{{short description|Having a woman’s torso exposed above the waist}}{{Redirect|Topless}}{{pp-semi-indef|small=yes}}{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}}{{use American English|date=May 2017}}File:Topless woman at the 2008 Oregon Country Fair.jpg|thumb|284x284px|Topless woman at the 2008 Oregon Country Fair Oregon Country FairToplessness refers to the state in which a woman’s breasts, including her areolas and nipples, are exposed, especially in a public place or in a visual medium. The male equivalent is known as barechestedness.Exposed breasts are normal in many indigenous societies. However, many countries have social norms around female modesty, often enforced by legal statutes, that require women to cover their breasts in public. In many jurisdictions, women who expose their breasts can be prosecuted for indecent exposure, although public breastfeeding is often exempted from public indecency laws.Social norms around toplessness vary by context and location. Throughout history, women’s breasts have been featured in art and visual media, from painting and sculpture to film and photography, and such representations are generally defended on the grounds of artistic merit. Toplessness may also be deemed acceptable on educational, medical, or political grounds. At many beaches and resort destinations, especially in Europe and Australia, women are either formally or informally permitted to sunbathe topless. However, societies tend to view breast exposure unfavorably, and subject it to stringent regulations or prohibitions.

Usage and connotations

File:Paul Gauguin 145.jpg|thumb|left|Two Tahitian Women (1899) by Paul Gauguin Paul GauguinThe word “topless” usually refers to a woman who is naked above her waist or hips or, at least, whose breasts are exposed to public view, specifically including her areolas and nipples. It can describe a woman who appears, poses, or performs with at least her breasts exposed, such as a “topless model” or “topless dancer”, or to an activity undertaken while not wearing a top, such as “topless sunbathing”. It may indicate a designated location where one might expect to find women not wearing tops, such as a “topless beach” or “topless bar”. It can also be used to describe a garment that is specifically designed to reveal the breasts, such as the “topless swimsuit” (also known as the monokini) designed by Rudi Gernreich in the 1960s.WEB,bbc.adactio.com/cult/ilove/years/1964/fashion1.shtml, Topless Swimsuits and Dresses, BBC,bbc.adactio.com/cult/ilove/years/1964/fashion1.shtml," title="web.archive.org/web/20221023184238bbc.adactio.com/cult/ilove/years/1964/fashion1.shtml,">web.archive.org/web/20221023184238bbc.adactio.com/cult/ilove/years/1964/fashion1.shtml, October 23, 2022, The word “topless” may carry sexual or exhibitionist connotations. Because of this, advocates of women’s legal right to uncover their breasts wherever men may go bare-chested have adopted the alternative term “topfree”, which is not perceived to have these connotations.WEB,ethosmagonline.com/archives/6654, Busting Out: The Right to Bare It All, Ethos Magazine, dead,ethosmagonline.com/archives/6654," title="web.archive.org/web/20120815075239ethosmagonline.com/archives/6654,">web.archive.org/web/20120815075239ethosmagonline.com/archives/6654, 15 August 2012, WEB, Staff,www.007b.com/topfreedom.php, What is Topfreedom?, 007b.com, 20 January 2013, 12 August 2017,www.007b.com/topfreedom.php," title="web.archive.org/web/20130120232359www.007b.com/topfreedom.php,">web.archive.org/web/20130120232359www.007b.com/topfreedom.php, 20 January 2013, dead,

Barechestedness

(File:Soldier running in water original.jpg|thumb|A barechested man running out of the water)Barechestedness is the state of a man or boy wearing no clothes above the waist, exposing the upper torso. Bare male chests are generally considered acceptable in or around the house; at beaches, swimming pools and sunbathing areas; when exercising outside in hot weather; and in certain outdoor construction work settings. However, some stores and restaurants have a “no shirt, no service” rule to prevent barechested men from coming inside.NEWS, Coppolino, Andrew, Request for proof of vaccine simple for some restaurant staff, ‘exhausting’ for others: Andrew Coppolino,www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-waterloo/andrew-coppolino-vaccine-passport-restaurants-waterloo-region-1.6203757, 9 February 2022, CBC News, 9 October 2021,web.archive.org/web/20221025031813/https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-waterloo/andrew-coppolino-vaccine-passport-restaurants-waterloo-region-1.6203757, October 25, 2022, NEWS, Braley-Rattai, Alison, Pandemic-era retail: No shoes, no shirt, no mask â€“ no service?,www.ohscanada.com/features/pandemic-era-retail-no-shoes-no-shirt-no-mask-no-service/, 9 February 2022, OHS Canada Magazine, 22 April 2021,web.archive.org/web/20230323200642/https://www.ohscanada.com/features/pandemic-era-retail-no-shoes-no-shirt-no-mask-no-service/, March 23, 2023, While going barechested at outdoor activities may be acceptable, it is taboo in workplaces, churches and other formal settings.In most societies, male barechestedness is much more common than female toplessness, even among children. Exposure of the male pectoral muscles is often considered to be far less taboo than of the female breasts, despite some considering them equally erogenous. Male barechestedness is often ascribed to practical reasons such as heat, or the ability to move the body without being restricted by an upper body garment. In several sports, such as swimming and boxing, it is encouraged or even obligatory for males to be barechested. Barechestedness may also be used as a display of power, or to draw attention to oneself, especially if the upper body muscles are well-developed.NEWS, Putin gone wild: Russia abuzz over pics of shirtless leader,www.cbc.ca/news/world/putin-gone-wild-russia-abuzz-over-pics-of-shirtless-leader-1.639179, 9 February 2022, CBC News, The Associated Press, 23 August 2007,web.archive.org/web/20230712060217/https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/putin-gone-wild-russia-abuzz-over-pics-of-shirtless-leader-1.639179, July 12, 2023,

Exposure

File:Marie Louise ThÃ©rÃ¨se de Savoie, princesse de Lamballe par Joseph Duplessis.jpg|thumb|Duplessis’s portrait of Marie ThÃ©rÃ¨se Louise of Savoy baring a nipple dates from 18th-century France.]]The cultural tendency to hide the female nipple under clothing has existed in Western culture since the 1800s.WEB, Beer, Todd, 2015-05-12, Social Construction of the Body: The Nipple,sociologytoolbox.com/social-construction-of-the-body/,sociologytoolbox.com/social-construction-of-the-body/," title="web.archive.org/web/20150527024111sociologytoolbox.com/social-construction-of-the-body/,">web.archive.org/web/20150527024111sociologytoolbox.com/social-construction-of-the-body/, May 27, 2015, 2015-05-16, SOCIOLOGYtoolbox, WEB, Dewar, Gwen, October 2012, The sexualization of girls: Is the popular culture harming our kids?,www.parentingscience.com/sexualization-of-girls.html,parentingscience.com/sexualization-of-girls/," title="web.archive.org/web/20221225144348parentingscience.com/sexualization-of-girls/,">web.archive.org/web/20221225144348parentingscience.com/sexualization-of-girls/, December 25, 2022, Parenting Science, NEWS, 15 November 2014, Toplessness - the one Victorian taboo that won’t go away, BBC News,www.bbc.com/news/magazine-30052071, 13 August 2017,web.archive.org/web/20230826224407/https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-30052071, August 26, 2023, As female nipples are often perceived an intimate part, covering them might have originated under Victorian morality as with riding side saddle. Exposing the entire breast and nipple is a form of protest for some and a crime for others.WEB, 14 February 2014, Why Are Women Expected to Keep Their Nipples Covered?,www.washingtoncitypaper.com/columns/straight-dope/article/13045218/why-are-women-expected-to-keep-their-nipples-covered-breasts, 13 August 2017,web.archive.org/web/20231011044718/https://washingtoncitypaper.com/article/205474/why-are-women-expected-to-keep-their-nipples-covered-breasts/, October 11, 2023, The exposure of nipples is usually considered immodest and in some instances is viewed as lewd or indecent behavior.D. Leder, The Body in Medical Thought and Practice, page 223, Springer Science & Business Media, 1992, {{ISBN|978-0-7923-1657-2}}A case in Erie, Pennsylvania, concerning the exposure of breasts and nipple proceeded to the US Supreme Court.WEB, March 2000, Erie v. Pap’s A. M., 529 U.S. 277 (2000),supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/529/277/case.html, 15 February 2018, Justia Law, Justia, en, Nudity cannot be considered an inherent form of expression., The Erie ordinance was regulating the nipple in public as an act that is committed when a person “knowingly or intentionally, ... appears in a state of nudity commits Public Indecency.” Later in the statute, nudity is further described as an uncovered female nipple. But nipple exposure of a man was not regulated. An opinion column credited to Cecil Adams noted: “Ponder the significance of that. A man walks around bare-chested and the worst that happens is he won’t get served in restaurants. But a woman who goes topless is legally in the same boat as if she’d had sex in public. That may seem crazy, but in the US it’s a permissible law.“The legality around the exposure of nipples is inconsistently regulated throughout the US. Some states do not allow the visualization of any part of the breast. Other jurisdictions prohibit any female chest anatomy by banning anatomical structures that lie below the top of the areola or nipple. Such is the case in West Virginia and Massachusetts. West Virginia’s regulation is very specific and is not likely to be misinterpreted, stating: “[The] display of ‘any portion of the cleavage of the human female breast exhibited by a dress, blouse, skirt, leotard, bathing suit, or other wearing apparel [is permitted] provided the areola is not exposed, in whole or in part.{{’“}}Instagram has a “no nipples” policy with exceptions: material that is not allowed includes “some photos of female nipples, but photos of post-mastectomy scarring and women actively breastfeeding are allowed. Nudity in photos of paintings and sculptures is OK, too”.WEB, Community Guidelines,help.instagram.com/477434105621119, 15 February 2018, help.instagram.com, Instagram, en, Previously, Instagram had removed images of nursing mothers. Instagram removed images of Rihanna and had her account cancelled in 2014 when she posted selfies with nipples. This was incentive for the Twitter campaign #FreeTheNipple.WEB, 17 April 2015, Instagram Clarifies Its No-Nipple Policy,www.thewrap.com/instagram-clarifies-its-no-nipple-policy/, 13 August 2017,web.archive.org/web/20230907162857/https://www.thewrap.com/instagram-clarifies-its-no-nipple-policy/, September 7, 2023, In 2016, an Instagram page invited users to post images of nipples from both sexes; @genderless_nipples, which displays close ups of both the nipples of men and women for the purpose of spotlighting what may be inconsistency.WEB, Toor, Amar, 6 December 2016, Genderless Nipples exposes Instagram’s double standard on nudity,www.theverge.com/2016/12/6/13852900/genderless-nipples-instagram-censorship-policy, 13 August 2017, The Verge,web.archive.org/web/20230529074802/https://www.theverge.com/2016/12/6/13852900/genderless-nipples-instagram-censorship-policy, May 29, 2023, Some contributors have circumvented the policy.NEWS, 6 June 2017, Art student challenges ‘sexist’ ban on nipples on Instagram with new project - BBC Newsbeat, BBC News,www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/40170981/art-student-challenges-sexist-ban-on-nipples-on-instagram-with-new-project, 14 August 2017,web.archive.org/web/20230907194231/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-40170981, September 7, 2023, NEWS, Shire, Emily, 9 September 2014, Women, It’s Time to Reclaim Our Breasts, The Daily Beast,www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/09/09/women-it-s-time-to-reclaim-our-breasts, www.thedailybeast.com,web.archive.org/web/20221226174410/https://www.thedailybeast.com/women-its-time-to-reclaim-our-breasts, December 26, 2022, Facebook has also been struggling to define its nipple policy.WEB, Community Standards,m.facebook.com/communitystandards/encouraging-respectful-behavior/, 14 August 2017, m.facebook.com, WEB, 24 October 2016, Is Facebook going to start freeing the nipple?,www.foxnews.com/tech/2016/10/24/is-facebook-going-to-start-freeing-nipple.html, 14 August 2017, Fox News,web.archive.org/web/20230907162900/https://www.foxnews.com/tech/is-facebook-going-to-start-freeing-the-nipple, September 7, 2023, Filmmaker Lina Esco made a film entitled Free the Nipple, which is about “laws against female toplessness or restrictions on images of female, but not male, nipples”, which Esco states is an example of sexism in society.

In traditional societies

File:Noies wichita.jpg|thumb|right|Two Wichita Native Americans in summer dress (1870)]]Attitudes towards toplessness have varied considerably across cultures and over time. The lack of clothing above the waist for both females and males was the norm in traditional cultures of North America, Africa, Australia and the Pacific Islands until the arrival of Christian missionaries, and it continues to be the norm in many indigenous cultures today. The practice was also the norm in various Asian cultures before Muslim expansion in the 13th and 14th centuries.WEB,livingheritage.org/toplessness.htm, The Garb of Innocence: A Time of Toplessness, Romesh, Fernando, 15 November 1992, 14 January 2010,livingheritage.org/toplessness.htm," title="web.archive.org/web/20230816161920livingheritage.org/toplessness.htm,">web.archive.org/web/20230816161920livingheritage.org/toplessness.htm, August 16, 2023,

Minoan civilization

During the Middle Minoan Era (2000â€“1600 BCE), women wore close-fitting blouses that were cut low in the front and exposed the breasts. The breasts were further emphasized by a narrow waist, similar to the shape that corsets gave women during the late 1800s.“Deciphering Gender in Minoan Dress”, p. 116, Mireille M. Lee in Reading the Body: Representations and Remains in the Archaeological Record, 2000

India

In certain parts of northern India, some women did not wear an upper garment except during winter before the Muslim conquest of India. Women and men typically wore an antriya on the lower body and were nude from the waist up, aside from pieces of jewelry. This was the standard form of dress unless women opted to wear a sari, in which case they covered their upper bodies with a robe.Hyecho. “Wang ocheonchukguk jeon” of AD. 727A. L. Bhasham. “The Wonder That Was India”Toplessness was the norm for women among several communities of South India and Sri Lanka until the 19th or early 20th century. Such communities included the Tamils along the Coromandel Coast, Tiyan and other peoples on the Malabar Coast, Kadar of Cochin Island, Toda, Cheruman (Pulayar), Kuruba, Koraga, Nicobarese, and the Uriya.Hans Peter Duerr. “Der Mythos vom ZivilisationsprozeÃŸ 4. Der erotische Leib”

