France rolls out £130 ‘taps aff’ fine for men who free their nipples

A man cools off in the water of the Trocadero fountain in Paris, France (Picture: Gilles/NurPhoto/Shutterstock)

If you can count on one thing in this world, it’s that when temperatures climb, men will take their tops off.

It’s practically an epidemic during British summertime, with Scots considering anything over 16°C to be ‘taps aff’ time.

While the UK seems to be fairly tolerant of men wandering around half-naked though, France doesn’t share the same c’est la vie approach.

In fact, men who take their tops off anywhere other than a beach in certain parts of the country could soon be slapped with a hefty fine, after new penalties came into effect on June 15.

It’s a similar approach to the Spanish city of Malaga which, in 2023, implemented a fine of €750 (£648.41) for anyone in public without clothes, or wearing only underwear.

But with 102 million international visitors travelling to France last year, and 28% of men believing going topless is acceptable, according to a Perspectus Global study, this rule could result in more than a few boobs.

Where in France can’t I take my top off?

Resort towns like Deauville, Narbonne, and La Grande-Motte, have all introduced new fines for toplessness, or ramped up existing ones.

For example, Deauville has upped its penalty from €17 (£14.70) when it was first introduced back in the 2010s, to a much heftier €150 (£130).

Two young men bare chested and in swimming trunks in the street in Lyon (Picture: Getty/Matthieu Delaty / Hans Lucas)

Nice has had similar restrictions since 1999, and topless beachgoers can be issued a €35 (£30) charge as soon as they step off the pebbled shoreline and onto the Promenade des Anglais and Quai des États-Unis.

In practice, tourists are often given a warning, with Nice’s deputy mayor Anthony Borré claiming only ‘around 5% of police stops’ end in a fine. 

‘In 95% of cases, our officers inform the tourists, who put their T-shirts back on, and everything goes well,’ he told FranceBleu. 

Mayor of popular French surf spot Les Sables-d’Olonne, Yannick Moreau, made headlines last year when he took to Facebook to rant about men roaming shirtless.

‘This is indecent behaviour that has an unfortunate tendency to increase summer after summer,’ he wrote. ‘So it’s time to make it clear: walking around shirtless or in a swimsuit is prohibited in Les Sables d’Olonne. A little decorum, please!’

He said it was about having ‘respect for the residents… who don’t want people wandering around half-naked in their town,’ adding: ‘It’s also a basic rule of public hygiene in our markets, shops, and alleyways. I have asked our municipal police officers to enforce this rule.’

Under his post, locals were grateful.

‘Thank you mayor. I find this completely intolerable,’ wrote one commenter, while another, Claire Gourlaouen, added: ‘My parents are shopkeepers, sometimes they ask people to get dressed.’

In the likes of Palavas, Cassis, and Arcachon, similar fines of £130 are also in effect.

But with the mercury in these popular haunts reaching up to a blistering 43°C last summer, it’s likely some tourists are going to try their luck regardless.

Ultimately though, etiquette expert Laura Windsor (aka the Queen of Ettiquette) argues people shouldn’t be walking around without a t-shirt on at all.

‘I’m so against men going topless,’ she tells Metro. ‘It’s pretty disgusting, I don’t want to see all that sweat.

‘All men should wear t-shirts. It isn’t polite, it isn’t appropriate, to go around — especially in bars and cafes, and on the streets — topless. Only at the swimming pool, or at the beach. It’s just too much skin.’

It’s a sentiment reportedly shared by Bertrand Malquier, Narbonne’s mayor, who claimed the ban was intended to prevent ‘hygiene’ problems and ‘exhibitionism’.

The double standard

Of course, for women who strut around topless in public, they risk a €15,000 (£13,000) fine for ‘sexual exhibitionism’ under the French Penal Code, and possible jail time, making the penalty for going topless far harsher for ladies than men.

These harsher stipulations for women were amplified at Cannes Film Festival in 2025 when nudity, specifically nipples, we banned ‘for decency reasons’.

A man topless walking through a French town centre (Picture: Getty/Nicolas Guyonnet / Hans Lucas)

‘All women – regardless of their moral stance, how they feel about sexualisation, or the way young women might dress – should be really uncomfortable that this kind of question is still being asked in 2025’, Dr John Mercer, a professor of gender and sexuality at Birmingham City University, told Metro.

‘It’s based on the assumption that parts of women’s anatomy are by definition obscene, that a woman’s nipples are actually so offensive to people, that they should be covered up at every moment.’

John adds that ‘everybody struggles a little bit’ with the fact that body parts which used to be private, are now shared in a way that they weren’t in the past, but he says that ‘regressive attitudes’ are contributing to the nipple remaining captive.

But, France isn’t entirely hypocritical. It still largely embraces women’s right to sunbathe au naturel on its beaches.

In 2020, two police officers patrolling a beach near Perpignan asked three topless women to cover up after a family had complained, sparking a big row.

The officers were accused of betraying the ‘French way of life’ by politicians, while France’s Justice Minister, Gerald Darmanin, said the Government backed toplessness on beaches, because ‘freedom is a precious commodity’.

Still, thanks to incidents like this, a 2021 survey of over 1,500 women by IFOP (Institut Français D’opinion Publique) found that the number of women who regularly went topless on the beach had plummeted from 43% in 1984 to 19% in 2019.

So, while these bans might feel repressive to men, it holds them to the same standard to which women have been held for decades.

Simply put, take your top off on the beach, but have the sense to keep it on everywhere else.

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