Sea bathing
Encyclopedia
Sea bathing is swimming in the sea or in sea water and a sea bath is a protective enclosure for sea bathing. Unlike bathing in a swimming pool, which is generally done for pleasure or exercise purposes, sea bathing was once thought to have curative or therapeutic value. It arose from the medieval practice of visiting spas
for the beneficial effects of the waters. The practice of sea bathing dates back to the 17th century but became popular in the late 18th century. The development of the first swimsuit
s dates from the period as does the development of the bathing machine
.
In the 19th century, the introduction of railways led to the further development of seaside resort
s and bathing box
es. The death of large numbers of people while swimming in the open sea led to the introduction of surf lifesaving in Australia and lifeguards throughout the world in the early 20th century. With the extension of scheduled air transport in the latter half of the 20th century, the development of seaside resort areas such as Ibiza
in Spain, the Queensland Gold Coast
in Australia and the Florida Gold Coast in the US has attracted millions of visitors annually.
in Belgium, Bath in England and Aachen
in Germany. Sea water was similarly believed to have medicinal benefits. The medicinal benefits of the sun were also being recognised.
In 1753, Dr. Charles Russel published The Uses of Sea Water which recommended the use of sea water for healing various diseases, and William Buchan wrote his 1769 book Domestic Medicine advocating the practice. Sea bathing and sea water were advocated with winter considered to be the best time to follow the practice. Buchan's book was published until 1846 and was translated into many languages.
Sea bathing in combination with the drinking of sea water became fashionable as the cure for many and varied diseases in the 18th century. Marine hospitals
opened in parts of France and England. The first French marine hospital, Petit Berck, opened in 1861.
There has been a tremendous growth in sea bathing, especially in the 20th century. However, the trend was slightly reversed after melanoma
was linked with excessive exposure to the sun. With Australians having the highest rate of skin cancer in the world, the "Slip, Slop, Slap" campaign was developed to encourage people to slip on a shirt, slop on sunscreen and slap on a hat.
Though no longer widely considered to actually cure disease, shades of the supposed curative properties of sea water can still be noted with the trend of bath products containing Dead Sea
salt, which is claimed to provide some relief from certain skin diseases.
With Buchan's recommendations, people suddenly flocked to the coasts, especially to Great Britain and France. The public and authorities were concerned with the morality of general sea bathing. Scarborough was the first resort to introduce bathing machine
s, with a John Setterington engraving showing machines in 1736. They were soon adopted in most of the aspiring English seaside resorts. Women would wear "bathing gowns" in the water while the men would wear long swimsuits. Some resorts such as Margate
had modesty hoods or tilts which were canvas awnings attached to bathing machines. These could be let down to allow a woman to enter and leave the water in privacy. If desired, the woman could also be dipped in privacy under the shelter of the hood.
By the end of the 18th century, sea bathing became highly fashionable with George III
visiting Weymouth for the first time with the bathing machines showing God Save the King
. Fanny Burney
recorded a humorous incident in her diaries.
During this period, resorts sprang up along the English coast
, such as Weymouth, Bournemouth
, Blackpool
and Scarborough. In 1771, Tobias Smollett
recorded the use of bathing machines in The Expedition of Humphrey Clinker. Jane Austen
regularly visited seaside resorts and in her uncompleted novel Sanditon
stated "The Sea air and Sea Bathing together were nearly infallible, one or the other of them being a match for every Disorder..."
The invention of the railway, and the proliferation of rail travel in the mid-19th century made it possible for large numbers of people to visit coastal regions. The railways, seaside towns and resorts promoted the purported health benefits of sea water; and resort towns grew enormously. Resorts were set up throughout Europe in the late 18th century and early 19th century as far north as Scandinavia. In the United States, resorts such as Atlantic City became very popular while the French Riviera
became popular not only amongst the French but with English visitors.
Dippers or guides were used with the bathing machines and they escorted visitors into the water. Some of the dippers became quite famous with Martha Gunn and Old Smoaker of Brighton
both having worked for the Prince Regent
. The role of the dipper was to ensure that the guest had enough dips. For medically prescribed bathing the standard dip was apparently three total immersions. The practice of dipping disappeared in the 1850s. Some bathers went to the seaside primarily for pleasure, while perhaps using health as an excuse.