Thailand

In traditional Thai society, women dressed similarly to men, wearing only a loose lower garment while normally being bare-breasted.BOOK, Atkins, Gary L., Imagining Gay Paradise: Bali, Bangkok, and Cyber-Singapore, 1 January 2012, Hong Kong University Press, 978-988-8083-23-7, 10â€“11,books.google.com/books?id=vNGVruPWtr4C&pg=PA10, en, Before the introduction of Western dress codes, Thai women were depicted both fully clothed and topless in public. Until the early 20th century, women from northern Thailand wore a long tube-skirt (Pha-Sin), tied high above their waist and below their breasts, which were uncovered. In the late 19th century the influence of missionaries and modernization under King Chulalongkorn encouraged local women to cover their breasts with blouses.WEB,www.chiangmai1.com/chiang_mai/sub/traditional_dress.shtml, Traditional Dress, Window to Chiang Mai, 25 July 2017,www.chiangmai1.com/chiang_mai/sub/traditional_dress.shtml," title="web.archive.org/web/20230104223535www.chiangmai1.com/chiang_mai/sub/traditional_dress.shtml,">web.archive.org/web/20230104223535www.chiangmai1.com/chiang_mai/sub/traditional_dress.shtml, January 4, 2023, Between 1939 and 1942, the government of Field Marshal Plaek Pibulsonggram issued a series of cultural standards; Mandate 10, issued on 8 September 1941, instructed Thai people not to appear in public places “without being appropriately dressed”. Inappropriate dress included “wearing no shirt or wearing a wraparound cloth”.www.ratchakitcha.soc.go.th/DATA/PDF/2484/A/113.PDF" title="web.archive.org/web/20120609234836www.ratchakitcha.soc.go.th/DATA/PDF/2484/A/113.PDF">The Royal Gazette Vol. 58, Page 113. 21 January, B.E. 2484 (C.E. 1941). Retrieved 4 June 2010M. Smith. Physician at the Court of Siam (1947) p. 79 cited in Note 3 of Chapter: Southeast Asia in “Der erotische Leib”

Laos

In Laos, Frenchman Henri Mouhot took a picture in 1858 of Laotian women that depicted virgins with clothed breasts and married women with their entire breasts exposed in public, because the baring of breasts for breastfeeding was considered to be nonsexual.M. Henri Mouhot, Travels in the Central parts of Indo-China, Cambodia and Laos (1864)

Indonesia

File:Sea dayak women corset rings.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.25|Sea Dayaks (Iban) women from Rejang, Sarawak, Malaysia (c. 1910)]]In the Indonesian archipelago, toplessness was the norm among the Dayak, Javanese, and the Balinese people of Indonesia before the introduction of Islam and contact with Western cultures. In Javanese and Balinese societies, women had gone topless to work or rest comfortably. Among the Dayak, only big-breasted women or married women with sagging breasts covered their breasts because their breasts interfered with their work.{{clarify|date=February 2012}}

Middle East

{{further|Intimate parts in Islam|Sexual taboo in the Middle East}}In most Middle Eastern countries, toplessness has not been socially accepted since at least the beginning of Islam (7th century), because of Islamic standards for female modesty. However, toplessness was the norm in some pre-Islamic cultures in Arabia, Egypt, Assyria and Mesopotamia. Tunisia and Egypt are an exception among Arabic states, allowing foreign tourists to swim topless on private beaches.WEB,www.habiba.org/culture.html, Culture and Tradition in the Arab Countries: American Returns Touched by the Land and the People, The Habiba Chaouch Foundation, Elizabeth, Rovere, 2013-07-28,www.habiba.org/culture.html," title="web.archive.org/web/20161018215742www.habiba.org/culture.html,">web.archive.org/web/20161018215742www.habiba.org/culture.html, October 18, 2016, {{clear left}}

Africa

{{multiple image

}}Among Himba women of northern Namibia and Hamar of southern Ethiopia, besides other traditional groups in Africa, the social norm is for women to be bare-breasted. Female toplessness can also constitute an important aspect of indigenous cultural celebrations. For example, in the annual Reed Dance festival mature girls between the ages of 16 and 20 dance topless before the Zulu king.WEB,kzn-media.photoshelter.com/gallery-image/Reed-Dance-festival-2011/G0000PpNh1jfxpew/I0000elXHH3U_CEw, Image of dancers at the Reed Dance festival 2011, Kzn-media.photoshelter.com, 2011-09-10, 2012-08-01, dead,kzn-media.photoshelter.com/gallery-image/Reed-Dance-festival-2011/G0000PpNh1jfxpew/I0000elXHH3U_CEw," title="web.archive.org/web/20130116151210kzn-media.photoshelter.com/gallery-image/Reed-Dance-festival-2011/G0000PpNh1jfxpew/I0000elXHH3U_CEw,">web.archive.org/web/20130116151210kzn-media.photoshelter.com/gallery-image/Reed-Dance-festival-2011/G0000PpNh1jfxpew/I0000elXHH3U_CEw, 16 January 2013, File:Namibie_Himba_0716a.jpg|thumb|A Namibian Namibian

Australia

Traditional topless practices can lead to cross-cultural and legal conflict. In 2004, Australian police banned members of the Papunya community from using a public park in the city of Alice Springs to practice a traditional Aboriginal dance that included topless women.NEWS,news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3493408.stm, BBC News, Aborigines’ fury over topless ban, 27 February 2004,news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3493408.stm," title="web.archive.org/web/20230523133709news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3493408.stm,">web.archive.org/web/20230523133709news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3493408.stm, May 23, 2023, {{clear left}}

Korea

In the 16th century, women’s jeogori (an upper garment) was long, wide, and covered the waist.WEB, í—ˆìœ¤í¬, ì¡°ì„ ì—¬ì¸ ì €ê³ ë¦¬ ê¸¸ì´ 300ë…„ê°„ 2/3ë‚˜ ì§§ì•„ì ¸,news.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2011/06/27/2011062702249.html, ì¡°ì„ ë‹·ì»´, 6 September 2019, ko,web.archive.org/web/20230104082125/https://www.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2011/06/27/2011062702249.html, January 4, 2023, The length of women’s jeogori gradually shortened: it was approximately 65 cm in the 16th century, 55 cm in the 17th century, 45 cm in the 18th century, and 28 cm in the 19th century, with some as short as 14.5 cm. A heoritti (í—ˆë¦¬ë ) or jorinmal (ì¡¸ìž‡ë§) was worn to cover the breasts. The trend of wearing a short jeogori with a heoritti was started by the gisaeng and soon spread to women of the upper class. Among women of the common and lowborn classes, a practice emerged in which they revealed their breasts after childbirth to proudly indicate that they had given birth to a son, i.e., a male heir.JOURNAL, Han, Hee-sook, Women’s Life during the ChosÅn Dynasty, International Journal of Korean History, 2004, 6, 1, 142,ijkh.khistory.org/journal/view.php?number=342, 6 September 2019, en, Travelers like the American Harry A. Franck remarked that they “displayed to the public gaze exactly that portion of the torso which the women of most nations take pains to conceal”.Harry A. Franck, Wandering in Northern China, Century, 1923, p. 10

South Pacific

File:Tuvaluwoman1894.jpg|right|thumb|upright=1.2|A portrait of a woman on Tuvalu TuvaluIn the South Pacific, toplessness was common prior to contact with Western missionaries, but is less common today. On the French territory of Moorea, toplessness is common.WEB, About Moorea Island,mooreaisland.com/about.html, Tahiti Sun Travel, 9 March 2012, In the Marshall Islands, women were traditionally topless before contact with Western missionaries and still do not sexually objectify female breasts as is common in much of Western society.JOURNAL, Community Perspectives on Cultural Considerations for Breast and Cervical Cancer Education among Marshallese Women in Orange County, California,www.cjhp.org/Volume8_2010/IssueSE/84-89briand.pdf, Briand, Greta, Peters, Ruth, Californian Journal of Health Promotion, 2010, 8, 84â€“89, 8, 10.32398/cjhp.v8iSI.2045, free, Marshall Island women typically swim in their muumuus which today are made of a fine polyester that dries quickly.WEB, Marshall Islands,www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Marshall_Islands.aspx, Encyclopedia.com, 25 August 2013, Wearing of bikinis and one-piece, breast-covering swimsuits in the Marshall Islands is mainly seen at Western, restricted-access beaches and swimming pools like those at private resorts or on United States government facilities on the Kwajalein Atoll within the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site.WEB,www.safaritheglobe.com/culture_marshall_islands.aspx, Marshallese Culture, Safaritheglobe.com, 18 July 2013,www.safaritheglobe.com/marshall-islands/culture/," title="web.archive.org/web/20150217223455www.safaritheglobe.com/marshall-islands/culture/,">web.archive.org/web/20150217223455www.safaritheglobe.com/marshall-islands/culture/, February 17, 2015, WEB,www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Marshall_Islands.aspx, Marshall Islands Facts, information, pictures, Encyclopedia.com, 18 July 2013,

Vietnam

During the Vietnam War, American GIs encountered the Montagnards, native inhabitants of the Central Highlands, whose women Infantry Lieutenant A.T. Lawrence described “completely uninhibited in their bare-breasted nakedness”.BOOK, Lawrence, A. T., Crucible Vietnam: Memoir of an Infantry Lieutenant, 26 November 2014, McFarland, 978-0-7864-5470-9, 118,books.google.com/books?id=CxtJ56I2cjMC&pg=PA118, en,

Japan

In traditional Japanese society, topless nudity (hadanugi) and complete nudity (maru hadaka) were widely accepted culturally and morally for both men and women, with the exception of the samurai aristocracy.BOOK, Masquelier, Adeline, Dirt, Undress, and Difference: Critical Perspectives on the Body’s Surface, 20 December 2005, Indiana University Press, 978-0-253-11153-1, 149â€“150,books.google.com/books?id=ZV9C2AjtFfsC, en, It was not uncommon to see women, young and old, with torso exposed.BOOK, Masquelier, Adeline, Dirt, Undress, and Difference: Critical Perspectives on the Body’s Surface, 20 December 2005, Indiana University Press, 978-0-253-11153-1, 152,books.google.com/books?id=ZV9C2AjtFfsC, en, Francis Hall, 1861, described such an encounter: “The screens of the house are wide open to the street for the summer fervors are great and a half dozen women, married as their black teeth denote, are lying face downwards and leaning upon their elbows on the mats. Each one has thrown off her upper garments from her shoulders and is bare to the waist balancing this nudity by tucking up her lower garments till her legs are left bare to her thighs. Their faces are to the center of the room and their feet describe the periphery of a circle.“BOOK, Masquelier, Adeline, Dirt, Undress, and Difference: Critical Perspectives on the Body’s Surface, 20 December 2005, Indiana University Press, 978-0-253-11153-1, 154,books.google.com/books?id=ZV9C2AjtFfsC, en,

In Western societies

In most Western societies, it is a cultural norm for girls after puberty, if not earlier, to have their breasts covered especially while in a public place, as an act of modesty. At least, it is not culturally acceptable for women to expose their nipples and areolas in public. Though many women do not regard their breasts as sexual, most would not go against the social norm, let alone challenge various laws that cover toplessness. Until recent times, women who went topless in a public place may have been cited for indecent exposure, lewdness or similar laws. Women and the law in most Western countries generally do not regard breasts as indecent.{{citation needed|date=January 2019}} Some women campaign for what they call “topfreedom”, seeking to change these laws. The strictness of the etiquette varies depending on the social context. For example, at specific cultural events the norm may be relaxed, such as at Fantasy Fest, at Mardi Gras in New Orleans and at the Carnaval in Rio de Janeiro. The same may also apply at designated topless beaches.{{citation needed|date=January 2019}}File:Fouquet Madonna.jpg|left|thumb|AgnÃ¨s Sorel, known to appear topless in the French court, was the model for Virgin and Child Surrounded by Angels, by Jean Fouquet Jean Fouquet

Public breast-baring fashions

In many European societies between the Renaissance and the 19th century, exposed breasts were acceptable while a woman’s bared legs, ankles or shoulders were considered risquÃ©.C. Willett Cunnington and Phillis Cunnington, The History of Underclothes. London: Faber & Faber, 1981. {{ISBN|978-0-486-27124-8}} During the Renaissance, many artists were strongly influenced by classical Greek styles and culture,Lucy Gent and Nigel Llewellyn, eds., Renaissance Bodies: The Human Figure in English Culture c. 1540â€“1660. London: Reaktion Books, 1990. and images of nude and semi-nude subjects in many forms proliferated in art, sculpture and architecture of the period. In aristocratic and upper-class circles the display of breasts also invoked associations with classical Greek nude sculptures and art and a classic breast shape was at times regarded as a status symbol, as a sign of beauty, wealth or social position. To maintain youthful-looking bosoms women could employ wet nurses to breastfeed their children.WEB,www.hsl.virginia.edu/historical/artifacts/caricatures/fr6-wetnursing.cfm, French Caricature, 13 January 2010, University of Virginia Health System, dead,www.hsl.virginia.edu/historical/artifacts/caricatures/fr6-wetnursing.cfm," title="web.archive.org/web/20100601211316www.hsl.virginia.edu/historical/artifacts/caricatures/fr6-wetnursing.cfm,">web.archive.org/web/20100601211316www.hsl.virginia.edu/historical/artifacts/caricatures/fr6-wetnursing.cfm, 1 June 2010, Breast-baring female fashions have been traced to 15th-century courtesan AgnÃ¨s Sorel, mistress to Charles VII of France, whose gowns in the French court sometimes exposed one or both of her breasts. (Jean Fouquet’s portrayal of the Virgin Mary with her left breast uncovered is believed to have taken Sorel as a model.) Aristocratic women sought to immortalise their breasts in paint, as in the case of Simonetta Vespucci, whose portrait with exposed breasts was painted by Piero di Cosimo in c. 1480. During the 16th century, women’s fashions displaying their breasts were common in society, from Queens to common prostitutes, and emulated by all classes.WEB,www.newsandevents.warwick.ac.uk/index.cfm?page=pressrelease&id=1858, Historian Reveals Janet Jackson’s ‘Accidental’ Exposing of Her Breast was the Height of Fashion in the 1600s, 5 May 2004, University of Warwick,www.newsandevents.warwick.ac.uk/index.cfm?page=pressrelease&id=1858," title="web.archive.org/web/20040803155530www.newsandevents.warwick.ac.uk/index.cfm?page=pressrelease&id=1858,">web.archive.org/web/20040803155530www.newsandevents.warwick.ac.uk/index.cfm?page=pressrelease&id=1858, 3 August 2004, Similar fashions became popular in England during the 17th century when they were worn by Queen Mary II and by Henrietta Maria, wife of Charles I of England, for whom architect Inigo Jones designed a masque costume that fully revealed both of her breasts.In a survey of 190 different societies, researches found that very few associated exposed breasts with sexuality, but that there was an insistence that women conceal their breasts. Different standards apply to art, with one example being the dome of the United States Capitol featuring an 1865 fresco depicting goddesses with their breasts exposed.WEB, Apotheosis of Washington,www.aoc.gov/explore-capitol-campus/art/apotheosis-washington, aoc.gov, 4 February 2022, {{clear left}}

