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Topfree Equal Rights Association (TERA)
(Association du droit égal aux seins nus)
postal address on request
E-mail: topfree @ tera.ca OR topfree @ topfree.ca
tel.: (+1) 646 597 9169
The Topfree Equal Rights Association (TERA) helps women who encounter difficulty going without tops in public places in Canada and the USA, and informs the public on this issue.Statement of purpose and principles
Contents of this site
New on this site
Front page newsDirectors of TERA:
Co-ordinator
Dr. Paul Rapoport
e-mail: topfree @ tera.ca
voice: 646 597 9169
Treasurer
Mr. David Basford
e-mail: dbasford @ fcn.ca
voice: 905 627 9935
fax: 905 627 8362Chief Advisor
Ms. Judy Williams
e-mail: judyw @ direct.ca
voice: 604 856 9598Some e-mail addresses are listed on this site. To use one, remove the spaces and retype the address in an e-mail program.
TERA requests news stories like those below: please send complete information or reports about topfree events, problems, or issues---or references to them.
TERA will also add you to its mailing list for special announcements and news items (sent infrequently). Just send us an e-mail message with your address and a request to be added to our mailing list.
RECENT TOPFREEDOM NEWS 2012 May 16. Arrest in New York City. We received a report that this afternoon a topfree woman was arrested in New York: Moira Johnston, whose previous activities are presented here. The police appear to have simply threatened her, thrown her in jail for an hour, and released her with no charges. The excuse: there were children in the vicinity.
New York's law recognizes the assumption that children will be harmed by seeing breasts to be false. Clearly that doesn't stop the police from self-righteously threatening and arresting women when they know or ought to know that their harassment goes against the law. Many NYC police behave responsibly about this issue. Regrettably, many don't.
We will post further information when we can. Meanwhile, a big bravo to Moira Johnston.
A New York City police officer forcing a top on Moira Johnston, May 16, 2012
(photo by BH)Moira Johnston explains her position in this YouTube interview.
2012 May 13. A garrulous report of a topfree woman in New York today is here. At least the author writes, "Everyone around me just kept on moving. I saw preteen boys, kids, mothers and fathers, men, and other solo women shopping. Not one person turned to gawk at this woman's bare breasts."
2012 May 10. A new book about breasts by Florence Williams is discussed here. Although the interview is balanced, we doubt that her comment on the safety of infant formula is justified, and she doesn't acknowledge (in the interview, at least) that insidious opposition to breastfeeding is a major cause of whatever difficulty there is in it.
2012 April 25. A recent ad in South Korea that was intended for an advertising forum and not wide release hit the blogosphere immediately, with all the usual ignorable comments. The complaints should be about an infant implied to be ingesting an Oreo cookie, not the rest of the image.
2012 April 20. Yesterday, a student at the University of Puerto Rico (Río Piedras campus) was arrested for her recent action there for which she was topfree. Charlene Jane González de Jesús understands the issue of topfree equality. A video of her on YouTube by Ivania Zayas has her explaining a few things (in Spanish):
(A week later, this report said she had been taken to a psychiatric hospital after a similar event, a common tactic of authorities all over the USA on encountering topfree women. Comprehensive analysis from Puerto Rico is here, noting that the university tried to suppress information about its incident.)
2012 April 06. This week, Moira Johnston sent us photos of her topfree visit to Union Square in New York City, on March 22 and 23, which were warm days there. Although that's the location of New York's ongoing Occupy protest, her presence wasn't connected to that.
Photo top left by Cecil SánchezShe has a serious message, which relates in her current undertaking to not being allowed to do yoga topfree at various yoga studios that have public access. She puts it very simply: "Practicing yoga topless is a sacred and healing act; it encourages people to overcome their fears about their sexuality and their bodies. It's also more comfortable." More specifically, we have this report:
"As of April 2, 2012, the New York State Division of Human Rights is taking action to correct a civil rights violation imposed upon Johnston. A total of 13 yoga studios unlawfully denied the student equal rights to men in a public accommodation. The yoga studios permit men to practice topfree but said women were required to wear a top. The studios are located in New York City, where all women have the right to be to-free anywhere people can be topfree.
"Johnston has filed a complaint against several yoga studios. The complaint addresses the issue of gender discrimination in a public accommodation. The studios will be required to prove that they allow equal privileges to all people, including the privilege to be topfree."
2012 March 31. Yesterday this notice appeared about Phoenix Feeley's continuing attempt to force the state of New Jersey to recognize topfree equality for women. Although New Jersey does not have a record that suggests it will rule in her favour, her position is irreproachable and should be supported. This is her e-mail address.
Her notice for an April Fool's party, "Fools for Freedom," to raise awareness and funds contained a variety of entertainment, some of which related to her struggle. Last year, this photo of Phoenix and a complaining woman, by Debbie Egan-Chin, won a photojournalism prize.
2012 March 24. This fine article by Orlagh McGlade about topfree equality appeared last week in the student newspaper of the University of St. Andrews, Scotland.
2012 March 18. The Ukrainian women's group Femen has continued its topfree protests in Ukraine and outside it, including in Turkey. (Unusually for the USA, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer carried uncensored photos of the Turkey event online.) Here's an article presenting both sides, for and against what Femen does.
2012 February 29. Holly van Voast was arrested last month for being topfree in a church in New York City. She faces multiple charges. Her attorney may be the justly famous Ron Kuby.
Her recent video on her activities is here. We find it clear and confusing at the same time. What does this person stand for? What are the reasons the media treat her unkindly?
2012 February 14. We haven't commented on Femen in a while. The group has been busy. Meanwhile, this photo of Femen's Inna Shevchenko won a World Press photo award recently. The photographer is Guillaume Herbaut.
The article about the photo by Madeleine Corcoran is certainly worth reading. She explains clearly the implications of the Warrior Woman coming from this photo.
2012 February 13. The protest against Facebook came and went, with much notice around the world and no change from Facebook, which continues to delete breastfeeding photos as recklessly and egregiously as ever. Many reports quoted Facebook's "policy" as if it is believeable (see the next item below for why it is not). Most got details about the protest or TERA's photo collection substantially wrong.
One of the better pieces on this from last week is here.
The only thing Facebook understands is public or commercial pressure, or government or legal action. Private letters sent to Facebook about this are ignored. As for the many discussions on Facebook itself, Facebook can monitor them while laughing at them. Its format is designed to thwart both meaningful discussion and useful assembly of information.
We acknowledge with admiration and thanks the work of Emma Kwasnica, Jodine Chase, and many others in making the world more aware of both breastfeeding and Facebook's atrocious attitude towards it.
2012 February 05. We note that February 6 and 7 are days of protest (in North America-Europe and Australia-New Zealand respectively) against Facebook's continual large-scale removal of breastfeeding photos. Facebook is engaging in the biggest campaign of harassment against breastfeeding women on the Internet.