The bathing machines remained in active use on English beaches until the 1890s, when they began to be parked on the beach. They were then used as stationary changing rooms for a number of years. Most of them had disappeared in the United Kingdom by 1914. However, they have survived to this day as bathing boxes
in many parts around the world.
In the 20th century, restrictions on sea bathing were gradually eased throughout the world. In 1903, Australian bathers were allowed to use public beaches in daylight hours. Then the prohibition to Sunday, Christmas and Easter bathing was revoked in the 1920s, and mixed bathing
commenced to be permitted in the 1940s. Restrictions on swimsuits were also eased over time, with some beaches being designated as topless and others as nude
.
As public bathing became more popular, there were risks as inexperienced swimmers went out into unfamiliar waters. In the US, lifeguard
s were often paid employees of local governments employed when bathing was most popular. In Australia, the Surf Bathing Association of NSW was formed in 1907 to coordinate voluntary surf lifesaving on beaches throughout Sydney. This organisation became the Surf Lifesaving Association of Australia
in 1923. This organisation proved its worth on February 6, 1938 on Bondi Beach when hundreds of bathers were saved when they were taken out to sea in a freak rip on what became known as Black Sunday. Lifesaving organisations were established in other countries such as Canada and the UK. As a result of the development of such organisations, lifesaving techniques became standardised and competitions between competing clubs were established becoming popular.
In Bath all males over the age of 10 had to wear drawers and a smock in the public baths. If they wanted to bathe naked they could pay more and bathe at one of the private baths. At the seaside they were able to bathe naked. They did however make use of the bathing machines for changing into and out of their clothes. Nude swimming in rivers and lakes was common.
The Bath Corporation official bathing dress code of 1737 prescribed for men:
The English practice of men swimming in the nude was banned in the United Kingdom in 1860. Drawers, or caleçons as they were called, came into use in the 1860s. Even then there were many who protested against them and wanted to remain in the nude. Kilvert described men's bathing suits coming into use in the 1870s as "a pair of very short red and white stripped drawers".
Throughout the world, some daring male bathers did not wear a top.
There is less certainty about lady’s bathing costumes. Contemporary prints by artists like Thomas Rowlandson
depict women bathing in the nude. On the other hand, costume books and some contemporary accounts indicate that in the sea they bathed in a chemise-like garment of flannel or other strong material.
Female bathing costumes in particular were derived from what was worn at Bath and other spas. By the 1670s nude bathing there had given way to clothed bathing. In 1687 Celia Fiennes gave a detailed description of the standard attire for women:
The Bath Corporation official bathing dress code of 1737 prescribed for women:
The Expedition of Humphrey Clinker was published in 1771 and its description of ladies’ bathing costume is different to that of Celia Fiennes a hundred years earlier:
Penelope Byrde points out that Smollett’s description may not be accurate, for he describes a two-piece costume, not the one piece shift or smock that most people describe and is depicted in contemporary prints. His description does, however, tally with Elizabeth Grant’s description of the guide’s costume at Ramsgate in 1811. The only difference is in the fabric the costumes are made of. Flannel, however, was a common fabric for sea bathing costumes as many believed the warmer fabric was necessary in cold water.
In New South Wales
and other parts of Australia, bathing in the sea was banned during daylight between 1838 and 1902, because women's swimming costumes were considered indecent despite being neck to knee and men often swam nude, as was mixed swimming. Bathing was segregated in the United Kingdom until 1901.
Annette Kellerman
, an Australian swimmer championed the use of a onepiece swimsuit and toured throughout the world as the "Australian mermaid" and the "diving Venus". Kellerman was arrested on a Boston beach for public indecency
for wearing her trademark one-piece swimsuit but by the 1910s the style was becoming generally acceptable.
In the 1940s, women’s magazines started using advertisements that encouraged sun bathing, with greater emphasis on sun tanning
than swimming. A tan became a sign of wealth, indicating that the individual was wealthy enough to go on holidays to a warmer climate. To gain an "all over tan", women's swimsuits became as abbreviated as the wearer was game to wear, with bikini
s increasingly displacing the one-piece swimsuit
as the most common swimwear after the 1950s, and with even briefer monokini
s, string bikinis and G-string
s also being seen. This fashion was met with considerable resistance from more conservative people. In the 1950s, beach inspectors banned women wearing shortish bikinis from Bondi Beach in Sydney while G-strings are banned from many beaches in the US.