Social attitudes

Although some social attitudes to increased body exposure began to soften during the late 1960s, contemporary Western societies still generally view toplessness unfavorably. During a short period in 1964, “topless” dress designs appeared at fashion shows, but those who wore the dresses in public found themselves arrested on indecency charges.WEB,www.sixtiescity.com/Fashion/Fashion.shtm, Sixties City â€“ Bringing on back the good times, 2010-01-14, dead,sixtiescity.com/Fashion/Fashion.shtm," title="web.archive.org/web/20100104085440sixtiescity.com/Fashion/Fashion.shtm,">web.archive.org/web/20100104085440sixtiescity.com/Fashion/Fashion.shtm, 4 January 2010, However, toplessness has come to be a feature in contemporary haute couture fashion shows.File:Imitation of Christ 2 by David Shankbone.jpg|thumb|right|The Imitation of Christ fashion line incorporated toplessness in its 2002 fashion show, which brought comparisons to Vanessa Beecroft’s artDellinger, Matt (March 9, 2003) “Reckless Perfectionism” The New Yorker The New YorkerA wide-ranging review of 190 different societies during 1951 found that few insisted that women conceal their breasts. In Europe, topless swimming and sunbathing on public beaches has become socially acceptable. In 1994â€“95, Australian researchers asked 118 college-age students to rate the behavior of women who go topless on an 8-point scale, ranging from “Women should have the same right to topless as men” to “Topless women are exhibitionists”. They found that 88% of Australian university students of either gender considered it acceptable for women to go topless on public beaches, although they felt that women exposing their breasts in other contexts, such as public parks, was inappropriate.JOURNAL, 10.1080/00224499409551740, Herold, E.S., Corbesi, Bruna, Collins, John, Corbesi, B., & Collins, J., 1994, Psychosocial aspects of female topless behavior on Australian beaches, Journal of Sex Research, 31, 133â€“142, 2, JOURNAL, 10.1080/00224499409551740, Herold, E.S., Corbesi, Bruna, Collins, John, Corbesi, B., & Collins, J., 1994, Psychosocial aspects of female topless behavior on Australian beaches,books.google.com/books?id=EFPs55zfAKcC&q=topless+attitudes&pg=PA483, Journal of Sex Research, 31, 133â€“142, 2, 978-1412913362, They did not find a correlation between exposed breasts and sexuality in social situations.A more recent study of 116 college-age women in Australia found that those who had gone topless were more accepting of toplessness generally, more sexual, and had higher self-esteem and higher body image. In contemporary society, the extent to which a woman may expose her breasts depends on social and cultural context. Women’s swimsuits and bikinis commonly reveal the tops and sides of the breasts. Displaying cleavage is considered permissible in many settings, and is even a sign of elegance and sophistication on many formal social occasions, but it may be prohibited by dress codes in settings such as workplaces and schools, where sexualized displays of the female breast may be considered inappropriate. In a number of cultures, including Europe and other Westernized countries outside the United States, there are fewer social restrictions against sunbathing or swimming topless.NEWS,www.independent.co.uk/news/world/australasia/topless-wars-reignited-on-australias-beaches-1218251.html, Topless wars reignited on Australia’s beaches, Marks, Kathy, 31 December 2008, 14 September 2009, London, The Independent,web.archive.org/web/20221023194557/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/australasia/topless-wars-reignited-on-australias-beaches-1218251.html, October 23, 2022, Despite being illegal or socially proscribed in many places in the United States, topless beaches have majority legislative support in some areas.Nantucket residents vote to allow people to go topless at beaches{{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230514024246www.bostonglobe.com/2022/05/03/metro/nantucket-residents-vote-allow-people-go-topless-beaches/|date=May 14, 2023}}In Canada, a poll in 1992 found that 38% favored general female public toplessness. Following that survey, several legal rulings in Canadian courts from 1996 to 2000 made public toplessness legal, but very few women go topless in public.JOURNAL, Fischtein, Dayna S., Edward S. Herold, Serge Desmarais, Canadian attitudes toward female topless behaviour: a national survey, The Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality, Fallâ€“Winter 2005, Some cultures have even begun to expand social prohibitions on female toplessness to prepubescent and even infant girls. This trend toward covering the female nipple from infancy onward is particularly noticeable in the United States, Eastern Asia and the Middle East, but is much less common in Europe.WEB, Allen, Anita L., Disrobed: The Constitution of Modesty, HeinOnline, 2006,heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?collection=journals&handle=hein.journals/vllalr51&div=41&id=&page=, American laws compel sexually modest behavior ... By contrast to Western Europe, topless sunbathing is rarely permitted in the United States, 11 September 2009,
In politics and law
{{See also|Breastfeeding in public}}Political attitudes and laws vary greatly around the world in regards to female toplessness.WEB,www.feministezine.com/feminist/toplessness004.html, Topfreedom: The Fundamental Right of Women, Suzanne MacNevin, The Feminist eZine, 21 July 2017,www.feministezine.com/feminist/toplessness004.html," title="web.archive.org/web/20230501060539www.feministezine.com/feminist/toplessness004.html,">web.archive.org/web/20230501060539www.feministezine.com/feminist/toplessness004.html, May 1, 2023,
Asia
Taiwan
In support of Icelandic student Adda Smaradottir’s FreeTheNipple act in public cyberspace,WEB,www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001875440525&sk=photos&collection_token=100001875440525%3A2305272732%3A69&set=a.848235281915645&type=1&pnref=story, è£¸ for FreeTheNipple, æž—éƒç’‡, 2015, April 25, 2015, zh, young women uploaded their topless photos to Facebook and protested against its Community StandardsWEB,www.facebook.com/communitystandards/, Community Standards, Facebook, 2015, April 25, 2015, of considering women’s breasts as sexual materials. Those photos and related news articles were blocked initially,WEB,www.appledaily.com.tw/appledaily/article/headline/20150412/36489627/, å¤ªé™½èŠ±ï¼•å¥³å°‡éœ²ä¹³ fbè®“æ¥poç…§, è˜‹æžœæ—¥å ±, 2015, April 25, 2015, zh, but Facebook considered those photos did not violate Community Standards.
Europe
Denmark
Bathing and sunbathing in the nude (including topless) is legal on Danish beaches.Strandguiden: Lovgivningen om nÃ¸genbadning. Retrieved 8 July 2016. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160803175112www.strandguiden.dk/index.php?id=609|date=August 3, 2016}} Nudity and toplessness in other public outdoor places is generally also legal, unless it involves “offensive conduct” or is likely to cause public outrage.Nordjyske Stiftstidende (2 August 2013). NÃ¸gen i det grÃ¸nne. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160827025435nordjyske.dk/nyheder/noegen-i-det-groenne/8e6b337a-f972-4b21-b4a2-23f548b33ed6/112/1513 |date=2016-08-27 }} Retrieved 8 June 2016. The public outrage law is rarely used in practice, but in 1972 audience members were convicted of being nude in the Royal Danish Theatre. In December 2007, a group of women and men calling themselves Topless Front swam topless in public swim baths to promote topless equality.NEWS,politiken.dk/indland/article506929.ece, Politiken, 19 December 2009, ToplÃ¸s svÃ¸mning har altid vÃ¦ret tilladt,politiken.dk/indland/article506929.ece," title="archive.today/20120716144718politiken.dk/indland/article506929.ece,">archive.today/20120716144718politiken.dk/indland/article506929.ece, 2012-07-16, In March 2008, after a campaign by the group, Copenhagen’s Culture and Leisure Committee voted to allow topless bathing in its swimming pools. After the committee had voted, it was revealed that no laws had existed against topless bathing, effectively making the vote unnecessary. However, some public baths had (and have) restricted it themselves. Public breastfeeding is supported by the vast majority of both sexes in Denmark,BT (7 April 2007). CafÃ©-amning er ok. Retrieved 8 June 2016. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225153926www.berlingske.dk/samfund/cafe-amning-er-ok|date=February 25, 2021}} is entirely legal and accepted in almost all places, except for a few private cafÃ©s and restaurants that have restricted it.WEB,www.ammenet.dk/wiki/offentlig-amning, Offentlig amning, 2016-06-08, Ammenet,www.ammenet.dk/wiki/offentlig-amning," title="web.archive.org/web/20160514073353www.ammenet.dk/wiki/offentlig-amning,">web.archive.org/web/20160514073353www.ammenet.dk/wiki/offentlig-amning, 2016-05-14, Politiken (28 September 2011). Guide: Her er du fri for bare bryster midt i maden. Retrieved 8 June 2016.{{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160630083350politiken.dk/mad/madnyt/ECE1406478/guide-her-er-du-fri-for-bare-bryster-midt-i-maden/|date=June 30, 2016}}BT (27 September 2011). Loven stÃ¸tter ammeforbud pÃ¥ cafeer. Retrieved 8 June 2016. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230208124549www.bt.dk/danmark/loven-stoetter-ammeforbud-paa-cafeer|date=February 8, 2023}}
Finland
In Finland, toplessness is not illegal, yet topless women have been removed from beaches.WEB, 2018-08-16, HÃ¤keltynyt uimavalvoja kÃ¤ski rinnat paljaana uineen Hannan pukemaan paidan â€“ luova ratkaisu ei kelvannut: Poliisi paikalle,www.is.fi/kotimaa/art-2000005793584.html, 2020-07-30, Ilta-Sanomat, fi,web.archive.org/web/20230323233349/https://www.is.fi/kotimaa/art-2000005793584.html, March 23, 2023, Sandra Marins and SÃ¤de VallarÃ©n criticized this and organized Finland’s first event demanding topless equality, called Tissiflashmob (Breast flash mob).WEB, Video: HelsingissÃ¤ uimarannalla kymmenet naiset riisuivat ylÃ¤osansa ja juoksivat yhdessÃ¤ veteen â€“ “Tissiflashmob” ylitti odotukset,www.iltalehti.fi/kotimaa/a/f4b90fea-238d-4f54-98dc-e314a7251dce, 2020-07-30, www.iltalehti.fi, fi, On Finland’s Independence day, 6 December 2019, both Marins and VallarÃ©n showed their breasts on live TV and it sparked a lot of conversation.WEB, 2019-12-11, IL: Rintansa Linnan juhlien lÃ¤hetyksessÃ¤ paljastaneille naisille satelee tappouhkauksia â€“ tyÃ¶nantajalta varoitus,www.is.fi/viihde/art-2000006340344.html, 2020-07-30, Ilta-Sanomat, fi,web.archive.org/web/20230208124543/https://www.is.fi/viihde/art-2000006340344.html, February 8, 2023, Tissiflashmob 2020 was bigger than the previous one, now organized at the same time in eight different cities.WEB, Saarikoski, Matilda, Tissiprotesti TuomiojÃ¤rvellÃ¤ â€“ osallistujat kÃ¤velevÃ¤t lauantaina ylÃ¤osattomissa jÃ¤rveen,www.ksml.fi/sjl/Tissiprotesti-Tuomioj%C3%A4rvell%C3%A4-%E2%80%93-osallistujat-k%C3%A4velev%C3%A4t-lauantaina-yl%C3%A4osattomissa-j%C3%A4rveen/1587426, 2020-07-30, Suur-JyvÃ¤skylÃ¤n Lehti, fi, 2020-08-08,web.archive.org/web/20200808130629/https://www.ksml.fi/sjl/Tissiprotesti-Tuomioj%C3%A4rvell%C3%A4-%E2%80%93-osallistujat-k%C3%A4velev%C3%A4t-lauantaina-yl%C3%A4osattomissa-j%C3%A4rveen/1587426, dead,
France
In France, the feminist collective Les TumulTueuses organized a topfree protest in Paris in May 2009.MAGAZINE,tempsreel.nouvelobs.com/societe/20090507.OBS6010/des-feministes-enlevent-le-haut-dans-une-piscine-a-paris.html, Des fÃ©ministes enlÃ¨vent le haut dans une piscine Ã Paris, Feminists Remove their Tops in Paris Pool, 7 May 2009, Le Nouvel Observateur, fr,web.archive.org/web/20230208124512/https://www.nouvelobs.com/societe/20090507.OBS6010/des-feministes-enlevent-le-haut-dans-une-piscine-a-paris.html, February 8, 2023, It is legal to sunbathe topless in France, although local regulations may ban the practice with directives about clothing. In 2020, after a police incident, topless sunbathing was defended by the French interior minister.WEB,www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53914862, Topless sunbathing defended by French interior minister, 26 Aug 2020, BBC News, en, 22 July 2023,web.archive.org/web/20230519222402/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53914862, May 19, 2023,
Germany
