A mass demonstration has broken out on the Gold Coast with protesters in skimpy swimsuits lashing out after a local man called for a ban on G-string bikinis.
Community worker Ian Grace sparked a national uproar with a letter to the local newspaper this week expressing discomfort about women wearing trendy, barely-there swimwear.
That prompted a massive backlash with scantily-clad locals marching along Broadbeach on Friday, calling on Australians to ‘free the peach’.
Organiser Rebecca Pask said a bikini blanket ban ‘was never going to be the solution. Never. Not on the Gold Coast.
‘Children and our young girls in society, we do need to teach them what’s appropriate and what’s not but that starts in the home,’ she said.
Radio presenter Bianca Dye and influencers Rhiannon O’Loughlin and Brooke Michelle Woods attended the rally.
In his controversial letter, Mr Grace recalled how he was left shocked by one young woman’s G-string bikini.
‘One young lady in particular was walking on the footpath on the main road and had the tiniest triangle in front and was as close to naked as anyone could be,’ he wrote.
‘While any man would enjoy ‘the view’, I believe women are very much demeaning and cheapening themselves, portraying themselves as sex objects, then decrying it when men see them that way.’
The volunteer said ‘bare bums’ are just as erotic as bare breasts so they should be banned in the same way.
‘If not banned at the beach, very definitely banned the moment they are off the beach,’ he wrote.
‘This certainly should not be allowed in public pools or theme/water parks which are very much more family orientated. Young kids don’t need to see women’s bums.’
Mr Grace pleaded for the city’s mayor Tom Tate to ban the fashion statement – something that the elected official swiftly rejected.