child_friendly Go Topless Day

Go Topless Day is an annual event that supports the right of women to go topless in public. The aim of the day is for gender equality, and depending on location, the observance of the day is a celebration or an act of protest. In cities where going topless is legal, the day encourages women to exercise their right to do so. In cities where going topless is forbidden, the day encourages women to stand up for their constitutional right to go topless. Although many cities allow women to go topless, many women are reluctant to do so on account of conditioning and custom, and the day helps reshape thinking on the issue. While women spend the day going topless in public, men participate by wearing bras or bikinis as a sign of solidarity.

The event is held on the Sunday closest to August 26, the date of Women's Equality Day, the holiday that marks the anniversary of the implementation of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote. Go Topless Day was founded in 2007 and first held in 2008. The day was started by Go Topless, a group based in Nevada and founded by Claude Vorihon, the leader of the Raelian Movement, a UFO religion. Go Topless claims that men and women have the same constitutional right to go topless in public. The day was founded in response to the arrest of Phoenix Feeley (Jill Coccaro) in 2005 for going topless in New York City, a city where going topless was legal. (Toplessness in New York State was legalized in 1992 with a decision from the New York Supreme Court.)

In the United States, it is legal for women to go topless in most states, but some cities have passed laws in an attempt to annul this. In addition, it is illegal for women to go topless in a few states, and the laws in some other states are ambiguous. Even in locations where going topless is legal, some women are still arrested for "disorderly conduct" when going topless. In response, they are able to sue for wrongful arrest. Some women who go topless wear pasties or latex nipples if they are in a location that has laws against going topless.

Going topless was more common in ancient times. In Indonesia, women began covering their breasts in the late 1200s, after the arrival of the Muslim faith there. In India, toplessness was long tied to class: upper-class women covered their breasts but others did not. Between the twelfth and sixteenth centuries, all women began covering their breasts, after the arrival of the Muslim faith. Although there had been some permissiveness with the baring of female breasts in the Western world, such as in paintings, toplessness became taboo in Europe and America during the Enlightenment. The covering of breasts became even more widespread during the Victorian era.

Male toplessness was legalized in America in 1936, just two years after Clark Gable had bared his chest in It Happened One Night—the first time a male had gone topless in film. The first topless bikini, the monokini, was introduced by Rudi Geinrach in 1964 and worn by model Peggy Moffitt. It gained in popularity shortly thereafter when topless dancer Carol Doda began wearing it at San Francisco's Condor Club. But despite some loosening, the Western world's custom of women wearing tops remained strong. This Western tradition encouraged the donning of tops in countries where it hadn't yet been customary. However, it is still common for some cultures to go topless, the Aborigines of Australia being one example.

How to Observe Go Topless Day

Depending on location, the day is observed as either a celebration or protest. If you are a woman, you could bare your breasts to celebrate the freedom to do so or to protest local laws against doing so. If you are a man, you could show solidarity with women by wearing a bra, bikini, or pasties. Women, men, and non-binary individuals can mark the day as they choose, by showing or concealing their breasts. You could organize your own Go Topless event in your community. It is wise to first check what the laws regarding going topless are in your city and state. You could then contact contact Go Topless so they can list the venue on their Boob Map. You could also donate to Go Topless to support their fight for gender equality, and could subscribe to their mailing list.

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