{{see also|Naturism in Germany|FreikÃ¶rperkultur}}There are few legal restriction on public nudity in Germany. A number of court cases have established a de facto right to nudity in the vicinity of beaches, which is broadly tolerated.Swimming pools, whether private or public, can establish their own dress regulations.NEWS,praxistipps.focus.de/oben-ohne-im-freibad-und-hallenbad-ist-das-erlaubt_157015, Oben ohne im Freibad und Hallenbad: Ist das erlaubt?, 11 March 2023, Juliane, Neutsch, 22 July 2023, de, Topless in Outdoor and Indoor Pools: Is It Allowed?, Focus (German magazine), Focus, live,web.archive.org/web/20230722205207/https://praxistipps.focus.de/oben-ohne-im-freibad-und-hallenbad-ist-das-erlaubt_157015, July 22, 2023, In 2022, a woman in Berlin was told to cover up her chest at a public swimming pool, and was forced to leave when she refused to do so. This led to a successful legal complaint on the basis of gender discrimination, as the men at the pool were not similarly obligated to cover their chests.NEWS, live,www.theguardian.com/travel/2023/mar/25/berlin-welcomes-topless-female-swimmers-in-victory-for-activists, Berlin welcomes topless female swimmers in victory for activists, The Guardian, 25 March 2023, Tailor, Neelam, 22 July 2023,www.theguardian.com/travel/2023/mar/25/berlin-welcomes-topless-female-swimmers-in-victory-for-activists," title="web.archive.org/web/20231014143353www.theguardian.com/travel/2023/mar/25/berlin-welcomes-topless-female-swimmers-in-victory-for-activists,">web.archive.org/web/20231014143353www.theguardian.com/travel/2023/mar/25/berlin-welcomes-topless-female-swimmers-in-victory-for-activists, October 14, 2023, In March 2023, the city’s pool authorities updated their regulations to permit all guests to be topless, regardless of gender.WEB,www.berlinerbaeder.de/news/detail/hausordnung-in-den-berliner-baedern-laesst-oben-ohne-schwimmen-zu-1/, live, Hausordnung in den Berliner BÃ¤dern lÃ¤sst oben-ohne-Schwimmen zu, The House Regulations for Berlin Pools Permit Topless Swimming, de,web.archive.org/web/20230722103601/https://www.berlinerbaeder.de/aktuelles/detail/hausordnung-in-den-berliner-baedern-laesst-oben-ohne-schwimmen-zu-1/, July 22, 2023, Berliner BÃ¤der-Betriebe, 10 March 2023, 22 July 2023, NEWS,www.spiegel.de/panorama/gesellschaft/berlin-baeder-betriebe-erlauben-oben-ohne-fuer-alle-a-5348be9a-4c85-4dae-80cd-ae25eeeceb26, Berlin: BÃ¤der-Betriebe erlauben Â»oben ohneÂ« fÃ¼r alle, Berlin Pool Regulations Permit Toplessness for Everyone,web.archive.org/web/20230722103559/https://www.spiegel.de/panorama/gesellschaft/berlin-baeder-betriebe-erlauben-oben-ohne-fuer-alle-a-5348be9a-4c85-4dae-80cd-ae25eeeceb26, July 22, 2023, Der Spiegel, de, 22 July 2023, 9 March 2023, WEB,www.n-tv.de/panorama/Berlin-Schwimmbaeder-erlauben-Oben-ohne-fuer-alle-Diskriminierungsbeschwerde-erfolgreich-article23973138.html, 10 March 2023, n-tv, de, Complaint Against Discrimination: Topless for Everyone in Berlin’s Pools, Beschwerde gegen Diskriminierung: ‘Oben ohne’ fÃ¼r alle in Berlins SchwimmbÃ¤dern, 22 July 2023,web.archive.org/web/20230713223139/https://www.n-tv.de/panorama/Berlin-Schwimmbaeder-erlauben-Oben-ohne-fuer-alle-Diskriminierungsbeschwerde-erfolgreich-article23973138.html, live, July 13, 2023, Several other German cities, such as Dresden, GÃ¶ttingen, and Hannover, have also issued rules explicitly recognizing that persons of all genders have a right to be topless at public swimming pools.NEWS,www.saechsische.de/dresden/dresden-freibad-brueste-frauen-keine-falsche-scham-5881875-plus.html, 7 July 2023, SÃ¤chsische Zeitung, de, Being Topless is Permitted in Many Pools in Saxony: No Need to Feel Ashamed, Oben ohne ist in vielen BÃ¤dern in Sachsen erlaubt: Keine falsche Scham, Doreen, Reinhard, 22 July 2023,web.archive.org/web/20230722103559/https://www.saechsische.de/dresden/dresden-freibad-brueste-frauen-keine-falsche-scham-5881875-plus.html, live, July 22, 2023, Nudity in nature is a legal gray area, as it is not specifically forbidden, but can be treated as a public nuisance in the event of a complaint. Security services and law enforcement agencies may ask women to cover their breasts, usually under Â§ 118 of the Ordnungswidrigkeitengesetz, which forbids vaguely defined “nuisances to public order”. For parks and swimming areas owned or operated by a municipality or private company, the house regulations apply. These house regulations commonly specify that women, but not men, must cover their chests, and are increasingly seen as discriminatory.NEWS,www.vice.com/de/article/594mwn/oben-ohne-warum-gleichberechtigung-in-deutschland-bei-deinem-nackten-oberkorper-aufhort, Tim, Geyer, 6 July 2018, Oben ohne: Warum Gleichberechtigung in Deutschland bei deinem nackten OberkÃ¶rper aufhÃ¶rt, live, Topless: Why Gender Equality Stops with your Naked Upper Body, Vice Germany, 22 July 2023,web.archive.org/web/20230828130542/https://www.vice.com/de/article/594mwn/oben-ohne-warum-gleichberechtigung-in-deutschland-bei-deinem-nackten-oberkorper-aufhort, August 28, 2023, Courts have protected the right to nudity at home and on one’s own property, even if visible to others. Nudity on one’s own property can only be restricted in very exceptional circumstances, usually limited to cases involving “moral or sexual harassment”.WEB,www.derwesten.de/staedte/dortmund/nachbarn-ziehen-klage-gegen-nackten-in-garten-zurueck-id11978838.html,web.archive.org/web/20211019081511/https://www.derwesten.de/staedte/dortmund/nachbarn-ziehen-klage-gegen-nackten-in-garten-zurueck-id11978838.html, dead, 2021-10-19, Neighbors Withdraw Complaint Against Naked Man in Garden, de, Nachbarn ziehen Klage gegen Nackten in Garten zurÃ¼ck, 5 July 2016, Stefan, Wette, derwesten.de, Funke Mediengruppe, 22 July 2023, Nur in ‘krassen AusnahmefÃ¤llen’ kÃ¶nne das Nacktsein auf eigenem Grund und Boden untersagt werden, etwa wenn sie mit sittlicher oder sexueller BelÃ¤stigung verbunden sei., Only in ‘blatantly exceptional cases’ could nudity be prohibited on one’s own property, such as when it is associated with moral or sexual harassment.,
Greece
In Greece, toplessness is legal.WEB,www.eirinika.gr/article/35252/aytes-einai-17-paralies-stin-ellada-opoy-mporeite-na-kanete-mpaniogymnoi-tha-tolmisete, Î‘Ï…Ï„ÎÏ‚ ÎµÎ¯Î½Î±Î¹ 17 Ï€Î±ÏÎ±Î»Î¯ÎµÏ‚ ÏƒÏ„Î·Î½ Î•Î»Î»Î¬Î´Î± ÏŒÏ€Î¿Ï… Î¼Ï€Î¿ÏÎµÎ¯Ï„Îµ Î½Î± ÎºÎ¬Î½ÎµÏ„Îµ Î¼Ï€Î¬Î½Î¹Î¿...Î³Ï…Î¼Î½Î¿Î¯-Î˜Î± Ï„Î¿ Ï„Î¿Î»Î¼Î®ÏƒÎµÏ„Îµ;, These are 17 Beaches in Greece where you can Swim ... Naked â€“ Will you Dare?, el, 2 July 2014, eirinika.gr, 21 July 2017,web.archive.org/web/20230208124513/https://www.eirinika.gr/article/35252/aytes-einai-17-paralies-stin-ellada-opoy-mporeite-na-kanete-mpaniogymnoi-tha-tolmisete, February 8, 2023, WEB,www.thetoc.gr/magazine/oi-10-wraioteres-paralies-gia-gumnismo-stin-ellada, ÎŸÎ¹ 10 Ï‰ÏÎ±Î¹ÏŒÏ„ÎµÏÎµÏ‚ Ï€Î±ÏÎ±Î»Î¯ÎµÏ‚ Î³Î¹Î± Î³Ï…Î¼Î½Î¹ÏƒÎ¼ÏŒ ÏƒÏ„Î·Î½ Î•Î»Î»Î¬Î´Î±, The 10 Best Beaches for Nudism in Greece, el, 21 July 2017, The Toc,www.thetoc.gr/magazine/oi-10-wraioteres-paralies-gia-gumnismo-stin-ellada," title="web.archive.org/web/20150725114058www.thetoc.gr/magazine/oi-10-wraioteres-paralies-gia-gumnismo-stin-ellada,">web.archive.org/web/20150725114058www.thetoc.gr/magazine/oi-10-wraioteres-paralies-gia-gumnismo-stin-ellada, July 25, 2015,
Iceland
In Iceland, toplessness is legal in public.
Italy
Female toplessness has been officially legalized (in a nonsexual context) in all public beaches and swimming pools throughout the country (unless otherwise specified by region, province or municipality by-laws) on 20 March 2000, when the Supreme Court of Cassation (through sentence No. 3557) determined that the exposure of the nude female breast, after several decades, is now considered a “commonly accepted behavior”, and therefore, has “entered into the social costume”.WEB,www.giustizia.it/cassazione/giurisprudenza/cass/3557sen_00.html, ATTI CONTRARI ALLA PUBBLICA DECENZA â€“ ESPOSIZIONE DEL CORPO NUDO SULLA PUBBLICA SPIAGGIA â€“ COSTITUISCE VIOLAZIONE ALL’ART. 726 C.P., Corte Suprema di Cassazione, 26 February 2004, www.giustizia.it, Ministero della Giustizia, 19 April 2019,web.archive.org/web/20040226235356/https://www.giustizia.it/cassazione/giurisprudenza/cass/3557sen_00.html, 26 February 2004, dead, [...] diversamente da quella del seno nudo femminile, che ormai da vari lustri Ã¨ comportamento comunemente accettato ed entrato nel costume sociale [...], it,
Poland
In Poland in 2008â€“2009, two women from Szczecin including glamour model Dorota Krzysztofek,WEB,www.ckm.pl/szukaj,Dorota%20Krzysztofek,2,3,0,1,1,sa.html, Dorota Krzysztofek, CKM (adult magazine), CKM, Galerie, 2012, July 22, 2012, pl,www.ckm.pl/szukaj,Dorota%20Krzysztofek,2,3,0,1,1,sa.html," title="web.archive.org/web/20130130122040www.ckm.pl/szukaj,Dorota%20Krzysztofek,2,3,0,1,1,sa.html,">web.archive.org/web/20130130122040www.ckm.pl/szukaj,Dorota%20Krzysztofek,2,3,0,1,1,sa.html, January 30, 2013, won a court battle that reasserted the women’s right to sunbathe topless on public beaches.WEB,www.pardon.pl/artykul/7705/sad_w_polsce_wolno_chodzic_topless, SÄ…d: w Polsce wolno chodziÄ‡ topless! (Court: you can go topless in Poland), Pardon, Polityka, Prawdy, Emocje, February 4, 2009, July 22, 2012, Magda Hartman, pl,www.pardon.pl/artykul/7705/sad_w_polsce_wolno_chodzic_topless," title="web.archive.org/web/20110202140027www.pardon.pl/artykul/7705/sad_w_polsce_wolno_chodzic_topless,">web.archive.org/web/20110202140027www.pardon.pl/artykul/7705/sad_w_polsce_wolno_chodzic_topless, 2011-02-02, dead, Krzysztofek, along with her female companion, were fined by local municipal officials for topless sunbathing at a public recreation area. The women refused to pay the fine and took the matter to Civil Court. Their first hearing had to be postponed due to remarkable media interest.WEB,wyborcza.pl/1,75248,5558277,W_obronie_topless_pojdzie_nawet_do_Strasburga.html, W obronie topless pÃ³jdzie nawet do Strasburga, Gazeta Wyborcza, Szczecin, ArtykuÅ‚y, August 6, 2008, July 22, 2012, Andrzej Kulej, pl,miasta.gazeta.pl/szczecin/1,34959,5558277,W_obronie_topless_pojdzie_nawet_do_Strasburga.html," title="web.archive.org/web/20080815200758miasta.gazeta.pl/szczecin/1,34959,5558277,W_obronie_topless_pojdzie_nawet_do_Strasburga.html,">web.archive.org/web/20080815200758miasta.gazeta.pl/szczecin/1,34959,5558277,W_obronie_topless_pojdzie_nawet_do_Strasburga.html, August 15, 2008, On November 7, 2008, judge SzczepaÅ„ska upheld the city staff decision, and charged the women with indecent exposure, explaining that their personal freedoms cannot encroach on the freedoms of families with children who frequent the same recreation spot. Although topless sunbathing is not prohibited in Poland, the judge sentenced them to pay a fine of 230 zlotys (150 zlotys by different source,WEB,www.france24.com/en/20081107-polish-court-reprimands-topless-sunbathers, Polish court reprimands topless sunbathers, France 24 (after AFP News Briefs), January 10, 2009, July 22, 2012, AFP, unfit,www.france24.com/en/20081107-polish-court-reprimands-topless-sunbathers," title="web.archive.org/web/20090110125209www.france24.com/en/20081107-polish-court-reprimands-topless-sunbathers,">web.archive.org/web/20090110125209www.france24.com/en/20081107-polish-court-reprimands-topless-sunbathers, January 10, 2009, or â‚¬40, $55) for breaking the rules of conduct. In her rationale, the judge also said that it is not up to the defendants to teach youngsters human anatomy; however, her decision was appealed by Krzysztofek’s female friend soon afterwards, with the plea of not guilty.WEB,attuworld.com/girls/polish-court-reprimands-topless-sunbathers.html, Polish court reprimands topless sunbathers, Attuworld.com, July 22, 2012, Attu editorial, unfit,attuworld.com/girls/polish-court-reprimands-topless-sunbathers.html," title="web.archive.org/web/20110725100346attuworld.com/girls/polish-court-reprimands-topless-sunbathers.html,">web.archive.org/web/20110725100346attuworld.com/girls/polish-court-reprimands-topless-sunbathers.html, July 25, 2011, In 2009, the appellate court declared both women to be innocent,WEB,wyborcza.pl/1,76842,6232762,Topless_jest_legalny.html, Topless jest legalny, Gazeta Wyborcza, Szczecin, April 2, 2009, July 22, 2012, Adam Zadworny, pl,wyborcza.pl/1,76842,6232762,Topless_jest_legalny.html," title="web.archive.org/web/20090208123102wyborcza.pl/1,76842,6232762,Topless_jest_legalny.html,">web.archive.org/web/20090208123102wyborcza.pl/1,76842,6232762,Topless_jest_legalny.html, February 8, 2009, because the city staff were unable to prove that anyone at the beach was indignant or scandalized by their toplessness, and no complaint was ever reported. On the contrary, some visitors stood up to their defense. There were no signs at the recreation area against what is otherwise legal. The appellate court’s decision was binding, but it also created an aura of ambivalence, with topless sunbathing in public declared acceptable only if nobody else including families with children formally objects to it.WEB,polandian.wordpress.com/2009/02/05/topless-women-soften-polish-court/, Topless women soften Polish court (entertainment, photo credit: Getty Images), Polandian. Understanding Poland, February 5, 2009, July 22, 2012, Jamie Stokes,
Spain
There are no laws in Spain that officially prohibit public nudity (in a non-sexual context),WEB,www.tripsavvy.com/is-nudism-legal-in-spain-1644176, The Legality of Public Nudity in Spain, Damian Corrigan, TripSavvy, www.tripsavvy.com, 20 January 2019, 10 June 2019, 25 September 2019,web.archive.org/web/20190925230347/https://www.tripsavvy.com/is-nudism-legal-in-spain-1644176, dead, and because of this, both topless sunbathing and naturism (the latter on a smaller scale) are frequently practiced without any issues in all beaches throughout the country,WEB,www.tripsavvy.com/spains-best-nudist-destinations-1643886, 10 Best Nudist Beaches, Resorts, and Campsites in Spain, Damian Corrigan, TripSavvy, www.tripsavvy.com, 22 March 2019, 10 June 2019, 29 March 2020,web.archive.org/web/20200329081520/https://www.tripsavvy.com/spains-best-nudist-destinations-1643886, dead, while the amount of partakers may vary depending on the location and the day. It is very common in the Balearic Islands,WEB,www.tripsavvy.com/best-nudist-beaches-in-the-balearic-islands-4169369, The Best Nudist Beaches in the Balearic Islands, Damian Corrigan, TripSavvy, www.tripsavvy.com, 23 May 2019, 10 June 2019, 29 March 2020,web.archive.org/web/20200329081521/https://www.tripsavvy.com/best-nudist-beaches-in-the-balearic-islands-4169369, dead, Canaries, Costa Brava and Costa del Sol (a few municipalities, such as Barcelona, have created by-laws to forbid public nudity, including female toplessness on their streets, not on the beach).NEWS,www.elconfidencialdigital.com/la_buena_vida/tendencias/localidades-multan-vas-camiseta-calle_0_2300169989.html, Cuatro localidades donde te multan si vas sin camiseta por la calle, El Confidencial Digital, 2019-06-10, es,web.archive.org/web/20230909102213/https://www.elconfidencialdigital.com/articulo/tendencias/localidades-multan-vas-camiseta-calle/20140701215239073518.html, September 9, 2023, Due to the widespread practice of topless sunbathing, the municipalities of Galdakao and L’Ametlla del VallÃ¨s decided to legalize female toplessness on their public pools (in March 2016 and June 2018, respectively),WEB,www.elcorreo.com/bizkaia/nervion/201603/24/galdakao-modifica-normativa-para-20160324000202.html, Galdakao