(Editor’s note: Though it may not be perfect weather for swimming and sunbathing, this is inspired by the Vancouver Maritime Museum’s recent exhibition “Babes and Bathers: History of the Swimsuit” which ran until November 2nd. This may also be inspiring reading for those headed to more tropical places for the holidays, or braving the Polar Bear Swim.)

According to Section 174 of the Criminal Code of Canada, “a person is nude who is so clad as to offend against public decency or order.” In this view, a fashion-irreverent (or is that “irrelevant”?) person like me is often “nude.” In fact, I’m likely “nude” right now!

The ambiguity of the criminal code allows us to ask some big questions about bodies in public spaces, even though BC’s current climate for public nudity is rather warm. Which bodies are entitled to occupy public space, in which outfits, and for which reasons? Why are some bare bodies subject to heightened scrutiny, others to ogling, and still others to punishment?

These questions occurred to me when I visited the Vancouver Maritime Museum’s recent exhibition, “Babes and Bathers: History of the Swimsuit”. As others have described, the show featured 60+ pieces of swimwear, most provided by Ivan Sayers, a local fashion historian. The suits ranged from the relatively reserved wool suits of the 1890s to the somewhat saucy numbers of the later 20^th century, including my favourite maroon number:

c. 1970-1975, made by Canadian company Majestic

As for local content, Vancouver brands such as Christopher Ryan featured prominently. Portland’s Jantzen company – which operated a Vancouver factory at Kingsway and East 10th Ave from the mid-20s to the 90s – was also represented. The Museum of Vancouver reports that the wool suits seen below, emblazoned with beaches’ names, were available as early as 1913 and weren’t retired until the 1960s.

Wool suits, available as early as 1913

Janet Smith suggests in The Georgia Straight that “the evolution of the swimsuit is directly related to the use of decreasing amounts of fabric.” While this is often true, the maroon men’s suit shown above reminds us that this history did not develop so evenly. Imagine the reactions this dated suit would elicit if it were donned at Second Beach pool in 2015! For that matter, compare the classic men’s Speedo to today’s trends of long board-shorts and loose trunks. Spandex – introduced to swimwear by Speedo in the 1970s – is now somewhat of a running cultural joke, permissible only for superheroes. As we’ve loosened men’s suits, perhaps the norms of Canadian masculinity have become tighter.

In a province and country with a legacy of punishing politically motivated nudism – recall that Canada’s 1932 criminalization of nudity was meant to target the Doukhobor people in BC , who were arrested after a nude protest – rethinking ideas about “public decency” is especially important. Much has changed since then; after all, I did walk past a gaggle of nude protestors at the Vancouver Art Gallery last week. However, it still befits us to confront the ways in which judgments about race, size, class, and ability shape our beliefs about which bodies are obscene, which should be covered, and which are entitled to bare (or adorn) skin in public. Perhaps these will spark important conversation regarding cultural norms of “decency” in public spaces.

• Autostraddles’s Swimsuit Issue: Butches, Bois, Femmes, Dykes, Grrrls and Otherwise-Identified Beachgoers
• Burqini Swimwear, producers of swimwear for Muslim women

Aquaporko!, “the story of Melbourne’s fat femme synchronized swim team.”

A detail from Paul Cézanne’s The Bathers (1906)

Theresa Goh Rui Si, paralympic swimmer (Singapore)

Achmat Hassiem, paralympic swimmer (South Africa)

For transgender people, bathrooms can really stink! Fortunately, Vancouverites have had ample chance to think creatively about bathroom access this year. In 2013, the Vancouver Parks Board struck a Trans* and Gender-Variant Inclusion Working Group to make recommendations on the city’s facilities, programming, training, and policies. In April 2014, the group presented its report, “Building a Path to Parks and Recreation for All: Reducing Barriers for Trans* & Gender-Variant Community Members.” The Parks Board was unanimous in its approval of the report’s 77 points. City dwellers that are new to trans issues might ask: how could there be 77 changes made to these spaces in which we make our #1s and #2s?

Sex-segregated bathrooms are places where simmering discomfort with transgender comes to a head. These scenarios might mean being stared at, treated suspiciously, asked to leave, assaulted, or arrested. For example, in 2002, transgender lawyer Dean Spade (Seattle) was arrested for using a men’s room in Grand Central Station. In 2010, a student at Cal State-Long Beach was followed into a bathroom, attacked, and had the word “IT” carved into his chest. A former lifeguard in Vancouver (who prefers to remain anonymous) describes a situation in which a trans woman was asked to leave a city pool after staff heard complaints about her presence. The author of this post can also tell many tales of being reported to staff at prairie YMCAs, quizzed about intimate body details by pool staff, or followed into bathrooms and confronted.

No wonder, then, that trans people insist that accessibility be rethought. In our city, this means we can soon expect to see non-gendered washrooms in parks, non-gendered signs on expanded universal change rooms, and more private changing stalls in all change rooms. There will also be increased support (via rental subsidies) to events such as the All Bodies Swim, a body-positive event that welcomes queer, trans, and disabled people to swim together.

This is good news. Let the champagne (and urine) flow freely! However, as disability and race advocates know, social inclusion is not achieved by mandated access alone. After all, a sidewalk is a “gender-neutral” space, but women who are commonly harassed know that policy alone does not defeat inequality. How can our city’s public spaces bring to life the promise of the new signs and facilities? Beyond the signs, how is gender-neutrality enacted?

Here are five small suggestions from the outlook of one transgender Vancouverite.

1. Know that trans people often face multiple types of discrimination. As we are often discriminated against in workplaces, the biggest barrier to public space a trans person might face is a high cover charge.
2. Because trans people often report disproportionate targeting by law enforcement, be mindful that many trans people will avoid spaces in which contact with law enforcement is more likely.
3. Choose venues with non-gendered washrooms, or else post a handmade sign on the washrooms.
4. Don’t require legal pieces of IDs for participation (or be welcoming to people with unconventional pieces of ID).
5. Use architecture and installation to imagine new kinds of bathrooms.

On the last point, here are two examples. Consider Monica Bonvicini’s piece, “Don’t Miss a Sec,” a functioning public bathroom encased in one-way mirrors. The effect is that the curious public crowds the mirrored box, squinting to see inside – while the bathroom user has the feeling of relieving oneself on a big public stage with the public scrutinizing. Such art might give a non-trans person a sample of what it feels like to be trans in a public washroom!

Architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro break down bathroom walls quite literally. In Brasserie, a mid-town Manhattan restaurant they designed in 2001, one long sink spans both bathrooms. The barely opaque wall between the rooms parts to let the sink pass. One small drain is located between the two rooms. Gendered wastewater swirls together and disappears. This whimsical design acknowledges – as will public spaces in Vancouver – that all of our gendered fluids end up in the same place anyhow. Recognizing this might just make bathrooms stink a little less for our city’s transgender, transsexual, and gender-variant dwellers.

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