Emma Kwasnica's daughter Sophie breastfeeding at the age of 1 day,
a photograph a nameless Facebook employee removed under
Facebook's claim that it is obscene or pornographic, and
harmful to childrenNone of Facebook's statements on this subject is true. The following is TERA's analysis of them:
1. Facebook: Our policy is: no photos of nudity.
Response: Breastfeeding is not nudity, regardless of how it’s done. Not in the USA, Canada, Britain, Australia, Latin American countries, or most others. Is Facebook based in a small country somewhere?2. Facebook: We think breastfeeding is important and approve of it.
Response: No, you don’t. You’ve banned thousands of photos of it. And what about Mary and Jesus? Their breastfeeding is in many paintings in world-famous museums. You call those obscene and pornographic and ban them too.3. Facebook: We remove photos only after careful review.
Response: Not true. You’ve banned photos of breastfeeding that include paintings, animals, women, men, people fully clothed, and much more that shows no review and no care.4. Facebook: We remove photos that are obscene or pornographic.
Response: Really! See points 2 and 3. And who appointed you the world’s moralistic photo vigilantes? Especially since you show such poor judgement.5. Facebook: We apologize when we remove a photo by mistake.
Response: You’re really apologizing to yourself for getting caught doing something wrong. You refuse to listen to users. You threaten them for beautiful, important, and lawful photos. You hide behind nonsense.6. Facebook: Our policy protects children and our users’ diversity.
Response: Show us how photos of women breastfeeding harm children or anyone else. You protect only your deplorable attitude and behavior.7. Facebook: Our policy is just like most newspapers’ policy.
Response: Is Facebook a small-town print newspaper? Isn’t it a large organization on the Internet---like Google, Vimeo, and Wikipedia? They don’t behave capriciously, which you do. They also show respect for users, allowing them to decide for themselves what to look at. What a concept!Facebook, you owe your users honesty and sense. STOP BANNING PHOTOS OF BREASTFEEDING.
Note: one of the best articles on why this campaign against Facebook is important is by Ann Douglas, here.
2012 January 26. A woman was sunbathing topfree on a New Zealand beach recently. Police were called but said the behaviour was lawful. Our NZ correspondent singled this out of the news report: ". . . the middle-aged woman was not approaching anyone and was about 20 metres from the nearest group of sunbathers." She went on to write to TERA, ". . . as though being any nearer or, horror of horrors, walking toward others at some point, would have made being topless a threatening, indecent, illegal act."
2012 January 17. Last December, a few topfree women and others protested outside the house of a city councillor of Eugene, Oregon. Last week, the bill to keep them in check topped $13,000, for a fence and police patrols. Not exactly what we'd mean by topfree power, especially when the councillor called the protestors "terrorists."
2012 January 12. A few days ago, the American television actor AnnaLynne McCord posted this photo of herself on Twitter:
The chattering blogosphere went wild, of course. America is so obsessed with nipples that even this photo, probably deliberately posted, was commented on endlessly by celebrity gossip fans.
2012 January 09. In New Orelans this week, a topfree fan of the University of Alabama team before its game with Louisiana State University:
Body paint is common in New Orelans around Mardi gras as well as at other events such as Fantasy Fest in Key West (Florida) and the various naked bike rides around North America in the late spring.
2012 January 08. Recently, some people have suggested that Facebook's longstanding censorship of breastfeeding photos has eased. It has not. If anything, it is worse than ever. Facebook's continuing claim that such photos are harmful if it deems them to be is as close to culturally insane as one may get in this subject.
The latest banned photo that we know of was posted on Facebook by Emma Kwasnica, a well-known women's advocate. It is below. Our further comment and Emma's statement may be found with this photo towards the bottom of this page.
Daughter Sophie and Emma Kwasnica, pregnant with her third child ChloëThere you will also learn of Facebook's inexcusable action against Emma's colleague Jodine Chase. Facebook's intimidation and bullying remind us of the lies and destruction of totalitarian states, even if they're "only" about photographs and not coming from a government.
2011 December 31. One of the best articles on the subject of topfree equality is recent and here. It mentions a few points that are rarely raised and discusses commoner ones well also.
2011 December 30. In one of the odder coincidences that the media love to pounce on, in the past week two topfree businesses were in the news. The coffee shop in Maine that burned down in 2009 was the subject of an arson trial, now concluded. In Québec, a restaurant was told to have its servers cover their breasts.
Neither place was interested in topfree equality but was more after the sexual lure of women's breasts (the restaurant in Montréal probably more than the shop in Vassalboro). But what about a topfree commercial enterprise, with both men and women servers? Do the multiple characteristics of breasts and men's heterosexual interests make that unlikely to succeed? Or is there a way? Or should all servers just remain fully dressed?
2011 December 09. It was 15 years ago today that Gwen Jacob was acquitted of indecency for her topfree walk in Guelph, Ontario. In a brave if bewildering act, on the hot July 18 and 19, 1991, she accepted the final prod (dare?) from a university friend, took off her top, and walked about Guelph. As a result of that simple but defiant and liberating step, not easy to take, the women of Ontario and probably all of Canada gained another important step in respect, equality, and freedom.
With my hands shaking furiously, I took my shirt off and jammed it down the back of my shorts . . . I was scared to death [but] nearly euphoric . . . Although it took five years to actually win the case in court, I won right then, and no---I was just waiting for the rest of them to catch up with me . . . I didn't really mean to start a movement. I was just trying to catch a breeze. I was 19 years old! I wasn't interested in becoming an international celebrity! . . . It was a basic issue, a basic issue of personal rights and freedoms, and the government doesn't have any right to go there.
--- Gwen Jacob in 2011, in the first substantial interview she had given in many years.(The interview is here, from 36:14 to 54:28.)
2011 November 25. The best statement we've ever seen about Facebook's inept, immature disgust with and censorship of women's breasts is here. Please read it!
2011 November 15. In this video, presumably from a few days ago, a topfree Holly van Voast is escorted off a train in New York City by several police She declines their request to put on a top.
2011 November 12. GWEN JACOB RETURNS. The person who changed topfreedom in Canada 20 years ago has come out to voice her perspective and get things done.
On July 19, 1991, Gwen Jacob was arrested for indecency for her topfree walk in Guelph, Ontario. It took her five gruelling years to be acquitted. After that, she gave very few interviews, and none at all in recent years. But in August last year, she appeared at the Topfreedom Day of Pride in Guelph, and something clicked.
Today she appears in a major newspaper, as determined as ever. Topfreedom isn't the main issue, but if there's anyone who can connect that to other major issues, especially surrounding women, Gwen Jacob is the person. She is the most eloquent of all the spokespeople coming from this subject in its history in North America.
As today's article concludes: "Welcome back, Gwen Jacob."
Gwen Jacob with her young daughter in the mid-1990s
2011 November 10. Yesterday a woman in Corpus Christi, Texas, was arrested for being topfree in a store. The reports on this vary; all we've seen are poor. A few say she was arrested on "suspicion of disorderly conduct."
Being topfree for a woman in Corpus Christi is legal.
2011 November 09. Yesterday in New York, Holly van Voast spent several hours waiting to "flash" Bill Clinton. As a photographer taking his picture, okay. In the body sense, she was not doing any flashing, because she remained topfree the whole time. However, Clinton saw her suddenly for an instant on leaving the Barnes & Noble bookstore. May we still say he was "flashed"? Interesting linguistic question.
