My friend’s toddler daughter was told to cover up at the pool due to rules against ‘nudity’ – even though boys were also half dressed
A woman has spoken out after her friend’s two-year-old daughter was asked to cover up at a swimming pool.
Katie Sturino of New York City participated Instagram to share an anecdote of a friend who took her toddler to swimming class.
The little girl was dressed in swimming trunks when two lifeguards approached her mother and told her to cover up, despite many of the other little boys at the pool also half-dressed.
The lifeguard told the mother that no nudity was allowed at the pool, but Katie has criticized this logic, saying that ‘different rules for boys and girls start young and are constantly reinforced’.
Katie asked social media users for their thoughts on the controversial topic, and many were outraged by the “insane” approach to children.
New York City’s Katie Sturino took to Instagram to question whether toddler girls should cover up when swimming
The video, which attracted more than 300,000 likes, revealed details of the incident and Katie asked viewers if toddler girls should cover up.
She said, “I was just catching up with my girlfriend and she said her two-year-old daughter was at her swimming lessons yesterday and all the little boys around her were shirtless.
“Baby boys were shirtless and wearing diapers and she was wearing… swim shorts and not yet wearing her rash guard and the lifeguard came by.
“Two different lifeguards came by at two different times and said ‘ma’am, you have to put a shirt on your daughter, no nudity is allowed at the pool'”.
Katie quickly expressed her anger at the lifeguard’s comment, saying, “Now is the time for them to check our bodies.”
She added that this is when girls are told there is something wrong with themselves, that they should cover up and that women’s bodies are not appropriate.
But she was quick to point out that the child was just a two-year-old baby, and that “these rules are imposed on women from the very beginning.”
Katie then asked her viewers, “What do you think?
Katie argued that this is when the surveillance of women’s bodies begins, and it is completely inappropriate
Users were quick to share their thoughts in the comment section and many were angry about the incident
The video received a huge number of comments, but many were outraged by the incident.
One said, ‘What. As a pediatrician and expert on children’s bodies, there is no biological difference between a toddler girl breast and a toddler boy breast. That’s absolutely insane.’
A second person added, “Sexualizing a 2-year-old, that’s what it sounds like.”
A third added: ‘This is so sad and disgusting. A baby. She is literally a baby. No puberty, not even a teenager. There’s NOTHING sexual about someone her age.’
A fourth person wrote: ‘Across Europe it is very common to see children without swimwear on the beach and only in the pool.
‘We have no problem with it. When I lived in the US my aunt had a pool party and my daughter was only wearing bottoms, she was 3-4 and my aunt said “can you put a top on her, my grandson keeps watching” with?
“How about you talk to your grandsons.”
Another person said, ‘This is just disgusting and disturbing!! It’s bad when society restricts adult women, but doing that to a child?! And sexualize her in the same breath? A two year old?! That’s just so wrong to the core!’