Breast cancer survivor wins the right to swim topless in public pool ...

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Breast cancer survivor wins the right to swim topless in public pool ... Jun 24th 2012, 00:38 Photo by Kelly O/The Stranger Jodi Jaecks, a breast cancer survivor has won the right to swim topless in Seattle's public pools, a local US newspaper reported on Wednesday. Jaecks, who is recovering from a double mastectomy, said she was surprised when she had gone to a local public pool and was denied the right to swim topless. In a television report, Jodi was described as an active woman who battled cancer and had to have both breasts removed. After her surgery, Jodi said it was important to her to remain active and a friend had advised that going to the pool would help her healing process. But wearing a full bathing suit was still too painful for Jodi because of her scars, she told the newspaper. Furthermore, she no longer had breasts to cover up, so she asked to be allowed to swim topless. While the staff at the pool in Seattle's Central District did not object to her request, the aquatics manager for the city parks department told her that she would have to cover up if she would continue using the pool. "If I called myself a man and walked into that pool they would have no problem with my body," Jaecks said in an interview with KOMO 4. "But if I am a woman who had breast cancer, with the exact same body, and I go in there, then it's offensive and inappropriate." Jaecks' story soon got nationwide attention and the city has since reversed their decision. Parks Superintendent Christopher Williams said in a statement that the city will make an exception to the dress policy for public pools. "In this case I see nothing that might alarm the public," he said. Jaecks, who is the only woman in Seattle with the right to swim topless, is still restricted as to what times she may use the pool, only during adult sessions. According to the NY Daily News, permission for other cancer survivors will be given on a case-by-case basis — a decision Jaecks is hardly satisfied with. "It's absurd and ludicrous that they would give one person permision because it puts the onus on a specific person to ask for permission individually," she told the Seattle Times. "It's going to be harder for a more reserved, self-conscious woman to have the guts to stand out and be different." Source

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