbied the Catalan government’s equality and feminism department to write a letter to local towns to remind them of the compulsory law.
The letter said “preventing women from going topless excludes part of the population and violates the free choice of each person with regard to their body”.
“Local authorities must defend against discrimination for any motive … including sex or gender, religious convictions or dress.”
The authoritative letter was echoed by Mariona Trabal, a spokesperson for the Free Nipples group.
She said: “This is a gender equality issue: Men could [go topless] and women couldn’t.
“We don’t know why they have taken so long but we are very happy.”
It comes as Catalan authorities launched an advertising campaign to support a woman’s right to go topless last year.
One of their videos claimed: “The sexualisation of women starts when they are young and it accompanies us all our lives.
“That we must cover up our breasts in some spaces is proof.”
The equality advocates reportedly started the campaign after two women complained about being told to cover up their boobs at public pools.
Neus Pociello, executive director for the Catalan Women’s Institute, toldThe Telegraphthe campaign was targeted at ending discrimination.
“We wanted to try to combat the discrimination that women suffer sometimes when they go topless in some situations like swimming pools,” Pociello said.
“Women should have the right to freedom of expression with their bodies.
“This discrimination stems from the sexualisation of women’s bodies and it starts from a young age when girls are dressed in bikinis, even when they are pre-pubescent.
“We hope this campaign reverses this.”
This story originally appeared on The Sun and is republished here with permission