, Gold Coast - Tweed and Cairns all having good beaches, warm weather and growth rates exceeding 20%.
In the US, the Gold Coast (Florida)
enjoyed similar growth as first the railroad and then aircraft brought tourists to its beaches for bathing. By 2000, the Miami
and Fort Lauderdale areas had a total population of just under 4 million. Tourism is one of the areas largest employees with tourists from around the world travelling to Florida's beaches.
In Europe, the presence of good beaches for bathing, a warm climate and favourable exchange rates led to the rapid growth of tourism in Spain. By 1974, tourism had become Spain's leading industry and Spain is currently the world's second most popular tourism destination after France. Similarly, the popularity of Greek beaches was a major factor in tourism in Greece
accounting for a quarter of Greece's foreign earnings.
Destination spa
A destination spa is a short term residential/lodging facility with the primary purpose of providing individual services for spa-goers to develop healthy habits. Historically many such spas were developed at the location of natural hot springs or sources of mineral waters...
for the beneficial effects of the waters. The practice of sea bathing dates back to the 17th century but became popular in the late 18th century. The development of the first swimsuit
Swimsuit
A swimsuit, bathing suit, or swimming costume is an item of clothing designed to be worn by men, women or children while they are engaging in a water-based activity or water sports, such as swimming, water polo, diving, surfing, water skiing, or during activities in the sun, such as sun bathing.A...
s dates from the period as does the development of the bathing machine
Bathing machine
The bathing machine was a device, popular in the 18th and 19th centuries, to allow people to change out of their usual clothes, possibly change into swimwear and then wade in the ocean at beaches. Bathing machines were roofed and walled wooden carts rolled into the sea...
.
In the 19th century, the introduction of railways led to the further development of seaside resort
Seaside resort
A seaside resort is a resort, or resort town, located on the coast. Where a beach is the primary focus for tourists, it may be called a beach resort.- Overview :...
s and bathing box
Beach hut
A beach hut is a small, usually wooden and often brightly coloured, box above the high tide mark on popular bathing beaches. They are generally used as a shelter from the sun or wind, changing into and out of swimming costumes and for the safe storing of some personal belongings...
es. The death of large numbers of people while swimming in the open sea led to the introduction of surf lifesaving in Australia and lifeguards throughout the world in the early 20th century. With the extension of scheduled air transport in the latter half of the 20th century, the development of seaside resort areas such as Ibiza
Ibiza
Ibiza or Eivissa is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea 79 km off the coast of the city of Valencia in Spain. It is the third largest of the Balearic Islands, an autonomous community of Spain. With Formentera, it is one of the two Pine Islands or Pityuses. Its largest cities are Ibiza...
in Spain, the Queensland Gold Coast
Gold Coast, Queensland
Gold Coast is a coastal city of Australia located in South East Queensland, 94km south of the state capital Brisbane. With a population approximately 540,000 in 2010, it is the second most populous city in the state, the sixth most populous city in the country, and also the most populous...
in Australia and the Florida Gold Coast in the US has attracted millions of visitors annually.
Benefits
The growth in popularity of sea bathing developed from the perceived health benefits of mineral springs, such as those at SpaSpa, Belgium
Spa is a municipality of Belgium. It lies in the country's Walloon Region and Province of Liège. It is situated in a valley in the Ardennes mountain chain, some southeast of Liège, and southwest of Aachen. As of 1 January 2006, Spa had a total population of 10,543...
in Belgium, Bath in England and Aachen
Aachen
Aachen has historically been a spa town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Aachen was a favoured residence of Charlemagne, and the place of coronation of the Kings of Germany. Geographically, Aachen is the westernmost town of Germany, located along its borders with Belgium and the Netherlands, ...
in Germany. Sea water was similarly believed to have medicinal benefits. The medicinal benefits of the sun were also being recognised.
In 1753, Dr. Charles Russel published The Uses of Sea Water which recommended the use of sea water for healing various diseases, and William Buchan wrote his 1769 book Domestic Medicine advocating the practice. Sea bathing and sea water were advocated with winter considered to be the best time to follow the practice. Buchan's book was published until 1846 and was translated into many languages.