The last photo here gives a "Clinton's eye view" of Holly van Voast, essentially the moment above from the former President's perspective.
Another question: does the entire NYPD now understand that it's legal for women to be topfree in New York? We doubt it.
2011 November 07. The case against the topfree walker of the imaginary dog in New York City has been dismissed, according to the person herself. She adds: "The lawyer said she had a whole discourse ready about the nature and history of performance art, but we never got to hear it!"
2011 November 04. Holly van Voast, self-described "topless paparazzo," taking a photo of Bill Cosby in New York City.
Photo by Brandon Stanton, Humans of New YorkHere's another photo of her, next to a police officer.
2011 November 03. Janet Jackson's right nipple, seen on CBS for 9/16 of a second in the distance nearly eight years ago, was in court (so to speak) again this week. The federal Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia re-ruled that the FCC had no right to fine CBS for that incident.
The arguments are needlessly complicated, and the FCC has learned nothing. We repeat that the complaints to the FCC about the nipple exposure were almost all generated as form letters from one fanatically repressive and dishonest group, and were sent in mostly by people who probably didn't see the broadcast. We have no comment on the broadcast context of the incident, only the court case that goes on and on, wasting a lot of time and money in the interest of pedantic, obsessive, manipulative prudery . . . all for the star-spangled nipple that bombed bursting on air.
2011 October 30. A week ago, Holly van Voast was given a summons for breaking New York law for being topfree. We have no further comment, except to note that the court decision nearly 20 years ago acquitting the Rochester 7 (women) for being topfree was not "all-inclusive." Holly van Voast: "It is really hard for me to believe that what I am doing is bad for anyone . . . legally or otherwise."
2011 October 29. Women having had breast cancer are being photographed and exhibited in an art gallery by Michael Colanero of Fort Lauderdale, Florida in an ongoing project to assist them and others like them. The unique aspect is that he has had two artists, Keegan Hitchcock (mostly) and Luci Ungerbuehler, paint their bodies first.
Two women in the project, painted as (l.) Bamboo & Butterflies and (r.) African SunMore results, and testimonials from several women, may be seen in this video, from a WLRN broadcast. The project's website is here.
Facebook, of course, is removing the images from its site. Its claim that such photos are pornographic and harm children was a bigoted lie when it was first fabricated four years ago. Meanwhile, the images are being sold on various objects through Cafe Press.
2011 October 28. Today the Financial Times has carried an article by Gillian Tett, a British woman in the USA. Among other things, it describes how her daughter was forced by others to wear a top --- at the age of 5. (We haven't linked to the article, because it presents a pop-up requiring registration.) That's very similar to what happened to Anne Sabo's even younger daughter.
2011 October 27. A few weeks ago, Holly van Voast (sometimes known as Harvey van Toast) appeared in a court and exposed her breasts there. Although the court was not amused, no immediate penalty was applied. Van Voast often goes about New York City topfree. She notes, "I hate being an introvert and walking around New York City topless with a drawn on moustache for my branding image marketing work. I love my ideas but don’t look forward to executing them."
On a bus in New York CityThe news media suggest that she's a crank. Whatever she is, sending her to court for being topfree makes no sense. The media also still mislabel topfree women (but not men) as naked/nude. Holly van Voast's slogan, "tits for entertainment, not for protest," is also a problem.
2011 October 22. A week ago, a North Carolina newspaper printed this photo of women dressed as breasts, in reporting on a breast cancer fundraising event.
A few days ago, a woman wrote in to the paper and complained about the photo, stating, "Lest you think I'm an old prude---well, I am."
2011 October 19. Campaigns about breast cancer in North America do not make use of breasts visually. They hide them, believing falsely that the false notions about women's breasts that rule this continent make anything else impossible. We think the media are protecting vested interests and are far behind what the populace would be in favour of.
Here's a campaign in France that does things differently. Yes, there are big commerical interests involved. And although the picture at the top at that link is poor, the one at the bottom is better, saying simply, "Last year this woman showed her breasts. She saved her life."
Should the photo be of an older woman? One with cancer? Regardless, the notion is that various procedures involved in early detection save women's lives. Nothing makes that point visually more effectively than breasts, of some sort. When will North America get it?
2011 October 11. Here's a fine article on recent activities of New York's Outdoor Co-ed Topless Pulp Fiction Appreciation Society. The OCTPFAS is well spoken. Warning: the article contains more evidence that a significant segment of the NYPD is clueless about the legality of topfreedom for women. One of the participants wrote the following for TERA:
I had a great time meeting the Outdoor Co-Ed Topless Pulp Fiction Appreciation Society in Central Park for a topfree hang-out. A few cops gave us trouble at first and asked us to cover up. For OCTPFAS it was the first time they've ever been hassled by police (out of the eight times they've met up), but for me it reconfirmed that some cops just don't know the law!
The officers were calm and friendly in their approach and apologized . . . I just hope it didn't further intimidate the women who witnessed it. I hope also that OCTPFAS and YNA [Young Naturists America] can empower more women to take advantage of going topfree and be ready, if approached, to confidently inform police/people it's legal!
Topfree reading in New York City on possibly the last really warm day of the year. The author of the words above is in both photos. She was arrested for being topfree in the same city in August.
2011 October 09. Recently the performance artist Sinéad O'Donnell and Paul Couillard walked topfree in Toronto for two hours. Here's a short clip of that with her brief comments.
2011 October 04. On October 1, New York City held its SlutWalk, to help end sexual and domestic violence. The walks started when a Toronto policeman advised women not to dress "like sluts" to avoid being assaulted. They have occurred on various dates in many cities worldwide and often have a few topfree women in them potentially making, we think, a good point about clothing and breasts. No police interference with anyone in the recent New York SlutWalk has been reported.
photo by Denise GinleyOne analysis of the SlutWalk phenomenon in New York is here.
2011 October 01. A fine recent article on the topfree situation in New York and New Jersey is here, written by Dr. David Bottger. We think his analysis repays close attention.
2011 September 30. The charges against the topfree protesters in Honolulu have been dropped.
2011 September 28. Last month, the artist Fideelia-Signe Roots decided to walk topfree more than 150 km from Tartu to Karepa, Estonia, as a five-day performance.
Although there may be no law against this, police (reminding us of the American tendency) charged her with public disorder, before dropping the case. Claiming that forbidding women to be topfree would go against the country's equality law, Fideelia-Signe Roots has written to an equality commissioner for clarification.
We recommend her discussion of her journey and the video she made of it, which involved sore feet and some poor weather, plus comments, many of which are unfortunately what we'd expect from any Western country. (English is available throughout.) We might nonetheless hope that Estonia is small enough for people to be more readily educated about the issues Fideelia-Signe raises so well. We quote from her analysis:
Biologically men’s and women’s breasts are made of the same tissue and parts. All over the world, women want to decide by themselves what part of their body is sexual and what is not and when. As long as female breasts are sexual, capitalist society can sell them. Thus, barebreasted women work against the system and are seen as criminals. Police arrest them, fine them, and put them in jail even in New York City, where bare breasts are legal.
