AnnaLynne McCord goes topless
By The Hunger
Having arrived in Malta a couple of days ago, I was greeted by the furnace-like heat this quaint little island is famous for. Naturally, the bevy of Maltese women sunning themselves like flamingos on vacation lured me to the beach.
After spending the last couple of months in Spain, I was reminded that the definition of beachwear varies from country to country and city to city. In Malta, Topless Sunbathing is uncommon, whereas in Spain there’s more skin on show than a Ross Meyers film. And this birthright isn’t only reserved for the beautiful or the rich. All walks of life – citizens with different shapes, sizes, ages and incomes – can make this choice if they want.
Topless Sunbathing
Cultural attitudes towards Topless Sunbathing differ considerably around the world. In my opinion, Europe has always been the most liberal, especially the sun-starved northern Europeans.
Australia a little less so; while there’s a visual smorgasbord of breasts on display at Bondi Beach, generally it’s a higher percentage of tourists.
The USA? Forget about it, unless it’s a nudist beach. Asia, no, and the Middle East, never!
Beachwear culture is knotted with religion and history. Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana and Ipanema beaches are famous for its nearly naked women sporting a tanga, (thongs) and it’s even skinnier sister called the fio dental (dental floss). A fio dental might be the same as nudity for some folk while for others this 2cm piece of cloth is just sexy.
You can’t miss the sexiness in the air or in the dancing, yet at the same time you can still feel a conservative undercurrent running through Catholic South America. Malta, Spain, and tens of other countries are Catholic as well, and all embrace their topless traditions differently.
Barcelona beaches
Residents of Barcelona think so. They’ve begun a campaign to stop people wearing bikinis and board shorts away from the beach. A spokesmen for the city said, “It’s not something which is banned, but it’s an attitude we don’t like.” They don’t mind if you’re nearly naked on the beach, but you need to adopt street wear etiquette once the sand ends. In other words, what happens on the beach stays on the beach.
Even within the topless realm, there are variations of toplessness that some enjoy and others object to. Facedown topless, or face up topless? It takes a different kind of confidence to walk down the beach topless or swim topless. I remember I was at the beach in Spain talking to an English friend (who was topless) and she couldn’t believe that some girls swam bare-breasted. It comes down to your confidence and comfort level, just like you won’t see me wearing Speedos any time soon.
The beach should be a place where sand and sun supersedes standard clothing etiquette. Since we spend 99% of public interaction in clothes, that other 1% is going to be pretty exciting.
Everyone is always looking at everyone else at the beach anyway. Whether Sunbathing Topless or not, bikini, burquini, mankini, or Speedos, there’s more primal psychology happening at the beach than on Freud’s couch. Ironically in some countries, the more you wear the more naked you feel.
