In countries across the globe, and even in various states, women have the legal right to go topless. But just because women can, doesn’t mean women do. There is a strong sort of taboo against the naked chest of a woman being visible in public. Here in Maine women can go topless, but do we? I’ve lived in Maine for ten years, I’ve been to multiple beaches, countless times, and I have yet to see even one topless woman in public. It just doesn’t happen. But why not? I don’t think it’s because women love tan lines.
Women have been sexualized for so long that our bodies have a lot more social significance than the body of men. No one would drop their jaw at the sight of a topless man in public-we see it all the time! But if a girl ever even has the guts to stand up for her right and take her shirt off, she is not only gawked at, scolded and made into the attention of everyone around, she is often (wrongly) arrested, fined, and taken to court. Women are criminalized for the exact same thing any man can do completely freely. And there have been cases where police officers have only learned after the event and embarrassment has already happened that actually, there was no need for them to pull out their handcuffs and drag off an innocent, freedom-loving and law-abiding citizen.
Cops are not the only ones who have the capacity to embarrass bare-chested women. While some men may stare and others may cat-call, it is the disapproval of other women that may be most intimidating and most disheartening thing about going topless. New York is another state where the case has been settled that women can be bare-chested. But when Meghan Pleticha tried it out in Central Park, she found out just how uncomfortable our society feels about public boobs. At the height of her embarrassment were the whispers and bad attitudes from other women.
“Even though I knew the law was on my side, female toplessness still felt like the medical marijuana of the east coast: legal but somehow illicit. I thought that women, used to having men stare at their cleavage, would be more subtle when they checked out a woman’s chest. the ladies weren’t subtle nor polite. I heard murmurs about breasts and “that girl.” If I offered a nervous smile, all I got was the lady in question looking away or continuing to whisper. Being carefree and topless was incredibly stressful. Other women’s scorn was by far the most disconcerting thing I experienced that day.” (from Pleticha’s article “What Happened When I Legally Exposed My Breasts in Public”)
Women have so many different values and opinions about what is appropriate and what is not, and on top of that we have insecurities about our bodies pushed on us every day. It would be hard for us all to come together and cheer on other women who want to bare it all. Personally I don’t want to draw attention to myself when I’m trying to relax on the beach, so even though it’s legal, and even though I would prefer to skip the tan-line, I would feel uncomfortable taking it off down at OOB or Higgin’s Beach. I don’t enjoy feeling uncomfortable about it, and I wish it wasn’t such a big deal here, but it is, and we aren’t making it any easier on ourselves by judging each other.
If a man is topless, no one is going to wonder what the hell is going on. If a woman is topless, suddenly it’s everyone’s business. Hopefully in time women’s bodies will be seen more as instruments for life and less as instruments for sex, and hopefully we can be respected more completely as equals. Until then. if a woman so desires, let her chest be free! After all, it’s only fair.
For more info on being free visit gotopless.org