Commentary: Topless in Seattle is Not a Good Idea

Yahoo! Contributor Network – 7 hrs ago

A Seattle woman, who has undergone a bilateral mastectomy, fought the parks and recreation department for the right to swim topless. After repeated denials, the 47-year old got her wish after The Stranger published an article on Thursday about her situation. Now she can swim in Seattle's pools with certain restrictions.

Should every cancer survivor have the right to bare it all?

Topless in Seattle

The ordeal started back in March when Jodi Jaecks went to swim at the Medgar Evers Pool. She had undergone a bilateral mastectomy, the removal of both breasts, and has nothing but scars where her breasts used to be. Jaecks informed the pool personnel that she would be swimming topless. The staff refused to allow her to swim. She repeatedly requested to be allowed to swim topless over the past year and each time she was denied. Seattle Parks and Recreation has a rule forbidding women to go topless at the pools.

After the article ran, the Parks and Recreation Department did an about face and has granted Jodi Jaecks the right to swim topless, with certain restrictions. She can only swim during adult lap swim.

What about everyone else

Seattle's Parks and Recreation Superintendent, Christopher Williams, issued a statement, "Our original concern stems from our responsibility to accommodate the needs of all our patrons. In this case I see nothing that might alarm the public. I think our staff were correct to follow our policy at the time the earlier decision was made, and my decision is based on new information."

So what changed Williams' mind?

As a breast cancer survivor, I differ from what seems to be the popular opinion. It is fine that they allowed Jodi to swim topless, but this could set an interesting legal precedence. Should all women with breast cancer be allowed to swim topless just because a bathing suit is uncomfortable? I had a mastectomy and the thought of swimming topless in a public pool never crossed my mind.

Why get into a situation that sets arbitrary and discriminatory rules. In Jaecks' case, it is obvious that she had surgery. My concern is that it will be left up to the staff to decide which breasts, or lack thereof, are acceptable and which are not. This policy discriminates against women who decided to have breast reconstruction.

Let's take this one step further. Men should be able to go bottomless in public pools if they had surgery for prostate cancer and a swim suit is uncomfortable -- otherwise it is gender discrimination. All-girl and all-boy clubs are not allowed anymore. Seattle's Parks and Recreation Department would be better off having a nude adult swim instead of trying to sort out who should be allowed to bare all.

Lynda Altman is currently undergoing treatment for breast cancer. She writes a series for Yahoo! Shine called "My Battle with Breast Cancer."

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Seattle pool allows topless breast cancer survivor

A Seattle breast cancer survivor whose breasts were surgically removed has gained the permission to swim topless at a city pool.

But Jodi Jaecks wants to make sure her privilege is also extended to other breast cancer survivors who want to swim comfortably.

"Initially when I heard about the reversal, I was elated. Then it came that it wasn't a policy change, it was just an exception for me. Then I was quite deflated. It seemed like it was a reaction that it was just meant to appease me," the 47-year-old said Thursday.

Seattle Parks and Recreation Superintendent Christopher Williams announced Wednesday that he was giving Jaecks an exception to the department's clothing policy.

"Our original concern stems from our responsibility to accommodate the needs of all our patrons. In this case, I see nothing that might alarm the public," Williams said in a statement. He was reacting to an article about Jaecks that was published in The Stranger weekly newspaper, which also ran a picture of her topless.

Parks spokeswoman Dewey Potter said Thursday that Williams has decided to create a committee made up of cancer survivors, parks staff, King County health representatives and others to come up with a new policy.

Until a new policy is written, Williams will review on a case-by-case basis requests from people who have had surgery and want to swim.

After enduring two surgeries, rounds of chemotherapy and the surgical removal of both her breasts in March 2011, Jaecks wanted to turn to swimming to regain her strength. But swimsuit tops proved too uncomfortable, and nerves on her chest remained tender, Jaecks said.

So she asked the manager at her city pool if she could swim topless this past March. Eventually, she heard from the head of the aquatics department, who told her she couldn't.

"And that's when they said it was a policy that they required gender-appropriate clothing ... regardless if I had nipples or whatever," Jaecks said.

Potter said pool staff was following city policy. But she said it was "unfortunate" the issue didn't get to Williams' attention until now.

Jaecks hasn't swum topless yet. She is planning a swim Monday. Her exception extends only to adult lap hours.

She plans to meet with Williams next week and ask that her exception be extended to anyone who survived breast cancer.

Jaecks said cancer patients shouldn't be made to feel self-conscious by asking for special permission.

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