Here's her flag. Bravo to this enterprising and inspiring artist!
2011 September 27. About 250 topfree women took part in a photo shoot in Kansas City recently. Reason: to raise breast cancer awareness.
In all the poses, the women were photographed with their backs to the camera. Result: body shame, body phobia, and defeating the message.
One Kansas City TV station falsely said the women were "baring it all" and "naked." Result: more ignorance, more superficiality, more trivialization of a disease.
2011 September 27. For the past ten days or so, a small, largely unorganized protest has taken place on New York's Wall Street that went unreported in mainstream media for several days. Some topfree women have been mistreated by police, some have been left alone. Some police, it appears, wrongly told women they had to wear tops.
On Wall Street in September 2011
photo on left by Stephanie Keith, on right by Desiree ArroyoA video from September 21 is here. There are many others, including of indiscriminate use of blinding spray and of mass arrests that occurred on the 24th.
2011 September 22. A statue probably of a goddess of abundance in England has been restored to its rightful topfree state. It was probably covered up nearly 300 years ago.
Left: before; right: after --- actually the other way around!
2011 September 21. In Honolulu at Gotopless.org's rally on August 21, Tess and Jamie Meier, a topfree wife and husband, were cited for not having a permit. The local ACLU took on their case and has asked that it be dismissed, for more than one reason. "The police," said Tess Meier, "basically didn't like what we had to say, didn't like the way we were doing it, and just found whatever they could to get us off the street." At least seven police officers were sent to the scene: is that a waste of money or what?
Certainly the First Amendment protects things like Gotopless.org's rallies/protests, including this one. But we must ask: are women allowed to be topfree only when they are protesting or advocating something? Topfree equality is not equality if it is limited to that.
2011 September 15. The Gotopless.org's Asheville event, referred to a few times below, had an organizer who wrote this response to the opportunistic politicians who have complained about it.
2011 September 14. Phoenix Feeley's right to sunbathe topfree in New Jersey in 2008 was rejected today when an appeals court ruled against her, citing the usefulness of the law to protect "the public's moral sensibilities." Other courts have rejected that as a basis for decisions in similar matters. The New Jersey decision continues America's well-known body phobia and treatment of women as unequal to men.
Phoenix explains her position in this video. Note the words of someone from the preposterously and insidiously misnamed American Family Association who says she is "evil." (The American Family Association is a far-right Christianist group known for its massive intolerance.)
Here's a photo of Phoenix being yelled at by a woman at Coney Island, New York.
2011 September 08. We have two exclusive photos of women who were, shall we say, anti-anti-topfreedom on August 28 in Asheville, North Carolina. Thanks go to the photographer, who took many photos on both August 28 and August 21. (His statement that one of the complainants in Asheville is correct about North Carolina law is, however, incorrect. The complainant remains a political opportunist who is misusing language grotesquely to try to get himself into the media.)
The topfree woman in the left photo (and on the right in the right photo) was arrested, for taking off all her clothes. (Given the situation, we don't think that arrest makes sense, although that subject goes beyond the scope of TERA.) In trying to force clothing on her (left photo), the person to her right is probably committing an assault.
2011 September 06. This interview appeared today with an organizer of the Outdoor Co-Ed Topless Pulp Fiction Appreciation Society in New York City. Among other things, she says: "Despite female toplessness being legal, there are very few who take advantage of it. We are hoping to go from this being something taboo to something of social inconsequence."
2011 September 05. At the Gotopless.org rally in Honolulu last month, a woman was stopped because she had no permit. We heard that the police changed the citation to "disorderly conduct," although that was incorrect.
The bottom sign is notable for its reference to the closest thing the USA has to an equal rights amendment in its constitution: the 14th Amendment. The two signs in the upper left, which have appeared in other places, are especially appropriate to this subject. (This photo is probably from a similar event that day, not in Honolulu.)
The word censored in conjunction with the tape over nipples seems equally appropriate here.
2011 September 04. A few days ago, a woman protested topfree at the Ottawa Sun against its policy of censoring women's nipples in the newspaper.
2011 September 02. On August 31 in Paris, France, six fully dressed women who were to take part in a topfree event were detained by police until the time for the event had passed. (The report on this contains much unverified material.)
2011 September 01. A letter from TERA's Co-ordinator about the Toronto topfree event August 28 is here.
2011 August 29. Yesterday the two failed politicians in Asheville, North Carolina who unilaterally declared exposed female breasts to be "child sexual abuse" staged an anti-topfree demonstration there. It was sparsely attended. Two women who showed up took their tops off, thus repeating and prolonging the topfree action that the complainants supposedly want to prevent.
One of the complainants says he will provide photos of child sexual abuse from the August 21 topfree rally. If he believes his own pompous, egregious nonsense, then he should turn himself in for possession of child pornography.
2011 August 28. On August 21, the "other" topfree New York City protest we referred to in our August 25 report took place in Central Park. A colourful, personable account is here. There were yoga, various games, and hoola hooping. In contrast to what went on in Columbus Circle the same day, "we chose to go the more laid-back route, quietly making topfreedom look more normal and fun." Note also: "a big family had a picnic right next to us, and they hardly batted an eye."
In Central Park, New York, August 21, 2011. The woman at the bottom left
was falsely arrested in the same city for the same thing only a few weeks earlier!
2011 August 28. A new venture has arisen in New York, a different sort of outing, which lasts between one and three hours:
In New York State it's been legal since 1992 for women to go topfree in public anywhere a man can, but how many women actually do? Very few. And often it's not because they wouldn't like to, it's because they're scared to do it by themselves. That led a couple of us to create what we call the Outdoor Co-Ed Topless Pulp Fiction Appreciation Society, a sort of book club that meets up in parks and other public spaces in New York City to read cool, fun books, only without shirts or bikini tops on. At a typical meeting we have 3-8 people, mostly women, though usually also a guy or two. We bring towels, sunscreen, water, sunglasses for a bit of anonymity, and books, and have a great time. We've met at 8 locations so far, and not heard a single negative comment at any of them. (A few annoying gawkers have asked for photos, but that's been the worst of it. And even they have been polite about it.)
New York weather being what it is, we're coming up on the end of the outdoor topfree reading season, but we hope to start it up again in the spring. In the meantime, here are some photos from our events; you can find more at our blog.
Above left: Bryant Park, behind the New York Public Library. Above right: Sheep Meadow, Central Park. Below: Battery Park (the male friend then joined in topfree)
2011 August 28. Today topfree protests, arranged by Gotopless.org, were held in Canada in two cities. Brief reports from Toronto are here and here. The event there was festive but not untroubled. The Toronto Department of Parks, Forestry, and Recreation had denied the organizers a permit, which one well-known lawyer says they did not need in the first place. The protesters decided not to use park land and to create a petition to ask city officials to recognize their rights.