Sea bathing in combination with the drinking of sea water became fashionable as the cure for many and varied diseases in the 18th century. Marine hospitals
Marine Hospital Service
The Marine-Hospital Service was an organization of Marine Hospitals dedicated to the care of ill and disabled seamen in the U.S. Merchant Marine, U.S. Coast Guard and other federal beneficiaries....
opened in parts of France and England. The first French marine hospital, Petit Berck, opened in 1861.
There has been a tremendous growth in sea bathing, especially in the 20th century. However, the trend was slightly reversed after melanoma
Melanoma
Melanoma is a malignant tumor of melanocytes. Melanocytes are cells that produce the dark pigment, melanin, which is responsible for the color of skin. They predominantly occur in skin, but are also found in other parts of the body, including the bowel and the eye...
was linked with excessive exposure to the sun. With Australians having the highest rate of skin cancer in the world, the "Slip, Slop, Slap" campaign was developed to encourage people to slip on a shirt, slop on sunscreen and slap on a hat.
Though no longer widely considered to actually cure disease, shades of the supposed curative properties of sea water can still be noted with the trend of bath products containing Dead Sea
Dead Sea
The Dead Sea , also called the Salt Sea, is a salt lake bordering Jordan to the east and Israel and the West Bank to the west. Its surface and shores are below sea level, the lowest elevation on the Earth's surface. The Dead Sea is deep, the deepest hypersaline lake in the world...
salt, which is claimed to provide some relief from certain skin diseases.
Bathing in the 18th and 19th century
Bathing machine
The bathing machine was a device, popular in the 18th and 19th centuries, to allow people to change out of their usual clothes, possibly change into swimwear and then wade in the ocean at beaches. Bathing machines were roofed and walled wooden carts rolled into the sea...
s, with a John Setterington engraving showing machines in 1736. They were soon adopted in most of the aspiring English seaside resorts. Women would wear "bathing gowns" in the water while the men would wear long swimsuits. Some resorts such as Margate
Margate
-Demography:As of the 2001 UK census, Margate had a population of 40,386.The ethnicity of the town was 97.1% white, 1.0% mixed race, 0.5% black, 0.8% Asian, 0.6% Chinese or other ethnicity....
had modesty hoods or tilts which were canvas awnings attached to bathing machines. These could be let down to allow a woman to enter and leave the water in privacy. If desired, the woman could also be dipped in privacy under the shelter of the hood.
By the end of the 18th century, sea bathing became highly fashionable with George III
George III of the United Kingdom
George III was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of these two countries on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until his death...
visiting Weymouth for the first time with the bathing machines showing God Save the King
God Save the Queen
"God Save the Queen" is an anthem used in a number of Commonwealth realms and British Crown Dependencies. The words of the song, like its title, are adapted to the gender of the current monarch, with "King" replacing "Queen", "he" replacing "she", and so forth, when a king reigns...
. Fanny Burney
Fanny Burney
Frances Burney , also known as Fanny Burney and, after her marriage, as Madame d’Arblay, was an English novelist, diarist and playwright. She was born in Lynn Regis, now King’s Lynn, England, on 13 June 1752, to musical historian Dr Charles Burney and Mrs Esther Sleepe Burney...
recorded a humorous incident in her diaries.
- "Nor is this all. Think but of the surprise of His Majesty when, the first time of his bathing, he had no sooner popped his royal head under water than a band of music, concealed in a neighbouring machine, struck up "God save great George our King".
During this period, resorts sprang up along the English coast
Coast
A coastline or seashore is the area where land meets the sea or ocean. A precise line that can be called a coastline cannot be determined due to the dynamic nature of tides. The term "coastal zone" can be used instead, which is a spatial zone where interaction of the sea and land processes occurs...
, such as Weymouth, Bournemouth
Bournemouth
Bournemouth is a large coastal resort town in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. According to the 2001 Census the town has a population of 163,444, making it the largest settlement in Dorset. It is also the largest settlement between Southampton and Plymouth...
