Anyone who lives in Ontario undoubtedly knows about the "topless law", a law that gives wymyn the right to go topless in public. Now for some reason people are violently opposed to this, and argue the law heatedly by writing nasty letters to the editors of local papers, and by appearing on Speaker's Corner on CityTV and beating the issue to death.
This is beyond pathetic. It is also an unfortunate and blatant example of the patriarchy we live in. The arguments against the law are very weak, not to mention depressing. But I'm sure you've heard them all, so instead of re-iterating, I'll tell you my reasons for going topless and supporting the right to go topless.
First off, I've gone topless in public a whole two times. Reasons for that are that once we were doing a Wiccan ritual (remember, Wiccans celebrate the body) that at one point required us to strip and dive into the lake naked (the naked part was optional mind you), and the other time I was at the beach and dying of heat, but I wasn't wearing a bathing suit, so my friend and I took off our shirts. Both times there were very few (if any) people around, so it's not like I was being really daring by walking downtown Owen Sound with no top on (this actually happened and it earned the womyn a front page article in the local paper *sigh*). Why don't I go topless more often? Well, putting aside the ridicule I'd get for it, I've rarely felt the need to go without a shirt. However, that doesn't mean that I don't support the right to go topless.
Most of the arguments against womyn going topless are that breasts are sexual organs so they shouldn't be seen in public, it's immoral to go around naked, and afterall, why would a decent womyn take her shirt off anyway? Bullshit, bullshit, and bullshit.
Breasts are not sexual organs. They are large glands that produce milk. It's Mother Nature's ingenious way of feeding newborn babies. That's not to say that breasts are not sexual. We all know how teenage boy's, chauvinistic redneck's, and dirty old men's eyes have the annoying tendency to wander down a womyn's chest... But then again, IMHO the most sexual parts of the body are the eyes, hair, and lips, and I'm sure there are lots of people who would agree with me on that. Should everyone wear sunglasses and hats to cover these parts up?
The only reasons I wear clothes are that it's illegal to go without, and it gets really cold here in the winter. There is a difference between nakedness and pornography, and it'd be nice if the tight-assed conservative Xians would take an enema and clue in. This is a commentary on it's own, so I won't get into details until I decide to write that one.
As for why would a decent womyn go topless, maybe the question should be why would any decent man go topless? Moreover, why the double standard? If men can have the right to take off their shirts in public, why can't womyn? The double standard says a lot about the lack of equality between the genders in this country. [note: yes, I know it's much worse in other countries. But being the developped country we are, it'd be nice if we tried working for the equal rights of ALL our citizens]
What depresses me most is that many womyn say that they don't want to see bare breasts because it's disgusting, and they don't want to see those disgusting things. Also that we must protect our children from seeing such horrible things. How sad that these womyn hate themselves and their bodies so much. Well, YOU may think your body is disgusting, but I happen to like my body, and that includes my breasts. What kind of a message does this give to the young womyn in our society? "Your breasts are disgusting"? This isn't going to help all the anorexic, bulemic, and permiscuous girls who hate their bodies and themselves and who are the bulk of the young female population in this country right now...
This is a patriarichal society that denies the sacredness of the human form, especially the female body, and the topless issue demonstrates this inequality between the genders. Oh, and I'm not blaming all the problems on men, I'm blaming our problems on the support of a society that does not allow all it's people equal freedoms and rights. In any case, I remain,
apocrypha
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