August 22, 1997
CHATHAM GROUP CHAMPIONING WOMEN'S RIGHT TO BARE BREASTS
TOPLESS AND PROUD OFFERS A DISSENTING VOICE IN A CITY WITH
A THRIVING ANTI-TOPLESS CAMPAIGN.
By Lara Bradley
Free Press Reporter
CHATHAM -- Victoria Rawlings doesn't feel the need to
peel off her top but she wants to keep that right.
A group in support of toplessness has entered the fray in this city, which
has passed a motion asking for legislation to make toplessness illegal for women
in Ontario and where a coalition against toplessness is thriving.
While Topless and Proud (TAP) doesn't to urge women to uncover their mammaries,
it wants the right to go topless upheld.
In the corner, the Coalition Against Toplessness (CAT), a Windsor-based national
organization, is collecting signatures to get the federal government to ban toplessness
for women.
Meanwhile, city council has sent its resolution to other municipalities and
the Association of Municipalities for approval.
SIMILAR GOALS
While it appears TAP and CAT are at opposite ends of the spectrum, they have
the similar goal of getting toplessness off the streets.
"When we're in public, I don't want my children to see people walking
around naked," said Victoria Rawlings, co-founder of TAPS.
The self-described "respectable mom" of two isn't ready to bare
her breasts in public.
"We don't want to be exhibitionists," explained Rawlings. "We
just want the same rights as men."
What she does want is for society to take "baby steps" in the direction
of equal toplessness for both sexes. She thinks segregated beaches and the right
to go topless on your own property is the answer to society's squeamishness over
the unclad breast.
The group has gathered close to 100 members from Chatham, Sarnia, Windsor
and even Guelph since its launch July 23. Rawlings said they will meet to discuss
ways of lobbying government on ways of controlling toplessness.
PETITION
Sandra Van Raay, co-chair of the Chatham wing of CAT, said it has collected
6,000 to 7,000 signatures --in hair salons, meat markets and variety stores in Kent
County -- asking Ottawa to change the law so that going topless is illegal.
But if the law can't be changed, she'd like to restrict toplessness to segregated
beaches.
"We don't need it on the streets," Van Raay said. "People
who do not want to see it have no choice of avoiding it."
Van Raay thinks that if 90 per cent of the community says it's obscene, the
government should listen.
"We do feel women's breasts are sexual. Nobody is going to pay for a
guy to walk topless down the street," Van Raay added.
She said she favors women's rights, but said this is a separate issue. In
fact, it's a step backwards because it turns women into sexual objects, she said.
"The only ones who are going to be doing it are young and upright with
something to show," Van Raay said.
With anorexia and other problems of self image prevalent among young women
today, Van Raay thinks it will only add to their problems. More young women will
feel the need for implants.
"It's just another pressure to put on a women," she said.
The petition wraps up this week.