, Blackpool
Blackpool
Blackpool is a borough, seaside town, and unitary authority area of Lancashire, in North West England. It is situated along England's west coast by the Irish Sea, between the Ribble and Wyre estuaries, northwest of Preston, north of Liverpool, and northwest of Manchester...
and Scarborough. In 1771, Tobias Smollett
Tobias Smollett
Tobias George Smollett was a Scottish poet and author. He was best known for his picaresque novels, such as The Adventures of Roderick Random and The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle , which influenced later novelists such as Charles Dickens.-Life:Smollett was born at Dalquhurn, now part of Renton,...
recorded the use of bathing machines in The Expedition of Humphrey Clinker. Jane Austen
Jane Austen
Jane Austen was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature, her realism and biting social commentary cementing her historical importance among scholars and critics.Austen lived...
regularly visited seaside resorts and in her uncompleted novel Sanditon
Sanditon
Sanditon , also known as Sand and Sandition is an unfinished novel by the British novelist Jane Austen.-Background:In Sanditon, Austen explored her interest in the verbal construction of a society by means of a town – and a set of families – that is still in the process of being formed...
stated "The Sea air and Sea Bathing together were nearly infallible, one or the other of them being a match for every Disorder..."
The invention of the railway, and the proliferation of rail travel in the mid-19th century made it possible for large numbers of people to visit coastal regions. The railways, seaside towns and resorts promoted the purported health benefits of sea water; and resort towns grew enormously. Resorts were set up throughout Europe in the late 18th century and early 19th century as far north as Scandinavia. In the United States, resorts such as Atlantic City became very popular while the French Riviera
French Riviera
The Côte d'Azur, pronounced , often known in English as the French Riviera , is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France, also including the sovereign state of Monaco...
became popular not only amongst the French but with English visitors.
Dippers or guides were used with the bathing machines and they escorted visitors into the water. Some of the dippers became quite famous with Martha Gunn and Old Smoaker of Brighton
Brighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
both having worked for the Prince Regent
George IV of the United Kingdom
George IV was the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and also of Hanover from the death of his father, George III, on 29 January 1820 until his own death ten years later...
. The role of the dipper was to ensure that the guest had enough dips. For medically prescribed bathing the standard dip was apparently three total immersions. The practice of dipping disappeared in the 1850s. Some bathers went to the seaside primarily for pleasure, while perhaps using health as an excuse.
The bathing machines remained in active use on English beaches until the 1890s, when they began to be parked on the beach. They were then used as stationary changing rooms for a number of years. Most of them had disappeared in the United Kingdom by 1914. However, they have survived to this day as bathing boxes
Beach hut
A beach hut is a small, usually wooden and often brightly coloured, box above the high tide mark on popular bathing beaches. They are generally used as a shelter from the sun or wind, changing into and out of swimming costumes and for the safe storing of some personal belongings...
in many parts around the world.
Bathing in the 20th and 21st century
Mixed bathing
Mixed bathing is a term that refers to members of the opposite gender swimming together in the same pool. In ancient Rome, mixed bathing was never the rule in public installations, although it did occur in private facilities. Today, in Japan, the practice is not common...
commenced to be permitted in the 1940s. Restrictions on swimsuits were also eased over time, with some beaches being designated as topless and others as nude
Nude beach
A nude beach is a beach where users are legally at liberty to be nude. Sometimes the terms clothing-optional beach or free beach are used. Nude bathing is one of the most common forms of nudity in public. As beaches are usually on public lands, any member of the public is entitled to use the...
.
As public bathing became more popular, there were risks as inexperienced swimmers went out into unfamiliar waters. In the US, lifeguard
Lifeguard
A lifeguard supervises the safety and rescue of swimmers, surfers, and other water sports participants such as in a swimming pool, water park, or beach. Lifeguards are strong swimmers and trained in first aid, certified in water rescue using a variety of aids and equipment depending on...
s were often paid employees of local governments employed when bathing was most popular. In Australia, the Surf Bathing Association of NSW was formed in 1907 to coordinate voluntary surf lifesaving on beaches throughout Sydney. This organisation became the Surf Lifesaving Association of Australia
Surf Life Saving Australia
Surf lifesaving is a multifaceted movement that comprises key aspects of voluntary lifeguard services and competitive surf sport. Originating in early 20th century Australia, the movement has expanded globally to other countries including New Zealand, Ireland, South Africa, and the United States...
in 1923. This organisation proved its worth on February 6, 1938 on Bondi Beach when hundreds of bathers were saved when they were taken out to sea in a freak rip on what became known as Black Sunday. Lifesaving organisations were established in other countries such as Canada and the UK. As a result of the development of such organisations, lifesaving techniques became standardised and competitions between competing clubs were established becoming popular.
