The Difference that two Inches of Bikini can make

When Ramona and I were walking at the beach last time in Germany, we came to the ‘border’ of the nudist beach. In Germany, there is a sign that clearly shows from where onwards it is the designated area to be naked in. I commented on how funny this was – after all what difference does a bikini make? It only covers a few inches of the body!

A while later, those sentences were still on my mind. I know that people could very well think something wrong if they heard me say this. They might believe I am against wearing bikini and maybe even in favour of covering as much of the body as possible! Believe me, this is not what I am thinking!

I am not a nudist and I also don’t believe in covering every inch of the body with clothes. I am actually in favour of people living naturally and I don’t see anything wrong with people going in swimwear to the beach or also lying there naked. Even though I don’t normally sit naked in front of a lot of other people, I don’t mind others doing exactly that.

There is one thing about uncovering your body however which I do not like: when the only intention is to show off, to expose yourself on purpose and thus wanting to get a certain reaction. That is not natural anymore and always makes me feel a bit strange.

It is a topic that one has to be very careful with regarding one’s words: I don’t want to tell you not to have a cleavage at all or not to wear short skirts – but don’t just expose in order to, well, expose! That has nothing to do with the idea that I want you to cover up so that men respect you or you don’t get harassed! I think you should actually be able to go out fully without clothes and still be respected and not harassed! No, it is about the respect for yourself, not to use your body in a way that you reduce yourself to only your body with! Be natural!

The same is for men by the way! It is great that you have spent hours in gyms, working out and building those muscles, abs or your six-pack. Wonderful that you took care of your diet, ate less and drank lots of protein shakes. That does not however mean that you should walk around without a shirt at all times and all places!

To finally come back to the bikini question, I just sometimes wonder how societies have come to the point to reduce the dignity of a woman to a space that can be covered by two inches of cloth – and a man’s by a few inches more. Without it, it is a scandal – with it, just normal swimwear!

The dignity of a human being – a very particular thing!