Sydney’s G-string swimwear row is nothing but hot air

As the hot Australia summer rolls on, so too do the summer silly season stories. The latest is a Sydney council imposing bans on G-string bathing costumes at its public swimming pools. 

When it comes to swimwear, Australia has had a long tradition of community standards conflicting with personal freedom. In the early years of the 20th century, anything not neck-to-knee got you ejected from Sydney beaches. In the fifties, as bikinis became popular, patrolling beach inspectors actually measured women’s bikini tops and bottoms to ensure they retained the requisite degree of modesty.

This summer, Blue Mountains City Council, in the eponymous hills rising above the western hinterland of Sydney, has felt moved to resolve ‘confusion’ about dress standards for swimmers using its pools and leisure centres. Referring to a poster displayed on-site illustrating appropriate swimwear, in a convoluted Facebook post the council’s leisure centre management attempted to lay down the law.