Swimwear
In the United Kingdom there was no law against nude swimming, but each town was free to make its own laws. In public baths, bathers wore the bathing costumes prescribed by town authorities. In rivers, lakes and streams men swam in the nude.Men
The Bath Corporation official bathing dress code of 1737 prescribed for men:
- It is Ordered Established and Decreed by this Corporation that no Male person above the age of ten years shall at any time hereafter go into any Bath or Baths within this City by day or by night without a Pair of Drawers and a Waistcoat on their bodies.
The English practice of men swimming in the nude was banned in the United Kingdom in 1860. Drawers, or caleçons as they were called, came into use in the 1860s. Even then there were many who protested against them and wanted to remain in the nude. Kilvert described men's bathing suits coming into use in the 1870s as "a pair of very short red and white stripped drawers".
Throughout the world, some daring male bathers did not wear a top.
Women
Thomas Rowlandson
Thomas Rowlandson was an English artist and caricaturist.- Biography :Rowlandson was born in Old Jewry, in the City of London. He was the son of a tradesman or city merchant. On leaving school he became a student at the Royal Academy...
depict women bathing in the nude. On the other hand, costume books and some contemporary accounts indicate that in the sea they bathed in a chemise-like garment of flannel or other strong material.
Female bathing costumes in particular were derived from what was worn at Bath and other spas. By the 1670s nude bathing there had given way to clothed bathing. In 1687 Celia Fiennes gave a detailed description of the standard attire for women:
- The Ladyes go into the bath with Garments made of a fine yellow canvas, which is stiff and made large with great sleeves like a parson’s gown; the water fills it up so that it is borne off that your shape is not seen, it does not cling close as other linning, which Lookes sadly in the poorer sort that go in their own linning. The Gentlemen have drawers and wastcoates of the same sort of canvas, this is the best linning, for the bath water will Change any other yellow.
The Bath Corporation official bathing dress code of 1737 prescribed for women:
- No Female person shall at any time hereafter go into a Bath or Baths within this City by day or by night without a decent Shift on their bodies.
The Expedition of Humphrey Clinker was published in 1771 and its description of ladies’ bathing costume is different to that of Celia Fiennes a hundred years earlier:
- The ladies wear jackets and petticoats of brown linen, with chip hats, in which they fix their handkerchiefs to wipe the sweat from their faces; but, truly, whether it is owing to the steam that surrounds them, or the heat of the water, or the nature of the dress, or to all these causes together, they look so flushed, and so frightful, that I always turn my eyes another way.
Penelope Byrde points out that Smollett’s description may not be accurate, for he describes a two-piece costume, not the one piece shift or smock that most people describe and is depicted in contemporary prints. His description does, however, tally with Elizabeth Grant’s description of the guide’s costume at Ramsgate in 1811. The only difference is in the fabric the costumes are made of. Flannel, however, was a common fabric for sea bathing costumes as many believed the warmer fabric was necessary in cold water.
In New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
and other parts of Australia, bathing in the sea was banned during daylight between 1838 and 1902, because women's swimming costumes were considered indecent despite being neck to knee and men often swam nude, as was mixed swimming. Bathing was segregated in the United Kingdom until 1901.
Annette Kellerman
Annette Kellerman
Annette Marie Sarah Kellerman was an Australian professional swimmer, vaudeville and film star, and writer...
, an Australian swimmer championed the use of a onepiece swimsuit and toured throughout the world as the "Australian mermaid" and the "diving Venus". Kellerman was arrested on a Boston beach for public indecency
Public indecency
Public indecency refers to conduct undertaken in a non-private or publicly-viewable location, which are deemed indecent in nature, such as indecent exposure and sexual intercourse or masturbation in public view. Such activity is often illegal...
for wearing her trademark one-piece swimsuit but by the 1910s the style was becoming generally acceptable.
