In October 2010, the mayor of a small Italian town Castellammare di Stabia emerged triumphant from his struggle to lengthen women’s hemlines in his town. Town police can now issues 300-euro fines to women who are wearing skirts that are “too short” as part of a campaign to raise the level of “decorum.”
So what is considered too short? A skirt that doesn’t fully cover a woman’s underwear, according to Mayor Luigi Bobbio. Local women were outraged, even thought it’s unlikely many woman go out with their underwear peeking out from under their skirts. "By equating women's clothing with urban decorum, this measure implies women are no more than benches or hedges," town councilor Angela Cortese said to the Guardian.
Showing too much cleavage will also earn women a fine, and swearing in public, kicking around balls in the street, lying on benches, and climbing trees were also banned. Oh, and wandering the seaside town in your bathing suit.
