Spanish government wants all body types on the beach

Spain’s government is seeking to dump the “summer body” myth by welcoming all those who are overweight, have had breast surgery, or simply don’t feel they have the perfect bikini body, to flock to the beaches.

A new campaign entitled “Summer is Ours too” was launched on social networks this week, aiming to challenge perceived beauty standards and, in particular, to free women from the social pressure, boosted by magazines and ad campaigns, to be slim.

The Prime Minister of Poland, Mateusz Morawiecki and Spanish PM, Pedro S·nchez attend a press conference at Royal Baths Park, Palace on the Isle in Warsaw, Poland for bilateral government consultation between the two countries on July 27, 2022. (Photo by Dominika Zarzycka/NurPhoto) (Photo by Dominika Zarzycka / NurPhoto / NurPhoto via AFP)

One of the women in the beach scene has had a mastectomy and is topless. Another is proudly displaying a hairy armpit.

The Women’s Institute, an organisation directly dependent on the Ministry of Equality, is behind the campaign and tweeted that “bodies are diverse, free of gender stereotypes, and occupy all spaces. Summer belongs to us too. Free, equal and diverse”.

The “Summer is Ours too” hashtag has been circulating in recent days, at a time when websites, magazines and advertisements are, like every year, championing “operation bikini” or the “summer body”.

Cayo Lara, former head of the United Left coalition, is among those who have expressed disagreement with the campaign

The Prime Minister of Poland, Mateusz Morawiecki and Spanish PM, Pedro S·nchez attend a press conference at Royal Baths Park, Palace on the Isle in Warsaw, Poland for bilateral government consultation between the two countries on July 27, 2022. (Photo by Dominika Zarzycka/NurPhoto) (Photo by Dominika Zarzycka / NurPhoto / NurPhoto via AFP)

The far-left Podemos party, the junior partner in Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s minority coalition government, stated on its official site; “If bodies bother you, you can always stay at home and tweet, no problem”.