MIXED BATHING [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
• Sra,—How refreshing it is that someone is at last willing to admit that the idea of bathing with ladies makes him feel uncomfortable ! Perhaps it is not generally 'realized what a large number of men share his opinion, and dislike mixed bathing as much as they dislike mixed hockey, tennis, or clubs. Seaside resorts should provide a bathing-place for men only and women only besides mixed bathing, so that all tastes would be catered for.
My. first experiences of mixed bathing were when, as a child in Russia before the War, I was taken by my governess with my brother and two sisters to bathe in a place where no one had ever been known to wear a bathing dress, and both sexes bathed together without feeling the slightest embarrassment. Since then I have never worn a bathing costume unless legally compelled to, as I consider that they ruin one's enjoyment of a bathe.
However, I am still sufficient of a Puritan to feel disgusted by the photographs published daily of young women in bathing dresses (showing just as much skin as the Town Council will permit) which offer a feast to the eye of the prurient for a penny, at the same time giving great satis- faction to the little exhibitionists whose photographs appear.
Here is a suggestion calculated to remove any stigma from mixed bathing. Every resort should have two mixed bathing places, one where no bathing costumes at all are permitted, and another where only a standard model of
bathing dress may be worn, a dress of a practical nature but as devoid as possible of any sex appeal. I cannot think
of a more interesting experiment.—I am, Sir, &c., F.
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