modifica la normativa para legalizar el ‘topless’ en sus piscinas, 10 June 2019, Andueza, Asier, 24 March 2016, EL CORREO.com, es,www.elcorreo.com/bizkaia/nervion/201603/24/galdakao-modifica-normativa-para-20160324000202.html," title="web.archive.org/web/20160416004706www.elcorreo.com/bizkaia/nervion/201603/24/galdakao-modifica-normativa-para-20160324000202.html,">web.archive.org/web/20160416004706www.elcorreo.com/bizkaia/nervion/201603/24/galdakao-modifica-normativa-para-20160324000202.html, April 16, 2016, El Gobierno local retirarÃ¡ la prohibiciÃ³n expresa de esta prÃ¡ctica de la ordenanza que regula el uso de las instalaciones descubiertas, WEB,www.publico.es/sociedad/toples-piscina-l-ametlla-valles-permitira-toples-piscinas-municipales-realizar-consulta.html, L’Ametlla del VallÃ¨s permitirÃ¡ el toples en sus piscinas municipales tras consultar a las mujeres, 10 June 2019, EFE, PÃºblico, 12 June 2018, es, El 60,9% del total de mujeres empadronadas de L’Ametlla del VallÃ¨s y mayores de 16 aÃ±os han votado a favor de la prÃ¡ctica,web.archive.org/web/20230403210337/https://www.publico.es/sociedad/toples-piscina-l-ametlla-valles-permitira-toples-piscinas-municipales-realizar-consulta.html, April 3, 2023, and it is tolerated in many others, like in Madrid (without the need of a specific rule). It is less common on private or condominium pools, and a few have by-laws to ban it. Moreover, there are some surveys indicating that more than 40% of the Spanish women who were interviewed (aged 18 or older) reported to have been topless on a beach at least once.NEWS,www.lavanguardia.com/vida/20170811/43474195994/espanolas-topless.html, Las espaÃ±olas son las que mÃ¡s topless y nudismo hacen, La Vanguardia, 2019-06-10, es,web.archive.org/web/20230403210336/https://www.lavanguardia.com/vida/20170811/43474195994/espanolas-topless.html, April 3, 2023, WEB,www.20minutos.es/noticia/2208362/0/playa-vacaciones/gusto-espanoles/habitos/, Una cuarta parte de los espaÃ±oles renunciarÃa a una semana de sueldo por mÃ¡s dÃas en la playa, 10 June 2019, EUROPA PRESS, 3 August 2014, 20 minutos, es, El 42% de las espaÃ±olas asegura haber hecho “topless” en alguna ocasiÃ³n, muy por encima del 20% de media mundial,web.archive.org/web/20230208124519/https://www.20minutos.es/noticia/2208362/0/playa-vacaciones/gusto-espanoles/habitos/, February 8, 2023,
Sweden
In Sweden, toplessness is not illegal. It is a little unclear, because the law usually used against nudity is about “annoying behaviour“Brottsbalk (1962:700) 16 kap 16Â§ â€“ it does not say anything about how undressed one can be, so it is a matter of legal tradition, although there is a law against gender discrimination.Diskrimineringslag (2008:567) However, private or public establishments are permitted to establish dress codes which may require women to wear tops, and deny access or remove individuals who breach these standards. In September 2007, “Bara BrÃ¶st” (a pun meaning both “Just Breasts” and “Bare Breasts“) appeared to promote topless equality in these semi-public facilities. The group staged several events in public swim baths in September and October 2007, starting in Uppsala from which they were evicted several times, before succeeding in Sundsvall.WEB,www.metro.co.uk/weird/76183-swedes-fight-for-topless-rights, Metro.co.uk, November 19, 2007, Swedes fight for topless rights,www.metro.co.uk/weird/76183-swedes-fight-for-topless-rights," title="web.archive.org/web/20120623022525www.metro.co.uk/weird/76183-swedes-fight-for-topless-rights,">web.archive.org/web/20120623022525www.metro.co.uk/weird/76183-swedes-fight-for-topless-rights, June 23, 2012, Victory for topless bathers Article from The Local {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080112135047www.thelocal.se/9599/20080108/|archive-date=January 12, 2008}}The group scored a victory in June 2009 when the MalmÃ¶ city’s sports and recreation committee approved new rules that, while requiring everybody to wear bathing suits at indoor public swimming pools, did not require women to cover their breasts.WEB,www.thelocal.se/20250/20090624/, The Local, 24 June 2009, MalmÃ¶ win for topless Swedish bathers,www.thelocal.se/20250/20090624/," title="web.archive.org/web/20090626002524www.thelocal.se/20250/20090624/,">web.archive.org/web/20090626002524www.thelocal.se/20250/20090624/, June 26, 2009, WEB,www.inquisitr.com/27519/swedish-city-legalizes-topless-bathingat-public-swimming-pools/, Swedish city legalizes topless bathing....at public swimming pools, Inquisitr.com, 2009-06-27, 2009-07-23,www.inquisitr.com/27519/swedish-city-legalizes-topless-bathingat-public-swimming-pools/," title="web.archive.org/web/20090902034355www.inquisitr.com/27519/swedish-city-legalizes-topless-bathingat-public-swimming-pools/,">web.archive.org/web/20090902034355www.inquisitr.com/27519/swedish-city-legalizes-topless-bathingat-public-swimming-pools/, September 2, 2009, “We don’t define what bathing suits men should wear so it doesn’t make much sense to do it for women. And besides, it’s not unusual for men to have large breasts that resemble women’s breasts”, said a council spokesman.
North America
Canada
In 1991 toplessness as an indecent act was challenged by Gwen Jacob in Guelph, Ontario, who removed her shirt and was charged with indecency. Part of her defense was the double standards between men and women. Although she was convicted, this was overturned by the Court of Appeal.JOURNAL,www.canlii.org/en/on/onca/doc/1996/1996canlii1119/1996canlii1119.html, Judgment C12668, R. vs. Jacob, 1996-12-09, Province of Ontario Court of Appeal, 2009-02-16,www.canlii.org/en/on/onca/doc/1996/1996canlii1119/1996canlii1119.html," title="web.archive.org/web/20160210181939www.canlii.org/en/on/onca/doc/1996/1996canlii1119/1996canlii1119.html,">web.archive.org/web/20160210181939www.canlii.org/en/on/onca/doc/1996/1996canlii1119/1996canlii1119.html, February 10, 2016, This case determined that being topless is not indecent under the meaning of the Criminal Code. However it did not establish any constitutional right of equality. This case subsequently led to the acquittal of women in British Columbia and Saskatchewan who faced similar charges. Although each province and territory technically reserves its right to interpret the law as it pleases, the Ontario case has proven influential. Since the matter has not been determined by the Supreme Court of Canada, it is still possible that a woman could be convicted elsewhere in Canada, but interpretation of moral law in Canada has become increasingly liberalized.Valverde, Mariana (1999). myweb.dal.ca/mgoodyea/Documents/Law/The%20harms%20of%20sex%20and%20the%20risks%20of%20of%20breasts%20Valverde%20Social%20Leg%20Stud%201999%208%282%29%20181-197.pdf" title="web.archive.org/web/20140219221206myweb.dal.ca/mgoodyea/Documents/Law/The%20harms%20of%20sex%20and%20the%20risks%20of%20of%20breasts%20Valverde%20Social%20Leg%20Stud%201999%208%282%29%20181-197.pdf">“The Harms of Sex and the Risks of Breasts: Obscenity and Indecency in Canadian Law”. Social Legal Studies (8): 181. There do not appear to have been any further women charged in Canada since these cases were determined.In February 2023, the cities of Edmonton and Calgary, both in the province of Alberta, changed their policies so that wearing bathing suit tops in city-operated pools was an individual’s choice.WEB, All adults can swim topless in City of Edmonton public pools,edmontonjournal.com/news/local-news/all-adults-can-swim-topless-in-city-of-edmonton-public-pools, 2023-02-20, edmontonjournal, en-CA,web.archive.org/web/20230805133511/https://edmontonjournal.com/news/local-news/all-adults-can-swim-topless-in-city-of-edmonton-public-pools, August 5, 2023, WEB, Krause, Darren, 2023-02-17, Calgary won’t deny topless swimmers at city pools; swimwear guidelines under review,livewirecalgary.com/2023/02/17/calgary-topless-swimming-city-pools-edmonton/, 2023-02-20, LiveWire Calgary, en-US,web.archive.org/web/20230511122651/https://livewirecalgary.com/2023/02/17/calgary-topless-swimming-city-pools-edmonton/, May 11, 2023,
Mexico
The only public place in Mexico that officially allows female toplessness is Playa Zipolite (a nude beach located in the state of Oaxaca), where the practice of naturism was legalized in 2016.WEB,federacionnudistademexico.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Acta-cabildo-baja.pdf, Municipal declaration of the distinction of Zipolite and Playa del Amor as nude optional beaches by the Cabildo de San Pedro Pochutla, Pochutla, Oaxaca, 2016,federacionnudistademexico.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Acta-cabildo-baja.pdf," title="web.archive.org/web/20180317102213federacionnudistademexico.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Acta-cabildo-baja.pdf,">web.archive.org/web/20180317102213federacionnudistademexico.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Acta-cabildo-baja.pdf, 17 March 2018, dead, NEWS,www.nzherald.co.nz/travel/news/article.cfm?c_id=7&objectid=11848026, What it was like to stay at the Nude Hotel in Zipolite, Mexico, Ditzian, Danielle, 2017, NZ Herald, Zipolite is a small, little-known town on the Pacific coast of Mexico. It not only boasts being the only legal nude beach in Mexico, but is often likened to a town stuck in the 1960s. With the entire beach being clothing optional, it is unlike anywhere else I have ever had the pleasure of visiting., 25 June 2023, 26 February 2021,www.nzherald.co.nz/travel/what-it-was-like-to-stay-at-the-nude-hotel-in-zipolite-mexico/2MT3H5ZT3FZMQ2RURTR54QOJRE/," title="web.archive.org/web/20210226232701www.nzherald.co.nz/travel/what-it-was-like-to-stay-at-the-nude-hotel-in-zipolite-mexico/2MT3H5ZT3FZMQ2RURTR54QOJRE/,">web.archive.org/web/20210226232701www.nzherald.co.nz/travel/what-it-was-like-to-stay-at-the-nude-hotel-in-zipolite-mexico/2MT3H5ZT3FZMQ2RURTR54QOJRE/, dead, WEB,www.naturistaction.org/newsletter/Newsletter__01-10.pdf, The Ups and Downs of a Mexican Nude Beach Proposal, Storey, Mark, 2010, Naturist Action Committee, 2019-06-08, 2021-02-25,www.naturistaction.org/newsletter/Newsletter__01-10.pdf," title="web.archive.org/web/20210225092436www.naturistaction.org/newsletter/Newsletter__01-10.pdf,">web.archive.org/web/20210225092436www.naturistaction.org/newsletter/Newsletter__01-10.pdf, dead, However, the practice of topless sunbathing (as well as naturism in some cases) is commonly tolerated on a few beaches in the state of Quintana Roo, more precisely in the Riviera Maya region (especially between the cities of Playa del Carmen and Tulum); furthermore, there are a few clothing-optional resorts made for adults only (also located in the Riviera Maya) where all men and women aged 18 (or older) can frequent the facilities without the need to wear clothes (if so they wish).WEB,www.tripsavvy.com/nude-beaches-and-resorts-in-mexico-4151952, Mexico’s Nude Beaches and Resorts, Suzanne Barbezat, TripSavvy, www.tripsavvy.com, 5 April 2019, 8 June 2019, 8 June 2019,web.archive.org/web/20190608095933/https://www.tripsavvy.com/nude-beaches-and-resorts-in-mexico-4151952, dead,
United States
(File:Female toplessness laws in the United States by State and Territory.svg|thumb|Female toplessness laws in the United States by state and territory)In the United States, states have primary jurisdiction in matters of public morality. The topfreedom movement has claimed success in a few instances in persuading some state and federal courts to overturn some state laws on the basis of sex discrimination or equal protection, arguing that a woman should be free to expose her chest in any context in which a man can expose his. Other successful cases have been on the basis of freedom of expression in protest, or simply that exposure of breasts is not indecent (or similar terminology).Laws and ordinances barring female toplessness are being challenged in federal courts around the nation. Each lawsuit, if it prevails at the appellate level, will legalize topfreedom in the following U.S. circuit courts of appeals (from west to east): 9 (California), 8 (Missouri) and 1 (Maryland). A federal lawsuit in the 7th Circuit (Illinois), was lost at the appellate level and the petition for review by the U.S. Supreme Court was denied. A preliminary injunction in a federal lawsuit in the 10th Circuit (Colorado), was won at the appellate level. In September 2019, after spending over $300,000, Fort Collins decided to stop defending their ordinance and repeal it. That effectively gave females of all ages the right to go topless wherever males can in the jurisdiction of the 10th Circuit (Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Kansas and Oklahoma states as well as all counties and cities therein).NEWS, Williams, Peter,www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/topless-women-win-big-colorado-city-drops-ban-n1056701, Topless women win big as Colorado city drops ban, September 20, 2019, NBC News, 2019-09-20,www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/topless-women-win-big-colorado-city-drops-ban-n1056701," title="web.archive.org/web/20230314125304www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/topless-women-win-big-colorado-city-drops-ban-n1056701,">web.archive.org/web/20230314125304www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/topless-women-win-big-colorado-city-drops-ban-n1056701, March 14, 2023,
Oceania
Australia
