Swedes get steamed up over naked saunas: National debate rages after woman was ordered out of public baths for wearing swimming costume

A national debate has emerged after a woman was asked to leave a public sauna in Sweden because she was wearing a swimsuit.

Traditionally, people are supposed to enter the sauna wearing nothing at all or just a towel to hide their modesty.

But a woman was asked to leave a hot box in Östersund, 300 miles north of Stockholm, because she was wearing a swimsuit.

This sparked a lively discussion in the local press, but has since transformed into a national argument about tradition and inclusivity.

Saunas are native to Finland and archaeological evidence suggests that there were primitive spas there at least a thousand years ago (stock photo)

A straw survey by Radio Sweden found that only 32 percent of respondents wanted to go to the sauna completely naked, while 28 percent wanted to cover themselves with a towel and 40 percent would wear swimming trunks or a bathing suit.

Although the sauna has now changed its rules to allow swimsuits, one resident wrote in the letters section of the Ostersunds-Posten newspaper: ‘The sauna management has made adult men feel comfortable making negative comments about the bodies of women and follow them into a sauna just to scream. them over their swimsuits.’

Local news site Teller Report asked locals for their thoughts on the debate.

Dan Grundström said: ‘I think people are mature enough to make their own decisions about using the sauna.

‘I think it’s a very strange decision. What’s the problem if you go to the sauna with a towel?’

While Martin Gruvelgård added: ‘We have now chosen to give priority to the safety argument and are therefore changing our rules to allow swimwear in all saunas.’

A straw survey by Radio Sweden found that only 32 percent of respondents wanted to go to the sauna completely naked (stock photo)

Announcing a change in rules, the sauna said in a press release: ‘Wearing swimwear in the sauna has negative hygienic consequences, but it also means that visitors experience a safer environment.’

Saunas are native to Finland and archaeological evidence suggests that there were primitive spas there at least a thousand years ago.

Annika Teppo, professor of cultural anthropology at Uppsala University in Sweden, told The Times: ‘Those who think it is a sexual space are making a huge social mistake with all its consequences.

‘In some countries there are places where saunas are nothing more than brothels, but in Finland that idea is unthinkable.

‘If you feel shy, you don’t have to go with the opposite sex in mixed saunas, and if you go with the opposite sex, you shouldn’t watch.

“You become very good at not looking at naked bodies and focusing on the faces.”