The women had the right to be topfree because of the Gwen Jacob ruling of 1996 from the Ontario Court of Appeal. The Parks Department was completely out of line in not recognizing that. That calls not for a petition but for action against the Department.
We remain puzzled by the angel wings some women wore. (The Italian captions in that set of photos are incorrect.)
2011 August 25. The annual "Go Topless Day" on August 21, sponsored by the American website Gotopless.org, gained much publicity. There were rallies of varying size in cities in Texas, North Carolina, Illinois, California, Hawaii, New York, Florida, Oregon, D. C., and possibly elsewhere. In some locations, it is already legal for women to be topfree; the rallies were held to demonstrate the social point of it as well as the need to stop harassing or arresting topfree women, regardless of what the laws are.
Gotopless.org is to be congratulated for organizing these events. The misunderstanding and conflicts surrounding this issue remain, because progress has been slow. But there are more positive things being said about topfree equality these days than ever before.
This photo is from New York City, where there was more than one event. (The second event is mentioned in one of the August 28 posts, above.)
Photo by Paul KatcherNote the sign for "equal topless rights for all or none." TERA does not suggest that choice: see comments below.
The event in Washingon, D. C. had only five participants but still made its point. A similar number gathered in San Francisco. There were even fewer in Honolulu, where participants were cited for not having a permit. Since when does freedom of assembly, speech, and expression require a permit?
This video is from Asheville, North Carolina. YouTube took down one video from Asheville but (as of today) left this one in place.
As in other cities, the event in Asheville involved elements of celebration, circus, and expression of rights. In Santa Cruz, California, women were topfree in a demonstration for breast cancer awareness.
Some people explained the day well, and some said things that were unhelpful. There were far more media reports, photos, and videos of the various rallies than we can discuss, many falsely proclaiming "nudity." Some noted Gotopless's connection to Raëlians and disparaged or dismissed the demonstrations or topfree equality for that reason.
Men wearing bras make a humorous point about equality but also suggest making the two sexes equal by repressing both. ("Yeah! Men are ugly! Let's make everyone wear tops!") Equality is better demonstrated by women and men both being topfree, for legal and social purposes alike.
Another photo from Asheville.
Photo by ClarkThe sign held aloft reads "Respect our freedom & beauty." However, if this is about beauty, it opens the way for rights to be based on a person's appearance.
Far worse than that is a complaint launched claiming that Gotopless.org, the city of Asheville, its police, its main newspaper, and (get this) the parents of children at the event are all guilty of "conspiring to support child sexual abuse." The two complainants are failed local politicians looking for cheap and easy publicity by telling lies about the event.
A further, unrelated take on the Asheville demonstration is here. In Venice, California, a protestor against topfreedom and some unrelated concepts was removed by police. Also in Venice, some women wore nipple covers.
Photo by Tom AndrewsThe amusing covers show the absurdity of this censorship. Although they also hint at protection against arrest, they acquiesce to the wrong attitudes that make topfree demonstrations necessary. We note that women without those or other covers were not arrested in Venice. However, the possibility to use covers may have brought more women to participate, and one woman's tape across her breasts that read "censored" made a good point.
2011 August 21. Yesterday two women walked on the same streets in Guelph, Ontario as Gwen Jacob when she was arrested there 20 years ago. They encountered very few problems, although this article makes it clear the issue is still ambiguous to some, if not conflicted.
2011 August 19. Today Andy Golub was back in Times Square painting bodies. Too many reports were less than serious and claimed that topfree models are "nude." That error frames everything wrongly. (Equal sloppiness may be observed in the headline "Nude painter back in Times Square.") The following photo from the event is from an uncommonly uncensored frame in this YouTube video.
At one point the police came around and told the model, Marla Mera, to put on a top. They were wrong to do so. If the crowd was too thick, the police had other ways to thin it than to blame someone who was engaged in a legal activity.
2011 August 18. Here's a professionally made video about Femen's protest on the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Much of the video doesn't use words. Russian is spoken, and a little English.
2011 August 11. Although aspects of it are problematic, this is a fun little video made for gotopless.org, in advance of its annual day for topfreedom, August 21, 2011.
2011 August 10. Andy Golub may be one of the world's finest body painters. Recently, he's been painting bodies (women and men, although more women) in Times Square in New York City. Few problems arose, until he and two of his models were arrested on July 30. The models may have been nude (not topfree), but even that should not bring arrest, because Spencer Tunick posed many nude models in New York five times and definitively won a court case allowing him to continue his by now world-famous photographic performances.
Meanwhile, one of Andy's topfree models in a striking photo by asterix611:
2011 August 09. At a beer festival in Toronto on August 7, Jeanette Martin was told by a security guard to put her top back on. This is how she looked with it off:
Photo by Andrea HoustonThis article dredges up the old notion that the way a woman dresses makes her responsible for others' behaviour. More than that, it implies that women without a top (or in a bra), including at a festival of this sort, are inciting others to assault them. Even though the security supervisor apologized to Jeanette Martin, she should apologize to all women for her unwarranted assumptions.
2011 August 08. The Topfreedom Day of Pride scheduled for Guelph, Ontario on August 20, 2011 has been cancelled for lack of funding. (The announced national go topless day for later in the month has nothing to do with TERA.)
2011 August 05. We've been informed that a year and a half struggle is over. John Martzouco wanted to register a name for a club dealing with convertible cars: Topless Montreal. In January 2010, he was informed that the name could not be registered in Québec because it represented something "immoral, obscene, or scandalous." Appeals and ombuds intervention finally got through to the Registrar of Businesses in Québec City. On July 7, 2011 it relented, with no apology for its initial stupidity and its clinging to it. Probably the refusal had its source in one ignorant bureaucrat, although the office itself behaved unprofessionally.
John's log of this sorry saga is here. (Note some of the names the Registrar had permitted while refusing Topless Montreal.) We praise his research, diligence, expression, and persistence!
2011 August 01. Mistreatment by NYPD on Wall Street. At 07:00 today, art devised by Zefrey Throwell called Ocularpation was produced on Wall Street. It involved 50 volunteers enacting typical tasks of people on the street, including those of a janitor and a dog walker. The actors eventually removed their clothes, to indicate the vulnerability and loss continuing from 2008 as a result of actions of Wall Street institutions that are allegedly unchanged three years later. Then the performers got dressed. The whole thing was over in five minutes.
Regardless of political or financial opinion, it makes sense to us as art. Most people on the street loved it, whether or not they understood it. But the pretend dog walker, a woman, was arrested for being topfree. The police officer who arrested her insulted her and ordered her to put her top on. Read her calm but colourful account here.
Above left: the topfree woman walks her imaginary dog on Wall Street. Above right: Fully dressed, she is handcuffed and and waits with a police officer.
Memo to NYPD: it's been legal for 19 years for women to be topfree in New York State. In 2007, Phoenix Feeley won her suit against you after you had the brazen ignorance to arrest and mistreat her in 2005 for being topfree. And you know, the police are not appointed to be critics of art, morals, mental condition, or anything else --- only to uphold the law, which you did not do.
The topfree woman on Wall Street and others informed the police that what she was doing was legal. They neither respected that nor checked it. We sense false arrest and other abuses.