In Australia, indecent exposure laws only refer to the genital area, so technically both male and female toplessness is legal. However, many local councils impose their own rules, and have the power to ask topless people to leave an area.NEWS, Is it legal to sunbathe topless in Australia?, Nov 30, 2015, Nov 12, 2018, Chris Jager, Lifehacker,www.lifehacker.com.au/2015/11/is-it-legal-to-sunbathe-topless/,web.archive.org/web/20230916125648/https://www.lifehacker.com.au/2015/11/is-it-legal-to-sunbathe-topless/, September 16, 2023, Additionally, women who go topless are sometimes slapped with more vague charges such as being a public nuisance, or offensive behaviour.MAGAZINE, How to Legally #FreeTheNipple in Australia, March 11, 2016, Nov 12, 2018, Katherine Gillespie, Vice,i-d.vice.com/en_au/article/mbv4pb/how-to-legally-freethenipple-in-australia,web.archive.org/web/20230724131710/https://i-d.vice.com/en/article/mbv4pb/how-to-legally-freethenipple-in-australia, July 24, 2023, On public beaches, local bylaws are not heavily enforced, and women can often sunbathe topless without legal repercussions.Breastfeeding in public places is a legal right in Australia. Under the Sex Discrimination Act 1984, no business or service provider can discriminate against a breastfeeding woman. Women can still breastfeed even if no other food/drink is allowed in the area. If a special baby care room is available for breastfeeding, women are not required to use it unless they wish to. If someone abuses a breastfeeding woman or forces her to leave, this may come under state/territory harassment laws. These protections also include women who are expressing breast milk for their baby.NEWS,www.breastfeeding.asn.au/bf-info/breastfeeding-and-law/legalright, Breastfeeding in public â€“ your legal rights, Aug 2016, 12 Nov 2018, Australian Breastfeeding Association,web.archive.org/web/20230327134653/https://www.breastfeeding.asn.au/resources/breastfeeding-public, March 27, 2023,
New Zealand
In New Zealand, there is no specific law prohibiting nudity in public places. If a person is nude and also exhibiting lewd and lascivious, or obscene behaviour, then they may fall afoul of laws.WEB,www.freebeaches.org.nz/legal.htm, Nudity in Public â€“ Legal Aspects, www.freebeaches.org.nz,web.archive.org/web/20230208124540/https://www.freebeaches.org.nz/legal.htm, February 8, 2023, The High Court of New Zealand has upheld a conviction of disorderly conduct for nudity in the street, because it was not a place where nudity was known to occur or commonplace. Being nude in the street is likely to incur a small fine if a complaint is made against the person, or if the person ignores a police order to cover themselves. However, in practice, the likelihood of being prosecuted for nudity on a public beach is low, provided the person keeps to themselves.In 2012, a woman swam topless on Opunake beach. The police were called, but informed the callers that toplessness was not an offence.WEB,www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/editors-picks/6321828/Nudity-not-necessarily-an-offence, Nudity not necessarily an offence, Stuff, 26 January 2012,web.archive.org/web/20230208124518/https://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/editors-picks/6321828/Nudity-not-necessarily-an-offence, February 8, 2023, In 2017, nudists used the beach at Tauranga, which caused consternation among some residents. However, the local council said there were no bylaws dealing with the issue, and that nudity was not an offence.WEB,www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11824550, Battle for the beach: Nudists clash with Papamoa beachgoers, March 25, 2017, www.nzherald.co.nz,web.archive.org/web/20170326085428/https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11824550, March 26, 2017,
South America
Argentina
Female toplessness is allowed in the official nude beaches of Puerto Escondido,WEB,www.playaescondida.com.ar, Playa Escondida, 15 June 2022, located near Miramar, and Playa QuerandÃ,WEB,www.apanna.org.ar/lugares-servicios-2/, Lugares y Servicios, Apanna, 15 June 2022, located in Villa Gesell, as well as in some private naturist resorts.On 7 February 2017, hundreds of topless women protested in Buenos Aires, CÃ³rdoba, Mar del Plata and Rosario, among other cities throughout the country. The protest was called in Spanish tetazo (a portmanteau of the Spanish word tetas, meaning “tits”, and the Spanish suffix “-azo”, which denotes a hitting action).WEB,buscon.rae.es/drae/?type=3&val=azo&val_aux=&origen=REDRAE, DefiniciÃ³n de -azo, Diccionario RAE, 2014, 15 June 2022, es, The protestors objected against the “objectification” of the female body, and also disapproved the decision made by 20 police officers, who days before, had expelled from a beach located in Necochea 3 women who were topless sunbathing there.WEB,www.lavanguardia.com/vida/20170208/414132210765/argentina-protesta-mujeres-tetazo-igualdad-genero.html, Argentina marcha por la igualdad de gÃ©nero con un “tetazo”, 15 June 2022, CLARÃN, 8 February 2017, LA VANGUARDIA, es, Cientos de mujeres se movilizan despuÃ©s de que 20 policÃas expulsaran de una playa a tres turistas por hacer topless,web.archive.org/web/20230208124527/https://www.lavanguardia.com/vida/20170208/414132210765/argentina-protesta-mujeres-tetazo-igualdad-genero.html, February 8, 2023, NEWS,elpais.com/internacional/2017/02/07/argentina/1486498659_776624.html, Centenares de mujeres exigen la legalizaciÃ³n del topless en Argentina con un “tetazo” en Buenos Aires, 15 June 2022, CUÃ‰, CARLOS E., 8 February 2017, EL PAÃS, es, La movilizaciÃ³n llega despuÃ©s de que 20 policÃas expulsaran a tres baÃ±istas por mostrar sus senos,web.archive.org/web/20230131232825/https://elpais.com/internacional/2017/02/07/argentina/1486498659_776624.html, January 31, 2023,
Brazil
The Article 233 of the Chapter VI of the Title VI of the Penal Code Brazilian Penal Code (in Portuguese) asserts that indecent exposure (known in Portuguese as ato obsceno, meaning “obscene act“) is a wrongdoing act punished with imprisonment or fine, but does not specify what are the nude parts of the human body which could be fitted on this misdemeanor. Despite this vagueness, female toplessness tends to be considered an “obscene act” by the Brazilian authorities, and the practice has been frequently repressed, including some arrests made by the police throughout the years.Generally, the practice of topless sunbathing by women has been accepted only in official nude beaches and in some private naturist clubs. However, for many years, there has been one notable exception: the Carnival in Rio de Janeiro. During the famous two-night parades yearly held by 12 samba schools (6 on each day) at the Sambadrome MarquÃªs de SapucaÃ, the official policy is that only the genital area cannot be publicly shown (in this case all nude men and women must wear a merkin, which is known in Portuguese as tapa-sexo, roughly translated as “sex cover“). Thus, both men and women can openly expose their bare breasts and buttocks to the public during the marches without any problem.Since the early 2010s, there are reports of some small and sporadic protests, especially in some beaches located in Rio de Janeiro. These protests are called in Portuguese toplessaÃ§os (a portmanteau of the English word “toplessness” and the Portuguese suffix “-aÃ§o”, translated from the Spanish “-azo”, which denotes a hitting action). In each protest, a group of women, soon after being reunited, decide to quickly take off all clothes they were wearing above the waist (including bras, bikinis or any other tops), culminating in a state of public “breast-flashing” for a few minutes before putting on their clothes again. This way, these are considered a kind of topless flash mob protests. The purpose of these protests is to claim for the official legalization of female toplessness in Brazil under the principle of gender equality.
Chile
Exposing the breasts in public is not a crime, although it is an offense applicable according to the Article 373 of the Penal CodeChilean Penal Code (in Spanish) to those who “in any way offend modesty or good customs”. Similarly, the Article 495 says: “Shall be punished with a fine of one monthly tax unit (first paragraph) whoever contravenes the rules that the authority dictates to preserve public order or prevent it from being altered, unless the act constitutes a crime or simple offense”.Faced with so much inconvenience, a group of women together with the photographer and pioneer of naturism in Chile, RenÃ© Rojas, managed to create the first nude beach in the country in 2000, called Playa Luna, as well as the unofficial restricted areas that were created in Playa Luna Norte (TarapacÃ¡), Playa Luna Sur (Coliumo), Playa Escondida (Antofagasta), Playa Blanca (Tongoy) and Pichilemu, where it is possible to completely undress with total normality.WEB,www.emol.com/noticias/Nacional/2017/02/07/843633/Se-puede-hacer-topless-en-las-playas-chilenas-Conoce-que-dice-la-norma-al-respecto.html, Â¿Se puede hacer topless en las playas chilenas? Conoce quÃ© dice la norma al respecto, 15 June 2022, MarÃn, VerÃ³nica, 7 February 2017, emol.Nacional, es, En Argentina se ha levantado un movimiento femenino que critica la prohibiciÃ³n de esta prÃ¡ctica en sus costas,www.emol.com/noticias/Nacional/2017/02/07/843633/Se-puede-hacer-topless-en-las-playas-chilenas-Conoce-que-dice-la-norma-al-respecto.html," title="web.archive.org/web/20180717034301www.emol.com/noticias/Nacional/2017/02/07/843633/Se-puede-hacer-topless-en-las-playas-chilenas-Conoce-que-dice-la-norma-al-respecto.html,">web.archive.org/web/20180717034301www.emol.com/noticias/Nacional/2017/02/07/843633/Se-puede-hacer-topless-en-las-playas-chilenas-Conoce-que-dice-la-norma-al-respecto.html, July 17, 2018, WEB,www.elmostrador.cl/braga/2018/02/09/mujeres-se-organizan-en-las-playas-de-la-quinta-region-el-topless-o-es-para-todos-o-no-es-para-ninguno/, Mujeres se organizan en las playas de la Quinta RegiÃ³n: “El topless o es para todos o no es para ninguno”, 15 June 2022, SepÃºlveda Pozo, Deborah, 9 February 2018, elmostrador, es, “Hace un aÃ±o ya que nos tomamos las playas de la Quinta RegiÃ³n para ir y hacer topless, a tomar sol, ir ahÃ a disfrutar de la tarde con amigas. Siempre la idea es formar comunidad, una red de apoyo para acompaÃ±arnos entre nosotras”, comenta Franka Libertad, joven que lidera la organizaciÃ³n Topless Libre Chile. Este 25 de febrero celebrarÃ¡n un aÃ±o de la apertura de la playa topless de ViÃ±a del Mar,web.archive.org/web/20221201100517/https://www.elmostrador.cl/braga/2018/02/09/mujeres-se-organizan-en-las-playas-de-la-quinta-region-el-topless-o-es-para-todos-o-no-es-para-ninguno/, December 1, 2022,
Uruguay
The practice of female toplessness is allowed in the official nude beaches of Chihuahua,NEWS,tn.com.ar/sociedad/chihuahua-uruguay-un-dia-en-el-paraiso-nudista_852293/, Chihuahua, Uruguay: un dÃa en el paraÃso nudista, Lewin, Miriam, 20 February 2018, Todo Noticias, es, 15 June 2022,web.archive.org/web/20230116191904/https://tn.com.ar/sociedad/chihuahua-uruguay-un-dia-en-el-paraiso-nudista_852293/, January 16, 2023, NEWS,www.lanacion.com.ar/sabado/pensaban-que-haciamos-una-orgia-gigante-chihuahua-la-playa-nudista-de-punta-del-este-que-no-pasa-de-nid03012022/, Chihuahua cumple 60 aÃ±os: cÃ³mo es la playa nudista de Punta del Este que no pasa de moda, NÃ¶llmann, MarÃa, 3 January 2022, La NaciÃ³n (Argentina), La NaciÃ³n, es, 15 June 2022,web.archive.org/web/20230204163652/https://www.lanacion.com.ar/sabado/pensaban-que-haciamos-una-orgia-gigante-chihuahua-la-playa-nudista-de-punta-del-este-que-no-pasa-de-nid03012022/, February 4, 2023, located in the resort of the same name, and La Sirena,WEB,www.montevideo.com.uy/Noticias/La-Sirena-segunda-playa-nudista-en-Uruguay-uc158507, La Sirena: segunda playa nudista en Uruguay, 23 January 2012, Montevideo, Montevideo Portal, es, 15 June 2022,web.archive.org/web/20230208124519/https://www.montevideo.com.uy/Noticias/La-Sirena-segunda-playa-nudista-en-Uruguay-uc158507, February 8, 2023, WEB,www.mdzol.com/estilo/2021/11/18/asi-es-la-nueva-playa-de-uruguay-en-donde-se-puede-practicar-la-desnudez-total-202141.html, Cano, Eshter, 18 November 2021, AsÃ es la nueva playa de Uruguay en donde se puede practicar la desnudez total, MDZ Online, es, 15 June 2022,web.archive.org/web/20230208124519/https://www.mdzol.com/estilo/2021/11/18/asi-es-la-nueva-playa-de-uruguay-en-donde-se-puede-practicar-la-desnudez-total-202141.html, February 8, 2023, located in the resort of Aguas Dulces.
As a form of liberation
While an exposed breast in public can have many associated connotations, some women in America today argue the exposed breast is a symbol of liberation. They speak against the proposed notion that their rightful place was below their male counterparts. Throughout the late 20th century, more and more women began to link the struggle for female equality and the repossession of the female body. This can be especially seen in the work of Second Wave Feminists beginning in the early 1960s.WEB, Adamson, Thomas, French women bid topless sunbathing ‘adieu’,www.heraldbulletin.com/news/french-women-bid-topless-sunbathing-adieu/article_da69237a-386e-11e4-9e94-0019bb2963f4.html, heraldbulletin.com, 9 September 2014, The Herald Bulletin, 4 February 2022,web.archive.org/web/20230104082122/https://www.heraldbulletin.com/news/french-women-bid-topless-sunbathing-adieu/article_da69237a-386e-11e4-9e94-0019bb2963f4.html, January 4, 2023, The reaction to exposed breasts as a symbol of liberation was two-sided. Women who took part in the movement expressed their desire to turn attention away from the excessive eroticization of the female body in American popular culture to more essential societal needs.Yalom, Marilyn. A History of the Breast. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1997. Print. Opposition to the braless movement ironically viewed it as an attack to American morals and public decency. The bralessness movement evolved into a bare-breasted movement, which became another way for women to “thumb one’s nose at society”. While some women exposed their breasts individually, there was also an upsurge in topless demonstrations used to gather public attention for women’s issues such as pornography and sexism. The sexualization of the breast is found only in a few Western nations, and this, many women argue, causes women to turn to plastic surgery and view their breasts as determinants of beauty rather than potentially nourishing life forces.Latteier, Carolyn. Breasts: The Women’s Perspective on an American Obsession New York, 1998. Because of this, women are able to liberate their breasts as a way to gain attention, make political statements, and combat breast exposure laws’ reinforcement of the supposed uncontrollable seductive nature of women’s breasts.{{citation needed|date=July 2015}}