In the 1940s, women’s magazines started using advertisements that encouraged sun bathing, with greater emphasis on sun tanning
Sun tanning
Sun tanning or simply tanning is the process whereby skin color is darkened or tanned. The process is most often a result of exposure to ultraviolet radiation from the sun or from artificial sources, such as a tanning bed, but can also be a result of windburn or reflected light...
than swimming. A tan became a sign of wealth, indicating that the individual was wealthy enough to go on holidays to a warmer climate. To gain an "all over tan", women's swimsuits became as abbreviated as the wearer was game to wear, with bikini
Bikini
The bikini is typically a women's two-piece swimsuit. One part of the attire covers the breasts and the other part covers the crotch and part of or the entire buttocks, leaving an uncovered area between the two. Merriam–Webster describes the bikini as "a woman's scanty two-piece bathing suit" or "a...
s increasingly displacing the one-piece swimsuit
One-piece swimsuit
A one-piece swimsuit is a usually skin-tight one-piece swimsuit worn by women and girls when swimming in the sea or in a swimming pool, or for any activity in the sun, such as sun bathing. The one-piece swimsuit usually covers a female's torso...
as the most common swimwear after the 1950s, and with even briefer monokini
Monokini
A monokini, sometimes referred to as a unikini, is a woman's one-piece garment comprising only the lower half of a bikini, leaving the breasts uncovered...
s, string bikinis and G-string
G-string
A G-string is a type of thong underwear or swimsuit, a narrow piece of cloth, leather, or plastic, that covers or holds the genitals, passes between the buttocks, and is attached to a band around the hips, worn as swimwear or underwear by women and men...
s also being seen. This fashion was met with considerable resistance from more conservative people. In the 1950s, beach inspectors banned women wearing shortish bikinis from Bondi Beach in Sydney while G-strings are banned from many beaches in the US.
Tourism
Modern airline transport has made travel to warmer locations more accessible and affordable. New tourist destinations have been developed because of their access to good beaches. In Australia, the Gold Coast became a popular destination with the population growing from 33,716 in 1961 to 135,437 in 1981 and growing rapidly thereafter. The fastest growing regional areas in Australia Sunshine CoastSunshine Coast, Queensland
The Sunshine Coast is an urban area in South East Queensland, north of the state capital of Brisbane on the Pacific Ocean coastline. Although it does not have a central business district, by population it ranks as the 10th largest metropolis in Australia and the third largest in...
, Gold Coast - Tweed and Cairns all having good beaches, warm weather and growth rates exceeding 20%.
In the US, the Gold Coast (Florida)
Gold Coast (Florida)
The Gold Coast is the region of the southeastern coast of the U.S. state of Florida between Tequesta and Florida City. The region consists of the long urban cluster that runs along the eastern shores of Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade County; also called the South Florida metropolitan area...
enjoyed similar growth as first the railroad and then aircraft brought tourists to its beaches for bathing. By 2000, the Miami
Miami, Florida
Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...
and Fort Lauderdale areas had a total population of just under 4 million. Tourism is one of the areas largest employees with tourists from around the world travelling to Florida's beaches.
In Europe, the presence of good beaches for bathing, a warm climate and favourable exchange rates led to the rapid growth of tourism in Spain. By 1974, tourism had become Spain's leading industry and Spain is currently the world's second most popular tourism destination after France. Similarly, the popularity of Greek beaches was a major factor in tourism in Greece
Tourism in Greece
Greece attracts more than 17.5 million tourists each year, contributing 15% to the nation's Gross Domestic Product. Greece has been an attraction for international visitors since antiquity for its rich and long history, Mediterranean coastline and beaches...
accounting for a quarter of Greece's foreign earnings.
Further reading
- Orvar Lofgren, On Holiday, University of California Press July 1, 2002 ISBN 0-520-23464-2
- Douglas Booth, Australian Beach Cultures: The History of Sun, Sand and Surf Routledge UK 2001 ISBN 0-7146-5167-2
- Stephen V Ward, Selling Places: The Marketing and Promotion of Towns 1850-2000 Spon Press UK ISBN 0-419-20610-8
- Anthony Hern, The Seaside Holiday Cresset Press UK 1967
- Ruth Manning-SandersRuth Manning-SandersRuth Manning-Sanders was a prolific British poet and author who was perhaps best known for her series of children's books in which she collected and retold fairy tales from all over the world. All told, she published more than 90 books during her lifetime. The dust jacket for A Book of Giants...
, Seaside England BT Batsford 1951 - John K. Walton, The English Seaside Resort - A Social History 1750-1914, Leicester University Press 1983
- John K. Walton, The British Seaside: Holidays and Resorts in the 20th century, Manchester University Press 2000 ISBN 0-7190-5170-3
External links
- Encyclopedia of Australian History 2002, Macquarie History, 2002 article on surf lifesaving
- Surf Life Saving Australia history
- United States Lifesaving Association