(Two men were also arrested but in our view should not have been.)
2011 August 01. In our second story from today, Linda Meyer, the most successful topfree activist in North America, was stopped for walking topfree on the Lougheed Highway in Maple Ridge, British Columbia. She has often walked topfree there. This time she was followed and harrassed by a police officer who then "had to" call for "help" in the form of two more police cars. All three cars proceeded to stop in the middle of the highway.
It's amazing how much tax money has to be wasted to annoy a woman who has done nothing wrong. Linda told the police that. No bystander had even complained (not that that should matter). The police did not even ask her to put on her top. Good thing they didn't --- Linda is a fiery one when mistreated.
After a long phone conversation, a police sergeant apologized. But Linda is looking for a bit more than that. She's right that it isn't her job to educate the police repeatedly.
2011 August 01. It's been a bizarre day for North American topfree rights (see the above two items). The better, "normal" news is next.
In pursuing her points in Northfield, Minnesota, Quizzical Mama found that a pool supervisor was "open to my request that 'proper swimwear' not be further defined beyond safety, which would include swim diapers for diapered babies; no street wear whose fibers can clog the pool filters; and no loose strings or other that could be a safety hazard."
This is all to be discussed at an official meeting in Northfield in September. For now, this is an admission of sense, and therefore a victory for a girl aged 3, who should not be ordered to wear a top. What will happen in September? Stay tuned.
2011 July 31. Today's anatomy lesson.
2011 July 30. After a World Cup quarter-final soccer game between Brazil and the USA on July 10, ESPN (Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) uploaded the picture below, left of the Americans' Abby Wambach and Hope Solo. Compare it to the original photo below, right. Besides brightening the photo too much, ESPN censored Hope Solo's left nipple.
The arrow on the photo on the left represents the animated .gif of both, to be found here. What would ESPN do with a photo like the one below of Hope Solo, which is clearly twice as immoral?
Thanks to Kate Hansen for bringing this nonsense to our attention. (Anyone remember Brandi Chastain from 1999?)
2011 July 29. A few days ago, a fine article by "Quizzical Mama" appeared about her 3-year-old daughter being required to wear a top at a swimming pool in Northfield, Minnesota.
Mom with topfree daughter in June 2011, on a beach in Norway.
Obscene, isn't it!One standard line often dragged out about swimming is wearing "proper attire." This always seems enforced by the person with the least understanding or the most problems.
We have news about this. "Proper attire" almost always means you can't swim in street clothes, because their fibres would clog pool filters. It has nothing to do with how little you may wear. As the author suggests, if you sexualize little girls by absurd clothing rules, you create the exact opposite situation to what you want.
America's misplaced, aggrandized prudery is harmful to children.
2011 July 28. Many articles appeared about the 20th anniversary of Gwen Jacob's arrest in Guelph, Ontario. Few are any good. Most say little or repeat assumptions that were never correct. Three of the better articles are here, here, and here, although they contain errors. (It would be nice too if all reporters could just get the name Jacob right.)
Another article that deals with the general subject of breasts among several related others is here. It's by a lawyer in Santa Monica, California.
2011 July 26. About a month ago, in late June, at the Pride Parade in NewYork City, this woman came running towards someone's cellphone camera.
Police and others scarcely seemed to notice. That should be the result at all other times as well.
2011 July 16. In three days will be the 20th anniversary of the arrest of Gwen Jacob in Guelph, Ontario, for walking topfree. Although articles about this have already appeared, we'll wait to comment until we see what else develops.
Everyone should know that Gwen's persistence and vision saw her through to being acquitted of a charge of indecency some five years later, on December 9, 1996. (That's not a great time in much of North America to celebrate anything outdoors topfree.) Hers is one of two major acquittals in the past 20 years that set the precedent and the tone for the issue behind this association's existence. As we've said before, she remains the most eloquent person (even if speaking infrequently) on the subject of women's topfreedom and the wide range of issues it pertains to.
Here's to Gwen Jacob!
2011 July 09. The Madison, Wisconsin women charged last year for being topfree in a World Nake Bike Ride appear to have won, finally. Madison has adopted an indecency ordinance that clearly allows what went on in that ride (and this year's). Restarting the prosecution against the women is almost impossible. Politically it really is impossible.
Bravo to all the women who persisted against those charges. Meanwhile, this, from an enlightened Madison alderperson: "We have to be very careful when we start legislating around our own personal morality. It is not illegal to make people uncomfortable."
Whether women may be topfree in Madison under conditions not involving obvious protest or expression is now an important question. Women's breasts should not have to be making a statement to be visible legally, using the First Amendment. Men's don't.
2011 July 06. A fine article in the Guelph Mercury (Ontario, Canada) posted today presents a preview of this year's Topfreedom Day of Pride in the same city. From the Facebook page for the event:
This year the festival will be incorporating more aspects than last year; such as a larger stage on which musicians and bands will play, a spoken word stage that will host local spoken word artists and a couple DJs at night, a family learning area where everyone is welcome to learn some art and dance from members of the community, an artist village where local artists will be showing and selling their work, and hopefully a food vendor who will be selling delicious homemade local food. This will all be done with the vision of social acceptance and comfort for the right of all of us to be topfree if we so wish.
2011 June 30. A little while ago, this photo appeared with a listing for the sale of a townhouse in Chamblee, Georgia.
Bloggies pounced on it as "tasteless" and "porn" because of the "naked" woman. Although we doubt that a person visibly taking a photo helps to sell a place, the inane comments top any such question.
2011 June 28. Recently a woman decided to take up where the recent Bowery woman left off. Jamie Peck went about parts of New York City topfree, doing various things like talking to people, petting a dog and a horse, buying a few eats, and rebuffing in her own nice way a park employee and a policeman. Her account is very well written, a lively, major description of a topfree experience in a place where it is and ought to be known as completely legal, without interference from anyone. (It should be that everywhere, of course.)
What an appropriate article, less than a month before the 20th anniversary of the arrest of Gwen Jacob in neighbouring Ontario!
By contrast, USA Today ran an article with the headline, "Do you think women should go topless at the beach?" For being inane and misleading, that's hard to beat. All its vignette suggests is that USA Today doesn't understand this topic at all.
2011 June 27. The US Supreme Court has agreed to hear the long drawn out case of the Federal Communications Commission versus various broadcasters for showing various body parts (including women's breasts) and other "obscenities." Lower courts have ruled that the FCC was wrong to fine the stations or networks. The USSC will hear the case some time in the next four to eight months.
Notably, the Court just ruled that California can't ban the sale of violent video games to minors. Any bets on whether it shows itself to be blatantly hypocritical when it comes to the FCC case? This article indicates our opinion eloquently.
2011 June 21. A little over a week ago, a topfree woman was riding a bicycle near Jefferson, Iowa. Police accosted her and ordered her to put a top on. Why do they persist in interfering with women?
More details here, although we object to the editor's belief that wearing a top is modest. Let's drop the disparaging assumptions about women.