As a form of protest
{{see also|Nudity and protest|Free the nipple}}In Western countries, toplessness in public often generates media coverage, leading some female political demonstrators to deliberately expose their breasts in public to draw media and public attention to their cause. For example, in January 2012, three members of the Ukrainian protest group FEMEN attracted worldwide media attention after they staged a topless protest at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.NEWS,www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newsvideo/weirdnewsvideo/9046442/Feminist-group-take-topless-protest-to-Davos.html,www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newsvideo/weirdnewsvideo/9046442/Feminist-group-take-topless-protest-to-Davos.html," title="web.archive.org/web/20120128170645www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newsvideo/weirdnewsvideo/9046442/Feminist-group-take-topless-protest-to-Davos.html,">web.archive.org/web/20120128170645www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newsvideo/weirdnewsvideo/9046442/Feminist-group-take-topless-protest-to-Davos.html, dead, 28 January 2012, The Telegraph, Feminist group take topless protest to Davos, 28 January 2012,
In religion
In European pre-historic societies, sculptures of female figures with pronounced or highly exaggerated breasts were common. A typical example is the so-called Venus of Willendorf, one of many Venus figurines from the Paleolithic era with ample hips and bosom. Artifacts such as bowls, rock carvings and sacred statues with breasts have been recorded from 15,000 BC up to late antiquity all across Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. Many female deities representing love and fertility were associated with breasts and breast milk. Figures of the Phoenician goddess Astarte were represented as pillars studded with breasts. Isis, an Egyptian goddess who represented, among many other things, ideal motherhood, was often portrayed as suckling pharaohs, thereby confirming their divine status as rulers. Even certain male deities representing regeneration and fertility were occasionally depicted with breast-like appendices, such as the river god Hapy who was considered to be responsible for the annual overflowing of the Nile. Female breasts were also prominent in the Minoan civilization in the form of the famous Snake Goddess statuettes.{{citation needed|date=August 2015}}In Ancient Greece there were several cults worshiping the “Kourotrophos”, the suckling mother, represented by goddesses such as Gaia, Hera and Artemis. The worship of deities symbolized by the female breast in Greece became less common during the first millennium. The popular adoration of female goddesses decreased significantly during the rise of the Greek city states, a legacy which was passed on to the later Roman Empire.Yalom (1998) pp. 9â€“16; see Eva Keuls (1993), Reign of the Phallus: Sexual Politics in Ancient Athens for a detailed study of male-dominant rule in ancient Greece.During the middle of the first millennium BC, Greek culture experienced a gradual change in the perception of female breasts. Women in art were covered in clothing from the neck down, including female goddesses like Athena, the patron of Athens who represented heroic endeavor. There were exceptions: Aphrodite, the goddess of love, was more frequently portrayed fully nude, though in postures that were intended to portray shyness or modesty, a portrayal that has been compared to modern pin-ups by historian Marilyn Yalom.Yalom (1998), p. 18. Although nude men were depicted standing upright, most depictions of female nudity in Greek art occurred “usually with drapery near at hand and with a forward-bending, self-protecting posture”.Hollander (1993), p. 6. A popular legend at the time was of the Amazons, a tribe of fierce female warriors who socialized with men only for procreation and even removed one breast to become better warriors. The legend was a popular motif in art during Greek and Roman antiquity and served as an antithetical cautionary tale.
In popular culture
{{multiple image
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| image1 = JosephineBakerBurlesque crop.JPG
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| caption1 = Josephine Baker topless (1927)
| image2 = The Ladybirds opptrer i Bergen The Ladybirds performing in Bergen, Norway (1968) (6).jpg
| width2 = 235
| caption2 = {{ill|The Ladybirds|es|The Ladybirds#The Ladybirds (Dinamarca)}} performing in Bergen, Norway (1968)
| image3 = Nice Tattoo.jpg
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| caption3 = Neo-Burlesque dancer with pasties (2007)
}}The French have traditionally been relaxed with nudity and toplessness in entertainment, and dancers and actresses performed topless during the 1910s and beyond in musical theater and cinema. Toplessness in entertainment has survived to this day at the Folies BergÃ¨re and the Moulin Rouge. Some female groups have also performed topless, such as the two female groups called The Ladybirds (one {{ill|The Ladybirds (San Francisco)|lt=in San Francisco|es|The Ladybirds#The Ladybirds (Estados Unidos)}} and another {{ill|The Ladybirds (Copenhagen)|lt=in Copenhagen|es|The Ladybirds#The Ladybirds (Dinamarca)}}), which performed topless in the late 1960s.WEB,www.golfcentraldaily.com/2013/05/pics-ladybirds-ray-floyds-topless-band.html, Pics: The Ladybirds. Ray Floyds Topless 60’s Girl Band, Donal, Hugues, golfcentraldaily.com, 30 November 2016,www.golfcentraldaily.com/2013/05/pics-ladybirds-ray-floyds-topless-band.html," title="web.archive.org/web/20131030191936www.golfcentraldaily.com/2013/05/pics-ladybirds-ray-floyds-topless-band.html,">web.archive.org/web/20131030191936www.golfcentraldaily.com/2013/05/pics-ladybirds-ray-floyds-topless-band.html, October 30, 2013, Women are also at times employed in adult-only venues to perform or pose topless in forms of commercial erotic entertainment. Such venues can range from downmarket strip clubs and topless bars to upmarket cabarets, such as the Moulin Rouge. Topless entertainment may also include competitions such as wet T-shirt contests, especially during spring break in the United States, in which women display their breasts through translucent wet fabricâ€”and may end up removing their T-shirts in front of the audience.{{citation needed|date=January 2019}}Female toplessness has also become somewhat common during Mardi Gras in New OrleansWEB,blog.nola.com/mardi_gras_faq/index.html, Mardi Gras FAQ, 17 June 2010, The Times-Picayune, 23 February 2011,blog.nola.com/mardi_gras_faq/index.html," title="web.archive.org/web/20110223192059blog.nola.com/mardi_gras_faq/index.html,">web.archive.org/web/20110223192059blog.nola.com/mardi_gras_faq/index.html, dead, during which women “flash” (briefly expose) their breasts in return for strings of plastic beads,WEB,www.mardigrasneworleans.com/quartermardi.html, Mardi Gras New Orleans, 17 June 2010, The Times-Picayune, and at Carnaval in Rio de Janeiro, where floats occasionally feature topless women.WEB,www.ipanema.com/carnival/parade.htm, The Samba Parade, 17 June 2010, Ipacom travel,www.ipanema.com/carnival/parade.htm," title="web.archive.org/web/20230602120335www.ipanema.com/carnival/parade.htm,">web.archive.org/web/20230602120335www.ipanema.com/carnival/parade.htm, June 2, 2023, Pasties are sometimes worn by erotic dancers or burlesque entertainers to give the impression of toplessness while avoiding prosecution under local public indecency laws which prohibit exposure of the nipple and areolas. To stay within the law, liquid latex pasties may be used.WEB,www.bikiniscience.com/costumes/soutien-gorge_SS/pasties_S/pasties.html, Pasties, Bikini Science, 2009-04-11, dead,www.bikiniscience.com/costumes/soutien-gorge_SS/pasties_S/pasties.html," title="web.archive.org/web/20090403164956www.bikiniscience.com/costumes/soutien-gorge_SS/pasties_S/pasties.html,">web.archive.org/web/20090403164956www.bikiniscience.com/costumes/soutien-gorge_SS/pasties_S/pasties.html, 3 April 2009, Pasties may be worn by neo-burlesque performers and are also found in night clubs, fetish parties and parades, such as Pride Parades.
Swimsuits
{{multiple image| align = left| direction = horizontal| image1 = Rudi Gernreich 1964 wool monokini, exhibited at ‘The Vulgar’ at Modemuseum Hasselt 2018 (crop).jpg| width1 = 137| caption1 = Rudi Gernreich’s original monokini design| image2 = Swimmer at Cascais in Portugal crop.jpg| width2 = 212
Cascais>Cascais, Portugal}}Toplessness in a public place is most commonly practised or encountered near water, either as part of a swimming activity or sunbathing. The introduction of the bikini in 1946 and increasingly common glamour shots of popular actresses and models on either side of the Atlantic wearing the minimal swimsuit design played a large part in bringing the bikini and sunbathing into the mainstream.WEB, Charleston, Beth Duncuff, The Bikini,www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/biki/hd_biki.htm, Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 15 August 2013, New York, October 2004, James Kitchling, “Short History of Bikinis and Swimsuits”, Articles Central, 2 August 2008 {{dead link|date=May 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}In 1964, fashion designer Rudi Gernreich went further and designed and produced a topless swimsuit, which he called the “monokini” in the United States.WEB,gernreich.steirischerbst.at/pages/bio1.htm, bio ... Rudi Gernreich, 14 January 2010, de,gernreich.steirischerbst.at/pages/bio1.htm," title="web.archive.org/web/20230725204330gernreich.steirischerbst.at/pages/bio1.htm,">web.archive.org/web/20230725204330gernreich.steirischerbst.at/pages/bio1.htm, July 25, 2023, Gernreich’s monokini consisted primarily of a brief, close-fitting bottom that “extended from the midriff to the upper thigh“WEB,www.everythingbikini.com/monokini.html, Bikini Styles: Monokini, Everything Bikini, 14 January 2010, 29 July 2012,www.everythingbikini.com/monokini.html," title="archive.today/20120729151157www.everythingbikini.com/monokini.html,">archive.today/20120729151157www.everythingbikini.com/monokini.html, dead, and was “held up by shoestring laces that make a halter around the neck”.NEWS, Nangle, Eleanore, Topless Swimsuit Causes Commotion,archives.chicagotribune.com/1964/06/10/page/65/article/topless-swimsuit-causes-commotion, 20 August 2015, Chicago Tribune, 10 June 1964,archives.chicagotribune.com/1964/06/10/page/65/article/topless-swimsuit-causes-commotion/," title="web.archive.org/web/20150914161150archives.chicagotribune.com/1964/06/10/page/65/article/topless-swimsuit-causes-commotion/,">web.archive.org/web/20150914161150archives.chicagotribune.com/1964/06/10/page/65/article/topless-swimsuit-causes-commotion/, September 14, 2015, It first appeared in print in Look magazine, introducing the concept of a topless swimsuit into commercial fashion.BOOK, Rachel, Shteir, Striptease,archive.org/details/stripteaseuntold0000shte, registration, 318â€“321, Oxford University Press, 2004, 978-0-19-512750-8, WEB, Monokini,www.thefreedictionary.com/Topless+swimsuit, Free Dictionary, 20 August 2015, WEB, Rosebush, Judson, Peggy Moffitt Topless Maillot in Studio,www.bikiniscience.com/chronology/1960-1965_SS/PM6410_S/PM6410.html, Bikini Science, 22 August 2015, dead,www.bikiniscience.com/chronology/1960-1965_SS/PM6410_S/PM6410.html," title="web.archive.org/web/20150923185207www.bikiniscience.com/chronology/1960-1965_SS/PM6410_S/PM6410.html,">web.archive.org/web/20150923185207www.bikiniscience.com/chronology/1960-1965_SS/PM6410_S/PM6410.html, 23 September 2015, He later said he did not really mean for the swimsuit to be popular as it was, but rather as a fantastical concept and prediction of the future. “[Women] drop their bikini tops already”, he said, “so it seemed like the natural next step.“WEB, Cody, Bay, The Story Behind the Lines,onthisdayinfashion.com/?p=1076, 16 June 2010, 22 January 2013, dead,onthisdayinfashion.com/?p=1076," title="web.archive.org/web/20130704181947onthisdayinfashion.com/?p=1076,">web.archive.org/web/20130704181947onthisdayinfashion.com/?p=1076, 4 July 2013, A photograph of Peggy Moffitt, the famous model for the suit, appeared in Women’s Wear Daily, Life and numerous other publications.BOOK, Jeannette Walls, Jeannette, Walls,books.google.com/books?id=fOkCAAAAMBAJ&q=peggy+moffitt&pg=PA21, High Fashion’s Lowest Neckline, New York (magazine), New York, 14 January 1991, Despite the negative reaction of fashion critics and church officials, shoppers purchased about 3000 of his swimsuit design at $24 each that summer, though the only woman reported as having worn it to a beach in the United States was arrested.WEB, Model arrested for wearing topless swimsuit, 11, 7, 209,news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1454&dat=19640623&id=jERjAAAAIBAJ&pg=4769,3849426&hl=en, Wilmington Morning Star, 23 August 2015, 23 June 1964, The novelty of the design caught significant attention. Life writer Shana Alexander noted in an article about the introduction of the monokini in July 1964, “One funny thing about toplessness is that it really doesn’t have much to do with breasts. Breasts of course are not absurd; topless swimsuits are. Lately people keep getting the two things mixed up.