It no longer attracts the attention it once did so the “trend setters” are moving on. Or, it could just be the sight of those 50+ year old women.

It was hailed as feminist progress. Women could go topless, “just like men” – even though that was never really so, as it was always more complicated for women, who had to decide first if they would do it at all, and then only “horizontally” (i.e. while sunbathing) or “vertically” (swimming and walking on the beach) too.

Still, going topless suited the era, coming, as it did, just a year before another feminist breakthrough, the legalisation of the Pill. Like contraception, toplessness (at both the beach and municipal pools) was seen as a way for women to assert and control their own sexuality.

So what happened? Why is it that you hardly see women going topless in France any more? Or if you do, they’re more likely to be in their 50+year-old veterans of feminist battles who are damned if they’re going to give up any of the rights they fought for.

BBC