2011 June 19. In Bedford, England, a Tesco supermarket has banned shirtless customers. The good news is that the notice does not mention women or men. The bad news is that the concern is exaggerated. Hair, sweat, and whatever else is a concern for the food don't come solely or even primarily from chests. Consider Cap d'Agde in France, where people may shop in grocery stores wearing nothing at all. As for "customers who are offended," should they be allowed to impose their views on others?
2011 June 18. The Northern Star, campus newspaper of Northern Illinois University (Dekalb), printed this piece on women going topfree. We're glad to see more and more opinions like this coming out. (Note, however, that breasts are not organs, and it's impossible to list cursorily states where women may be topfree, for several reasons.)
2011 June 09. (This story originated with Bowery Boogie.) Three days ago a woman walked topfree in New York City:
There are conflicting reports as to whether she was charged with an offence. It is clear, however, that police intercepted her. They should absolutely not have done so. Why are they interfering with a legal right?
This month is the 25th anniversary of the arrest of women in Rochester NY for being topfree, a case they eventually won in 1992, in the most significant decision for women's topfreedom in the country's history. It seems that still, 19 years after the case was decided in the women's favour, too many police do not know or do not uphold the law on women's topfreedom in New York State. That problem notwithstanding, a police spokesperson did recognize the law on this subject and say that "the woman's lack of certain attire in this instance does not appear to be a police matter."
2011 June 04. Although we don't often mention breast flashing and the person in the story may not be protected by the law as it stands, this report of a rock concert a few days ago reveals, among other things, a thin line between flashing and just being topfree.
2011 May 31. Amongst many protests this spring over women being ordered illegally and immorally not to breastfeed in public, this well-considered report stands out, of a protest held in Trumbull, Connecticut.
2011 May 17. Recently a magazine cover with a topfree man was censored by the USA's two largest bookstore chains. This article doesn't go into the problem much, although it tells the story. We offer no comment, exasperated.
A good analysis that almost gets it is here.
2011 May 09. A careful reading of this item suggests that much is omitted. Nonetheless, there is enough to indicate that topfreedom intolerance has played a major role in what happened. Yes, it affects men also.
2011 April 28. The case against Cesilee Dean is over. Although she was interested in having her case won on the issue of being topfree in public, she has won on a technicality. The city of Madison, Wisconsin will not appeal that further. Good city.
The city of Madison intends to prosecute the other eight people arrested in the same incident last June. Bad city. Wasteful city. Dead wrong city.
2011 April 27. Two months ago, a podcast about breasts appeared in a long-running series. It contains useful observations in a popular mode from host Stéphane Deschênes. We note his guests on this program: two women who ran a topfreedom day of pride in August 2010; Emma Kwasnica, who has created a global network to facilitate sharing of human milk; and Gwen Jacob, who impelled one of North America's most important legal precedents for topfree equality. (In the link, scroll down to February 27, 2011.)
This is the first time Gwen Jacob has spoken publicly on this topic in a long time. She is important not just as a courageous person in a legal case but as a very insightful thinker and speaker on topfreedom and related issues. Many people who know of her arrest 20 years ago and acquittal 15 years ago on a charge of indecency may now hear, from the source herself, the most lively imaginable reflection on those major events.
A photo from 2010 of Gwen Jacob with the two topfreedom day women is here. Here is a photo of Emma Kwasnica (well, part of her) with one of her children, and another:
2011 April 24. Although we rarely report on events outside North America and Europe, this one is worth mentioning. On April 14, in BangKok's Songkran fesitval, three young women danced topfree for a few minutes. A national uproar ensued when the video of their dancing went onto the Internet.
The glistening is from water, which is often spouted at festival revellers. The women are said to be under 17, although there is no verification of that. Regardless, that brought worldwide remarks based on some of America's widespread assumptions (mistaken, in our view) about child pornography. Thai commentators are calling the police action hypocritical, given their capital city's notorious involvement in the sex trade and the government's cry that the three women are hurting Thailand's fine reputation.
Traditional Thai dances have sometimes included topfreee women. We note the following painting on the website of the Thai Ministry of Culture:
The Culture Minister ordered the painting removed. The live dancers were reported fined about US$17, but the person who uploaded the video may face much bigger fines and years in jail. This whole episode strikes us as an example of how importing Western ideas (notably American) may seriously muddle other societies, especially when those very ideas are muddled or hypocritical.
Although we can't answer the question of whether the women should have done what they did, surely three minutes of weak topfree dancing at Songkran aren't criminal.
2011 April 19. The appeal of the city of Madison, Wisconsin against the favourable decision in the case of Cesilee Dean being topfree during the 2010 World Naked Bike Ride there has apparently failed. Cesilee will have prevailed once again; bravo to her for persevering against the wrong position of the city.
This latest round was won on a legal technicality. It ought to mean the end of the whole thing, but will it?
2011 April 08. On April 1, a woman tried unsuccessfully to damage or remove a famous painting, Two Tahitian Women, by Paul Gaugin, in the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C.
Deux Tahitiennes (1899) by Paul GauguinThe court documents quote her as saying, "I feel that Gaugin is evil. He has nudity and is bad for the children. He has two women in the painting and it's very homosexual. I was trying to remove it. I think it should be burned." Other reports quote words that make even less sense.
Although some television news reports showed the whole painting, others censored it by cropping, blurring, or obstructing. That affirmed the woman's general point and falsified the painting in notable condescension towards viewers. Such is the effect of the Federal Communications Commission's having tried to censor television in the USA, which it has no mandate to do.
2011 April 04. Recently in Ukraine, the increasingly well-known protest group Femen interrupted a meeting of the Internet domain registrar with signs, including this one, which says "Internet without censorship":
Meanwhile, YouTube and other Internet giants have banned Femen materials. Facebook, notorious for its authoritarian censorship, took down Femen's pages. Hence this representation by Femen of "See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil," with Femen's symbol in the Facebook logo:
We've always thought Femen should use some older women in its campaigns. Although its protesters are almost always young, here's a 63-year-old grandmother protesting pension changes in Ukraine:
Meaning "A difficult age," her sign emphasizes the Russian word for work or labour.
Lastly, four women protest in three languages, with the first three signs from left to right in Ukrainian, Russian, and Ukrainian: "Ukraine is not a brothel," "Secret dirty deals," and "Ukrainian women are not prostitutes."
We don't get the impression that Femen is taken seriously by Ukrainian officials.
2011 March 09. A group of topfree women marched in Medellin, Colombia yesterday in honour of International Women's Day. Supportive men wore red bras.
The signs read "For equality of the breast" (left) and "Woman: live without guilt; demand your equal rights" (right). The march was organized by Raelians.
2011 February 22. On Valentine's Day last week, two women in Femen protested topfree at the Italian embassy in Kyïv. They ended up with jail sentences of one and two days.
The women were protesting alleged sexual misbehaviour by the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
2011 February 14. Earlier this month, rapper Jim Jones was sued by two women because he used video of them topfree without their permission in his brief Summer Time. The women were on South Beach in Miami Beach, Florida, one of the few public places where women may be without tops in all of the USA --- not counting bars and clubs, of course.