“MAGAZINE, Alexander, Shana, Me? In That!, Life, 10 July 1964, 57, 2, 55â€“61, The topless swimsuit failed to catch on in the United States.NEWS, Suzy, Menkes,query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE7D81430F93BA25754C0A965958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=2, Runways: Remembrance of Thongs Past, The New York Times, 18 July 1993,web.archive.org/web/20231004103027/https://www.nytimes.com/1993/07/18/style/runways-remembrance-of-thongs-past.html, October 4, 2023, The Soviet government called it “barbarism” and a sign of social “decay”. The New York City Police Department was strictly instructed to arrest any woman wearing a swimsuit by the commissioner of parks. In Chicago, a 19-year-old female beachgoer was fined US$100 for wearing a topless swimsuit on a public beach. Copious coverage of the event helped to send the image of exposed breasts across the world. Women’s clubs and the church were particularly active in their condemnation. In Italy and Spain, the Catholic Church warned against the topless fashion.BOOK, Marianne, Thesander, The Feminine Ideal, 187, Reaktion Books, 1997, 978-1-86189-004-7, In France in 1964, Roger Frey led the prosecution of the use of the monokini, describing it as “a public offense against the sense of decency, punishable according to article 330 of the penal code. Consequently, the police chiefs must employ the services of the police so that the women who wear this bathing suit in public places are prosecuted.“Situationist International, Sketch of a Morality without Obligation or Sanction, Issue No 9, August 1964 {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130709132013www.cddc.vt.edu/SIOnline/si/sketch.html |date=9 July 2013 }}Le Monde, 25 July 1964 At St. Tropez on the French Riviera, where toplessness later became the norm, the mayor ordered police to ban toplessness and to watch over the beach via helicopter. Jean-Luc Godard, a founding mover of French New Wave cinema, incorporated a shot of a woman in a topless swimsuit on the Riviera into his film A Married Woman, but it was edited out by the censors.BOOK, James, Monaco, The New Wave, 157, UNET 2 Corporation, 2003, 978-0-9707039-5-8,
Media and photography
In many Western cultures today, images of topless women are regularly featured in magazines, calendars, and other print media, often covering their breasts in a “handbra”, that is, the use of the woman’s hands or arms to cover their breasts, especially the nipples and areolas. In the United Kingdom, following a tradition established by the British newspaper The Sun in 1970, several mainstream tabloid newspapers featured topless female models on their third page, known as Page 3 girls, although this is no longer the case.WEB, 2019-04-12, Daily Star covers up its Page 3 girls, signalling end of tabloid tradition,www.theguardian.com/media/2019/apr/12/daily-star-covers-up-its-page-3-girls-signalling-end-of-tabloid-tradition, 2021-06-27, The Guardian, en,web.archive.org/web/20231002142603/https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/apr/12/daily-star-covers-up-its-page-3-girls-signalling-end-of-tabloid-tradition, October 2, 2023, The subject of glamour photography is often a topless woman.{{citation needed|date=January 2019}}Photographers such as Jock Sturges and Bill Henson have been prosecuted or been embroiled in controversy for producing images of topless teen girls as part of their ongoing work.NEWS,www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23745396-2702,00.html, PM says Henson photos have no artistic merit, The Australian, Matthew, Westwood, 23 May 2008, 14 January 2010,www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23745396-2702,00.html," title="web.archive.org/web/20091019041841www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23745396-2702,00.html,">web.archive.org/web/20091019041841www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23745396-2702,00.html, 19 October 2009, dead,
Cinema
{{see also|Nudity in film}}In the 1920s, nudity, including toplessness, was featured in some Hollywood silent films as well as on the stage, though not without objections from various groups, and several jurisdictions in the United States and elsewhere set up film censorship boards to censor films. In the 1930s, the Hays Code brought an end in Hollywood films to nudity in all its forms. To remain within the censors’ guidelines or community standards of decency and modesty, breasts of actresses in an otherwise topless scene would be covered, especially the nipples and areolas, with their hands (using a “handbra” stance), arms, towel, pasties, some other object, or the angle of the body in relation to the camera.{{citation needed|date=January 2019}}Film making in other centres were not subject to the Hays Code, but were subject to various national censorship regimes. The Italian film Era lui... sÃ¬! sÃ¬! (1951), for example, also had a French version which included topless actresses in the harem scene. This version was especially made for the French market, where censorship was less rigorous than in Italy.BOOK, it, Stefano, Masi, Enrico, Lancia, Sophia Loren, 28â€“29, Gremese, 2001, 9788884400383,books.google.com/books?id=B5oyUHzb-vQC&pg=PA1929, 2017-01-24, Social and official attitudes to toplessness and nudity had eased by the 1960s and the Hays Code came under repeated challenge. For example, in Mutiny on the Bounty (1962) all Tahitian girls were topless and there was a long native dance scene, though the topless female dancers’ breasts were covered by leis. The historical epic film Hawaii (1966) also featured scenes of topless native girls, their breasts being strategically covered by leis.{{citation needed|date=January 2019}}In 1968 the Hays Code was replaced by the MPAA film rating system. Women now appear topless in mainstream cinema, although usually somewhat briefly. Film critic Roger Ebert argued that there was a double standard in relation to the toplessness of “native” women. He wrote that the producers of Rapa-Nui (1994), which featured repeated scenes of bare-breasted native women, got away with ongoing toplessness because of the women’s brown skin:{{blockquote|Rapa Nui slips through the National Geographic Loophole. This is the Hollywood convention which teaches us that brown breasts are not as sinful as white ones, and so while it may be evil to gaze upon a blond Playboy centerfold and feel lust in our hearts, it is educational to watch Polynesian maidens frolicking topless in the surf. This isn’t sex; it’s geography.NEWS,rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19940930/REVIEWS/409300301/1023, Rapa Nui, Ebert, Roger, 30 September 1994, Chicago Sun Times, 6 October 2009, 1 April 2010,rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19940930/REVIEWS/409300301/1023," title="web.archive.org/web/20100401055726rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19940930/REVIEWS/409300301/1023,">web.archive.org/web/20100401055726rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19940930/REVIEWS/409300301/1023, dead, }}Besides those actresses who have appeared nude or partially nude in films, it has also become increasingly common for actresses to appear topless in movies. Notable actresses who have appeared topless include Jane Fonda (Coming Home, 1978), Julie Andrews (S.O.B., 1981), Kate Winslet (Titanic, 1997), Gwyneth Paltrow (Shakespeare in Love, 1998), Reese Witherspoon (Twilight, 1998), Rene Russo (The Thomas Crown Affair, 1999), Katie Holmes (The Gift, 2000), and Halle Berry (Swordfish, 2001). In an interview in March 2007, Halle Berry said that her toplessness in Swordfish was “gratuitous” to the movie, but that she needed to do the scene to get over her fear of nudity, and that it was the best thing she did for her career. Having overcome her inhibitions, she went on to a role in Monster’s Ball, which included a nude scene and which won her an Oscar for Best Actress.Jam Showbiz Movies, 22 March 2007: {{usurped|1=jam.canoe.ca/Movies/Artists/B/Berry_Halle/2007/03/22/3804325.html" title="archive.today/20120711143619jam.canoe.ca/Movies/Artists/B/Berry_Halle/2007/03/22/3804325.html">Halle Berry bares her soul}} Some actresses prefer not to expose their breasts and use a body double.BOOK, Harris, Richard Jackson, A Cognitive Psychology of Mass Communication, Lawrence Erlbaum, 1 April 1999,archive.org/details/cognitivepsychol00harr/page/44/mode/2up, the use of body doubles, even for attractive stars, is common., 978-0-8058-3088-0, Pasties were and may still be worn by some actresses while filming an otherwise apparently topless or nude scene, which is not caught by the camera angle.WEB, Wong, Kathleen, 8 awkward, not remotely hot tools used to film Hollywood sex scenes,mashable.com/2015/02/14/sex-scenes-accessories/, 14 January 2021, Mashable, 14 February 2015, en,
Topless dancing
File:Stripper with garters on pole.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|A topless pole dancer in a strip club strip clubOn 12 June 1964, the San Francisco Chronicle featured a woman wearing a monokini with her exposed breasts on its first page.David Smith Allyn, Make love, not war, pages 23â€“29, Taylor & Francis, 2001, {{ISBN|0-415-92942-3}} Two weeks later on 22 June 1964, Carol Doda started dancing topless wearing a monokini (designed by Rudi Gernreich) at the Condor Club in San Francisco’s North Beach district. Her debut as a topless dancer was featured in Playboy magazine in April 1965. Doda was the first modern topless dancer in the United States,{{rp|25}} renewing the burlesque era of the early 20th century in the U.S. San Francisco Mayor John Shelley said, “topless is at the bottom of porn”. Within a few days, women were baring their breasts in many of the clubs lining San Francisco’s Broadway St., ushering in the era of the topless bar.BOOK, Rachel, Shteir,books.google.com/books?id=vPwVfOUWAe0C, Striptease: The Untold History of the Girlie Show, 318â€“321, East Pakistan Police Co-operative Society, 1964, 978-0-19-512750-8, San Francisco public officials tolerated the topless bars until 22 April 1965, when the San Francisco Police Department arrested Doda on indecency charges. Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the police department, calling for release of both Doda and free speech activist Mario Savio, held in the same station. Doda rapidly became a symbol of sexual freedom, while topless restaurants, shoeshine parlors, ice-cream stands and girl bands proliferated in San Francisco and elsewhere. Journalist Earl Wilson wrote in his syndicated column, “Are we ready for girls in topless gowns? Heck, we may not even notice them.” English designers created topless evening gowns inspired by the idea. The San Francisco Examiner published a real estate advertisement that promised “bare top swimsuits are possible here”.
The arts
The artifacts in the Ancient Siam open-air museum near Bangkok depict Thai women topless. The Ramakien Mural representing the epic lives of the Thai people found at the Wat Phra Kaew Temple depict women wearing only a skirt in public.{{citation needed|date=August 2015}}As a result of the Renaissance, in many European societies artists were strongly influenced by classical Greek styles and culture. As a result, images of nude and semi-nude subjects in many forms proliferated in art and sculpture.{{citation needed|date=August 2015}}During the Victorian era, French Orientalist painters such as Jean-LÃ©on GÃ©rÃ´me presented an idealized depiction of female toplessness in Muslim harem baths,WEB,www.bikiniscience.com/costumes/soutien-gorge_SS/topless_S/topless.html, Toplessness defined, Bikini Science, 14 January 2010, dead,www.bikiniscience.com/costumes/soutien-gorge_SS/topless_S/topless.html," title="web.archive.org/web/20100108023628www.bikiniscience.com/costumes/soutien-gorge_SS/topless_S/topless.html,">web.archive.org/web/20100108023628www.bikiniscience.com/costumes/soutien-gorge_SS/topless_S/topless.html, 8 January 2010, while EugÃ¨ne Delacroix, a French romantic artist, invoked images of Liberty as a topless woman.File:2 Erotic Kama statues of Khajuraho Hindu Temple de Lakshmana KhajurÃ¢ho India 2013.jpg|Erotic art of Khajuraho temples in India, dated to the 10th centuryFile:Piero di Cosimo - Portrait de femme dit de Simonetta Vespucci - Google Art Project.jpg|Portrait of Simonetta Vespucci (c. 1480) by Piero di CosimoFile:Wildweibchen mit Einhorn.jpg|Wild Women with Unicorn (c. 1500â€“1510)File:1520 Veneto Idealbildnis einer Kurtisane als Flora anagoria.JPG|Portrait of a Woman by Bartolomeo Veneto (traditionally assumed to be Lucrezia Borgia)File:EugÃ¨ne Delacroix - La libertÃ© guidant le peuple.jpg|Liberty Leading the People (1830) by EugÃ¨ne DelacroixFile:Manet, Edouard - Blonde Woman with Bare Breasts.jpg|Blonde Woman with Bare Breasts (c. 1878) by Ã‰douard ManetFile:Gaston Casimir Saint-Pierre - Diana the Huntress.jpg|Diana the Huntress by (:fr:Gaston Casimir Saint-Pierre|Gaston Casimir Saint-Pierre)File:HaremPool.jpg|Harem Pool by Jean-LÃ©on GÃ©rÃ´meFile:SzathmÃ¡ry-Pap KÃ¡roly - CigÃ¡nylÃ¡ny 1870 kÃ¶rÃ¼l.jpg|Portrait of a Gipsy Maiden (1870) by Carol SzathmariFile:Snake Goddess Crete 1600BC.jpg|thumb|187px|A “Snake Goddess” statuette of ancient Minoan Civilization Minoan Civilization
See also
{{div col|colwidth=28em}}

Bralessness
Breast fetishism
DÃ©colletage
FEMEN
Free the nipple
Gender equality
Naturism
Nipple piercing
Outdoor Co-ed Topless Pulp Fiction Appreciation Society
Pasties
Sex-positive feminism
Women’s Equality Day

{{div col end}}
References
{{Reflist}}
Bibliography

BOOK, Hollander, Anne, Seeing through clothes, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1993, 978-0-520-08231-1,
BOOK, Yalom, Marilyn, A history of the breast, Pandora, London, 1998, 978-0-86358-400-8,

External links
{{Commons category|Toplessness}}

“Revealing Mary” essay in History Today on popular topless depictions of Queen Mary II

{{nudity|state=collapsed}}

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