Genderi
Senior Member
- Dec 26, 2011
- 102
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[h=1]The right to bare breasts: Women across the country take off their tops to show solidarity for women's rights (and hundreds of men supported the cause too)[/h]
Women across the country took off their tops and exercised their right to bare breasts yesterday.
Some two dozen women took to the streets of New York wearing shoes, shorts, and not much more. Elsewhere in the country, scantily-clad participants had posters and pamphlets.
The revealing events were part of what participants called National Go-Topless Day, to draw attention to inequality in topless rights between men and women.
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Free your breasts: Yesterday, activists marched in a rally in Times Square to protest for the right of women to go topless anywhere
White out: Wearing white pants, black heels, and not much else, activist Karen Heaven is followed by photographers as she marches in the event in New York
Nearly naked: Robert Burck, centre, also known as the Naked Cowboy, performs for the women as they marched in Times Square
Family friendly? Two activists pose in the heart of Times Square with a person in an Elmo costume while the press swarms around them
Some two dozen topless women protested in a New York City park on a hot, sweaty Sunday as part of National Go Topless Day, a non-profit U.S. organisation founded in 2007.
There were topless men in the park, too, but nobody paid them much attention, a disparity, organizers said, that demonstrated the need for the event.
The topless women drew crowds of onlookers who took pictures and video with their cell phones.
'We say there is nothing wrong with the female nipple,' Karen Heaven, an organizer of the event, told the crowd that quickly formed around her in Manhattan's Bryant Park.
She was wearing white pants and a purse over her shoulder. 'My dog has six, I have two, but I can be put in jail for showing my nipples. It's 2012 what are we thinking?'
Equality: In Venice Beach, California, participants took to the surf to protest, wearing bikini bottoms, but leaving the tops behind
Top free: Protesters turn out to take part in the 5th Annual Go Topless Rally in Venice Beach, California
Gawkers: Men of all ages at the Venice Beach protest took the opportunity to capture the moment on cell phones and cameras
It is legal for women to go topless in public in New York City but laws vary widely across the United States. Heaven and her colleagues say discrimination is unconstitutional and they want full equality.
'I'll show these to a few friends and then delete them after a few days,' Rudy Sison, a New Yorker who happened to visit the park on Sunday, told Reuters as he thumbed through photographs and video he had just taken on his phone. 'They're topless.'
Several women waved signs saying: 'Equal Topless Rights For All.' After the speeches, a guitarist led the crowd in a reworking of The Beatles' song 'Let It Be.'
Similar protests were scheduled in about 30 U.S. cities and 10 around the world, organizers said.
In Phoenix, another two dozen men and women marched down Central Avenue to promote their rights.
Disappointing: About a dozen women bared their breasts in Asheville, North Carolina this year, dozens less than the year before
Organiser Jenna Duffy, 27, told The Arizona Republic that the demonstration can bring us closer to gender equality by showing that they are not objects, they are part of us that we are not ashamed of.
Though dozens more in the Arizona capital looked on, Duffy said that was a large part of the problem, saying: Gawkers should be walking with us.
In the march was a self-described stay-at-home grandma who said: If there were more opportunities to be naked, Id be part of it.
In Asheville, North Carolina, there were hundreds of gawkers, but only a dozen or so participants. The disappointing turn-out could have been in part by a City Council public statement that asked for residents and gawkers alike to avoid the rally.
Canadian pride: A woman in fairy wings protested in Toronto, Canada
Earth angels: The women in Toronto showed up in all white
Strength in numbers: In Seattle, men wore bikini tops while the women went bare-chested
Police said about 2,000 people turned up to watch or show their solidarity with the cause, according to the Asheville Citizen Times.
The annual Go-Topless Day was established in 2007 by a former sports car journalist called Rael, who founded a religion called the Raelian Movement after he said he was visited by a space alien in a French volcano park who told him life on Earth was created by extra-terrestrial scientists, according to an account on his website.
According to the organisations website, it is legal to be topless in cities like Asheville, Austin, Boulder, Colorado, Columbus, Honolulu, Madison, Portland, Oregon, and Washington.
In other states, it is illegal to go topless.
- Women across the country turned out for National Go-Topless Day
- Took place in cities like New York, Phoenix, Venice Beach, California and Asheville, North Carolina
Women across the country took off their tops and exercised their right to bare breasts yesterday.
Some two dozen women took to the streets of New York wearing shoes, shorts, and not much more. Elsewhere in the country, scantily-clad participants had posters and pamphlets.
The revealing events were part of what participants called National Go-Topless Day, to draw attention to inequality in topless rights between men and women.
Scroll down for video
Some two dozen topless women protested in a New York City park on a hot, sweaty Sunday as part of National Go Topless Day, a non-profit U.S. organisation founded in 2007.
There were topless men in the park, too, but nobody paid them much attention, a disparity, organizers said, that demonstrated the need for the event.
The topless women drew crowds of onlookers who took pictures and video with their cell phones.
'We say there is nothing wrong with the female nipple,' Karen Heaven, an organizer of the event, told the crowd that quickly formed around her in Manhattan's Bryant Park.
She was wearing white pants and a purse over her shoulder. 'My dog has six, I have two, but I can be put in jail for showing my nipples. It's 2012 what are we thinking?'
Equality: In Venice Beach, California, participants took to the surf to protest, wearing bikini bottoms, but leaving the tops behind
It is legal for women to go topless in public in New York City but laws vary widely across the United States. Heaven and her colleagues say discrimination is unconstitutional and they want full equality.
'I'll show these to a few friends and then delete them after a few days,' Rudy Sison, a New Yorker who happened to visit the park on Sunday, told Reuters as he thumbed through photographs and video he had just taken on his phone. 'They're topless.'
Several women waved signs saying: 'Equal Topless Rights For All.' After the speeches, a guitarist led the crowd in a reworking of The Beatles' song 'Let It Be.'
Similar protests were scheduled in about 30 U.S. cities and 10 around the world, organizers said.
In Phoenix, another two dozen men and women marched down Central Avenue to promote their rights.
Organiser Jenna Duffy, 27, told The Arizona Republic that the demonstration can bring us closer to gender equality by showing that they are not objects, they are part of us that we are not ashamed of.
Though dozens more in the Arizona capital looked on, Duffy said that was a large part of the problem, saying: Gawkers should be walking with us.
In the march was a self-described stay-at-home grandma who said: If there were more opportunities to be naked, Id be part of it.
In Asheville, North Carolina, there were hundreds of gawkers, but only a dozen or so participants. The disappointing turn-out could have been in part by a City Council public statement that asked for residents and gawkers alike to avoid the rally.
Police said about 2,000 people turned up to watch or show their solidarity with the cause, according to the Asheville Citizen Times.
The annual Go-Topless Day was established in 2007 by a former sports car journalist called Rael, who founded a religion called the Raelian Movement after he said he was visited by a space alien in a French volcano park who told him life on Earth was created by extra-terrestrial scientists, according to an account on his website.
According to the organisations website, it is legal to be topless in cities like Asheville, Austin, Boulder, Colorado, Columbus, Honolulu, Madison, Portland, Oregon, and Washington.
In other states, it is illegal to go topless.
