Fewer French women dropping tops at beach
PARIS (UPI) -- Aesthetics and protecting the skin seem to be the main reasons French youth say the nation's famed topless beaches are becoming passe.


A growing number of French women are telling pollsters they don't plan on joining the older generations that pioneered the once-risque practice of bathing sans top, and are instead staying covered up.


"There are not that many nice-looking breasts, so why display them?" one 23-year-old woman told the Los Angeles Times. "And it's a generational question. Mostly 50-year-old women do it."


Other mademoiselles told the Times they weren't fond of being ogled by male beach-goers.


Even some women who spent many a summer in a monokini say they are less inclined to go topless if for no other reason than to reduce their exposure to ultra-violet rays from the sun.


But topless sunbathing in France has not yet been totally abandoned. Some young women told the Times they will still toss their tops on occasion in order to eliminate tan lines, but only when they are among friends with no interloping men lurking about.




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