Fla. court upholds topless protest

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Interestingly, in Canada it is legal for a woman to go topless in places where a man can be shirtless. Now there's some forward thinking!

We were made naked, we were meant to be naked. We are certainly not meant to be wearing clothes or shoes or anything.

So why do some people consider a little thing like walking around topless such a big deal?

Men do it all the time. Nobody makes a fuss.

What makes the breasts of women so special?

Are some people just afraid of breasts?

Not really. Their primary problem with breasts is CHILDREN seeing them.

Which is funny, because if you raise the children in an environment where breasts are casually seen, the children simply don't care. This is true in Europe, Canada, Australia, Africa, Brazil and a variety of places around the world.

The notable exception is the United States, a country which prides itself on basic human rights and yet often denies its women those same basic rights.

In certain parts of the United States there is a more liberal attitude towards the showing of breasts (New Orleans for example), but the vast majority of the states denies women this basic right. The problem in the United States is that local states govern over many of the laws and the result is a patchwork of different laws across the country. The local laws in cities and towns are also different, so even if the state has no obscenity laws the city or town you are in may still have its own laws that prohibit toplessness.

What is really needed is a federal law to erase all of the patchwork laws from the different states.

This is precisely what happened in Canada several years ago when toplessness was finally made legal. Women in Canada had been going topless for years, but had rarely ever been tried and punished for it. The different provinces in Canada (including local town and city by-laws) all had different laws with respect to toplessness/obscenity. The federal government finally stepped in and stated that toplessness is legal and a basic human right, thus erasing the patchwork of provincial and local laws. Lower half "obscenity" is still illegal in public in most places.

So will the United States do the same some day?

Maybe.

http://www.lilithgallery.com/feminist/toplessness004.html

[Mags 112]

...but on a serious note - if I were a woman, my rights would be infringed upon if I would were cited for going topless in a place where a man can be shirtless. Putting any puritanical and cultural influences aside, it really doesn't make sense that such inequality with the law is so widely accepted by so many women. We can snicker about it all we want, but whatever happened to equal rights?

Okay, let's look at this seriously then shall we. The majority of men ogle womens breasts and find them pretty nice to look at, yes? If women WERE to start going topless do you think ANY work would get done?

It's all well and good to say that you think women should be able to go topless in the street, but if we were to do it, well, I think we'd get pissed off very quickly with men not being able to hold a conversation and keep eye contact with us. It's hard enough with clothes on, let alone trying to hold a convo with a man while he stares at your bazongas.

Breasts are thought of as sexual, it isn't the same as a man going shirtless. I think that is why the laws are there.

As a woman, I really don't feel my rights are being restricted by not being able to go topless.

Clothing eliminates ogling? If the law is to prevent men's wandering eyes, how about Burkhas?

Hell no, it doesn't eliminate it at all. But I think it might make it a bit more "pronounced" *coughs* were you to be surrounded by bouncing baps.

I never meant to imply that the law is there to stop men from ogling. In fact, I don't know WHY the law is like that, just pointing out some possible "side-effects" of top part nekkidness.

Edited October 14, 2006 by mags

[one...two...tree 2,762]

...but on a serious note - if I were a woman, my rights would be infringed upon if I would were cited for going topless in a place where a man can be shirtless. Putting any puritanical and cultural influences aside, it really doesn't make sense that such inequality with the law is so widely accepted by so many women. We can snicker about it all we want, but whatever happened to equal rights?

Okay, let's look at this seriously then shall we. The majority of men ogle womens breasts and find them pretty nice to look at, yes? If women WERE to start going topless do you think ANY work would get done?

It's all well and good to say that you think women should be able to go topless in the street, but if we were to do it, well, I think we'd get pissed off very quickly with men not being able to hold a conversation and keep eye contact with us. It's hard enough with clothes on, let alone trying to hold a convo with a man while he stares at your bazongas.

Breasts are thought of as sexual, it isn't the same as a man going shirtless. I think that is why the laws are there.

As a woman, I really don't feel my rights are being restricted by not being able to go topless.

Clothing eliminates ogling? If the law is to prevent men's wandering eyes, how about Burkhas?

Hell no, it doesn't eliminate it at all. But I think it might make it a bit more "pronounced" *coughs* were you to be surrounded by bouncing baps.

I never meant to imply that the law is there to stop men from ogling. In fact, I don't know WHY the law is like that, just pointing out some possible "side-effects" of top part nekkidness.

That's why I'm questioning the logic of punishing a woman for going topless while a man can go shirtless...as if she's responsible for men's behavior. My guess is that removing such a silly law won't cause a huge influx of topless women prancing about in the streets. What it means is that it'll prevent a woman who if on occasion such as nursing her baby in public and the baby unhinges, leaving the breast to pop out for all to see would never have to face indecency charges...which by the way, has happened.

[Mags 112]

Yeah, the breast feeding thing is a bit OTT, I have to admit.

Makes you wonder when common sense should come into play.