Wow! This is hard for me to reconcile with what I know Germany and German culture. Imagine me in the early 1980s in West Berlin, dragged into a Neukölln spa by German friends. I insisted on keeping my swimming suit on in the general lounge area. Even though more than half of the folks there were naked, the rural American boy in me just couldn't get over the shock.

But if I wanted to use a steam room or a sauna, I had to get over it, because swimsuits were was simply not allowed.

I swallowed hard and went with my friends to enjoy the steam and the dry heat, with naked people of all ages and genders. By the time I left Berlin a few years later, I was an old pro, and even voluntarily went naked on beaches.

I just never would have considered that German culture would go to this place. It's not just transphobia, it's a weird shift in the nudity taboo, or at least that's what it feels like.

I'm more accustomed to naked (and of course mixed sex) volleyball in the Zoologischer Garten parks than I am to wrapping my head around doing genital checks on women.

This is really over-the-top transphobia. Thank you so much for bringing this to our attention.