Keep your shirt on.

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I’ve noticed that in Paris people tend not to disrobe in public parks when the sun shines. This is contrary to how things are in Ireland, where, at the faintest suggestion of sunshine, ( @judyev has previously commented on this) public places become awash with naked bellies, mostly of the ample kind, and men are the worst offenders. There have even been newspaper campaigns trying to discourage older, more corpulent men from taking off their shirts in public on summer days. Of course in Ireland most of our days are cloudy and wet so it’s not too frequently that public decency is outraged in this way, but the principle stands. Here in Paris, at least to my observation, the opposite rings true. In public parks here, under blazing sunshine, shirts stay on as a rule even though many groups of young people congregate on the grass with picnics, and there is every opportunity for exposure. The exception I noticed today in the Jardin du Luxembourg is the Muscle Marys, men who work out in an exhibitionist fashion on fitness equipment provided in one section of the park. They wear not much more than tattoos and very moody scowls.