Thu, Jun 21 - 11:15 am ET
Post-Mastectomy Woman Banned From Swimming Topless By Discriminatory Parks Dept.
21 hours ago by Deborah Dunham
http://blisstree.com/look/post-mastectomy-woman-banned-from-swimming-topless-by-discriminatory-parks-dept-855/The Seattle Parks and Recreation is refusing to let a breast cancer survivor swim topless in the city's public pool–even though she has no breasts, she considers herself androgynous, and the city allows public nudity. It's really a form of discrimination at its finest, proving once again, that our society is just overly obsessed with breasts–and doesn't have a clue how to deal with women who don't have them.
As The Stranger reported this week, flat-chested Jodi Jaecks who underwent a double mastectomy without opting for reconstructive surgery, was prohibited from swimming topless in the Seattle's public pool without "gender appropriate swimwear." The 45-year-old says she wasn't really asking for permission, she was merely being respectful and letting the pool employee know that she would be swimming topless.
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Cover Up
Seattle Officials Reconsider Ban on Topless Breast Cancer Survivors in Swimming Pools
by Cienna Madrid
http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/cover-up/Content?oid=13970858On a cold morning in March, breast cancer survivor Jodi Jaecks walked into the Medgar Evers Pool in the Central District to swim a few laps. Several women in her breast cancer support group had recommended the public pool for its warm temperature and low chlorine levels. And as a lifelong athlete, she was eager to reclaim her fitness after months of ill health. So she took the tour, checked out the locker rooms, and then politely warned the desk manager she planned on swimming topless.
Jaecks didn't think it would be a big deal. A bilateral mastectomy in 2011 left her as flat-chested as a child, and two thin scars now cut across her chest where her nipples once lay. There is simply nothing left to cover up.