Even though the women were not engaging in sexual behaviour on the beach, the video itself has sexuality as a theme. YouTube had it posted for a while but took it down.
This shows one way in which women's breasts may have ambiguous, multiple, or changed meanings depending on how an image is used. In this case, viewers are led to believe the images are sexual in nature.
If more women could be topfree when and how they wanted, would problems like this often arise? Doesn't commodification of women's bodies depend on their control by men?
2011 February 04. Recently this article appeared, analyzing the American prohibition against female breast exposure. It's fairly good. Shockingly, it first appeared nearly 30 years ago --- and almost nothing has changed.
2011 February 02. Yesterday the Ukrainian women's group Femen protested on a balcony in Kyïv. They disagree with an order that during next year's soccer tournament, people must not appear on balconies without tops.
The signs, all in Russian, say: (bottom left, upside down) "Rebellious balcony," (top left) "Balconies are for people," (top right) "Spit from the balcony," and (just below that) "Private property." For our position on women's breasts used in protests, go here.
2011 January 23. A few days ago, a woman playing the video game Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 found that her avatar was topfree. The manufacturer of the game, Electronic Arts, says that that copy of it was hacked, although such hacks are known in many video games at the factory level. Photos and video here.
2011 January 21. CNN has posted a video about the women who protest topfree in Ukraine. Obviously CNN doesn't see the deplorable irony in censoring the whole video. A French video, uncensored, has less staged footage and only a little in common with the CNN video. When the police move in, one of the women shouts, "Get your filthy paws off me, you bastard!"
2011 January 13. Recently the company American Apparel created the print ad below.
The reactions to it recall the ads from some years ago by Abercrombie & Fitch which showed models of both sexes topfree in the company's catalogues. There were complaints because the catalogues and clothing were marketed to teenagers. Does that matter?
2011 January 12. Seven sort-of topfree women shovelled snow off a sidewalk today in New York City. They wore coats that were open and no tops under them.
photos by Andy Kropa
As a test of New York State's law allowing topfreedom, this was unusual: how common is topfree snow shovelling? Does that matter? The women were from a nearby strip club; does that matter? New York permits topfreedom for women that is not for a commercial or sexual purpose. Two different statements from the event illustrate the question:
1. "Wednesday's stunt was a way to let people know that the spot was still open for business, said a dancer, who referred to herself as Zsa Zsa."
2. "'We're helping the mayor clean the city up,' said a dancer, who called herself Giselle." (There had been reports in New York of snow removal that took too long.)If men had shovelled snow similarly clothed, what would the result be? Does that matter?
Passersby took photos, and the police came and told the women to go inside. There were no arrests.
The report says that this was deemed a problem because of the "family neighbourhood." That has nothing to do with legality in New York.
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Earlier topfreedom news is here (April 2001 to December 2006) and here (January 2007 to December 2010).
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Thanks to a generous donor, TERA is a sponsor of an important calendar: Breast of Canada 2003 to 2007. The calendars deal with total breast health, from prevention of disease to topfreedom!
NEW ON THIS SITE
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE AND PRINCIPLES The Topfree Equal Rights Association (TERA) helps women who encounter difficulty going without tops in public places in Canada and the USA, and informs the public on this issue.
This website is intended as an information resource. It should interest women (and men) who understand --- or want to understand --- that women's breasts are just fine, and in no way indecent, obscene, dangerous, or some other version of bad, any more than men's are.
In most jurisdictions in North America, explicit sexual activity in public view is illegal. That is not involved here! If men may decide to have exposed breasts without it, so may women.
If women act on this understanding by innocuously having uncovered breasts in public, they are usually criticized, ridiculed, and hassled, and may be fined or jailed. Their experiences tell quite the story, which is gradually unfolding on this site and similar ones.
Our basic claim is that women deserve equal rights. We do not suggest that women or men should go about with bare breasts. That is every individual's decision. We do believe that since men may choose to do so in many situations, women must also be able to at least in the same situations. Without penalty of any kind.
Women pay severely for North America's leering punishment of their breasts. Many find themselves the object of unwanted and unwarranted attention from men in positions of power over them. Many have debilitating body image problems, hating the breasts on their own, unique bodies. Many undergo hazardous cosmetic surgery to conform to some non-existent standard. To please others, many wear bras that confine and hurt and may be harmful. Many are afraid to breastfeed, especially with others present.
Why do many women want to let their breasts out of the prison our society has put them in? They want to be comfortable. They want the convenience. They want to further their well-being. They want ownership and control of their own breasts.
They deserve equal treatment under the law.
If you think that the issue of exposed breasts is trivial, or you disagree with the above, have a look around this site. You may change your mind.
(More about TERA's purpose with reference to feminist theory is contained here.)
From time to time, people ask whether there is any place on this site to post messages and discuss issues. There isn't. However, we are willing to mention sites that enable that, without comment about them. You will find them on our links page. Those wanting to be linked in that way should notify us.
TERA does not often post to these sites because, quite honestly, we are busy! That does not preclude involvement; and as always, TERA welcomes items (positive, negative, or other) to post on this site on our articles, comments, and quotes pages, not to mention photos!
We are willing to establish a separate area about breastfeeding in public, if the material relates to topfreedom. (There are other sites for this topic which handle it very well.)
If you like what you find on this site, please go here.
CONTENTS OF THIS SITE
(a work in progress)
Items and areas you may visit on this site
Misunderstandings about women and bare breasts
Frequently asked questionsPhotos, page 1
Photos, page 2
Photos, page 3
Photos, page 4
Photos, page 5
Photos, page 6: banned by Facebook!Articles, talks, and the like
not as boring as you thinkA "topfree herstory"
the start of something ...Judicial opinions (and more)
the decisions that have made historyVisitors' comments
from light to really livelyInspiring quotations
from all over the placeRecent news
funny, ridiculous, sad, uplifting,
or some combinationNews releases
a samplingLinks
to others promoting topfree equal rights
We acknowledge with thanks the continual assistance of Artie Bigley of Columbus, Ohio
in the preparation of some of the news stories on this page.
ALL MATERIAL ON THIS SITE IS COPYRIGHT 1997-2012 BY THE TOPFREE EQUAL RIGHTS ASSOCIATION. Material may not be printed or posted elsewhere except by explicit permission of TERA. However, links to this site and material on it are encouraged, if the aim is consistent with TERA's.
NOTE: TERA strives for the highest level of accuracy and credibility in its site, its other messages, and its actions. However, no comments, statements, opinions, suggestions, admonitions, or other communications on this site or in any messages from TERA are intended or are to be construed as legal advice. Neither TERA nor any of its board members, affiliates, or associates is in any way responsible for direct or indirect, immediate or delayed consequences of acceptance, srejection, interpretation, or indeed any use whatever of material found on this site or on any site linked from or to it, or of material in TERA's messages or any proper or improper transmission or retransmission of them.
TERA needs donations to support women. If you like what you find on this site, please go here. Latest update: 2012 May 17, 17:00 EDT (2012 May 18, 0700 AEDT)
