2023-08-26 10:02:36
On the beach, they can often be counted on the fingers of one hand. The monokini, fashionable in the 1980s, seems to have completely fallen into disuse. A trend confirmed by an Ifop* study carried out for xcams media in 2021. Only 16% of French women under the age of 50 surveyed sometimes tan topless, compared to 29% in 2016 and 43% in 1984. on the occasion of World Topless Day this Saturday, 20 Minutes wondered why this practice has become a minority.
“It’s dangerous,” says Nora, 38, who responded to our call for testimonials. “This increases the risk of skin cancer,” adds Karine, of the same age. The risk that exposure to the sun poses to their skin is one of the first reasons mentioned by women who decide to keep their swimsuit top. While it has now been proven that sun and skin cancer go hand in hand, exposure to the chest is no more likely to cause melanoma than any other part of the body. In addition, no study has shown a link between recurrent shirtless exposure and breast cancer.
Fear of men’s eyes
The fear of cancer is far from being solely responsible for the end of the monokini. Also pointed out, the “lustful looks of men”. Marilou, 25, notes the “insistent glances from men who [lui] are problematic. “It’s not the desire to tan topless that’s lacking, but the oversexualization of women’s breasts is unbearable”.
Have men become more voyeurs? “This is rather explained by the rarity which provokes attention”, analyzes David Le Breton, professor of sociology at the University of Strasbourg and author of The sociology of the body **. I also think that women of the younger generations have an exacerbated sensitivity to the gaze of men and want to put it at a distance. »
Fear of being assaulted
And it goes beyond looks. Half of women aged 18 to 24 who never tan topless surveyed expressed fear of being verbally, physically or sexually assaulted. A fear that also exists among their elders. “In the 1980s, the monokini was no problem but it wouldn’t occur to me today, for fear of being attacked by men,” admits Marianne, 56. An apprehension that is not unfounded. A woman sunbathing topless had, for example, been assaulted in the summer of 2016 by another woman who reproached her for her scanty outfit and asked her to hide her breasts.
The promiscuity specific to the beach also creates another concern. That of being photographed without his knowledge and that this shot ends up on social networks. Almost one in two women aged 18 to 24 who always sunbathe with their breasts covered make this argument. “Today, we can no longer control our image in the public space and this problem did not exist in the 1980s”, recalls the sociologist.
Fear of criticism from women
If the looks of men can get in the way, other women also sometimes push topless enthusiasts to retie their bikini tops. Sophie, 27, considers that “women allow themselves all kinds of comments that are sometimes hard to take”. An observation that Catherine also made, yet from a completely different generation. “The looks of other women are terrible. They glare at me. I don’t really know why. No doubt they can’t stand their husbands looking at me. I feel judged as if I were a tease, ”says the fifty-year-old who no longer dares to remove the top of her bikini.
How to explain this perception? For Eve, a young retiree, “topless sunbathing is a provocation and a lack of respect”. She even goes so far as to describe monokini enthusiasts as “provocateurs”. And she is not alone in sharing this opinion since 31% of women not practicing topless questioned in the Ifop study believe that exposing her bare breasts in public is a lack of respect for others.
An unsurprising appreciation for Fabienne Martin-Juchat, professor of communication science at the University of Grenoble and specialist in body communication, according to whom “each era defines the criteria of what is acceptable and vulgar or not”. Consequence: more than one in four women questioned who do not practice or no longer go topless would be afraid of being perceived as an immodest or indecent woman.
A flashback ?
Has our era become puritanical? This is the theory of Patricia, 65, a former monokini fan. “Our society is less tolerant than it was in the 1970s and 1980s. An analysis confirmed by David Le Breton. “There is a growing moralization in our societies. »
But if the younger generations no longer reveal their breasts at the beach, they do, however, highlight their buttocks, dressed in thongs or thongs. For Fabienne Martin-Juchat, it is therefore more of a fashion effect. “Each era and each society needs to redefine what we have the right to show. Each generation offers new codes to assert itself compared to the previous one. »
Body shaming
Codes, but also beauty criteria. Nearly a third of women aged 18 to 24 surveyed who do not practice topless dread negative reviews about the size, shape or firmness of their breasts. The Ifop study also shows that among the few women who have worn the monokini over the past three years, 36% consider themselves “very pretty”, and only 4% consider themselves “not pretty”. “It’s as if there were breasts that we would have the right to show and others not”, analyzes David Le Breton.
Mathilde, 45, who finds “so much more pleasant to dry off in five minutes in the sun rather than having a wet piece of cloth on her chest” has found the trick. “As soon as I see grannies who are resisting, I rush to settle in their corner and I fall from the top with happiness. Which perhaps allows another woman to do the same.
#terrible #women #topless