The hot debate around the issue of woman going topless in public exposes our society's
sexual immaturity, according to several researchers.
But that's not the way many area residents, including Pastor Robert Powell of the
Windsor Christian Fellowship see it.
"A woman who takes her top off is stripping," Powell says.
He's helping organize a public rally on June 9 protesting the legal situation allowing
women to go topless in public.
A husband and father of three, he says he doesn't want his family subjected to women
who disrobing in public.
He also doesn't want the issue to be seen as a "church" issue, but rather
a community issue.
"The City of Windsor doesn't want this activity in its community."
Alex McKay, a Toronto sex education researcher, said he isn't surprised by the debate,
but is interested and intrigued because he sees a cultural disruption at work.
"When you combine our negative taboo-based culture with our sexualization of
female breasts, you get people who will find it indecent.
"The body is mysterious, and it becomes sexualized, particular parts of it
that are covered up. And so it just happens that we have in western culture focused
on female breasts."
As well, the debate addresses our approach to sex, our mores and norms, and our
immaturity compared to other cultures such as those in Europe, McKay said.
A sex educator-researcher, he edits a professional journal about sexuality. The
Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality is published by SIECCAN, the Sex Information
and Education Council of Canada. It provides information, research and resources
for educators, therapists and other professionals.
Anne Forrest, who directs women's studies and is an associate business professor
at the University of Windsor, generally agrees with McKay.
"We're prudish."
"There's nothing private about a woman's body.
"It's a flashpoint," in our society, she said.
Women going topless is an act equivalent to men removing their underwear, she said.
So anything such as public policy involving breasts and their exposure becomes significant.
That can be difficult to deal with in our sexually immature society, they say.
That's almost an understatement for Windsor Police Insp. Dave Stannard, head of
the criminal investigation division.
He's reviewing how other police across the province are handling the issue. He expects
to work with municipal officials preparing a report on the subject. It is designed
to guide city council after some complaints about toplessness last weekend.
Stannard said American media are calling, "playing it up," people want
something done and he's not looking forward to hot summer nights.
Forrest, at the University of Windsor, said women may not view their breasts as
sexual in certain situations despite what men think.
The view that women must cover up reinforces arguments that have been used against
women time and again, Forrest said -- that women must somehow control themselves
because of men's anticipated reactions.
This plays into the view that women's bodies are only for sex, "that that's
all we're there for," she said.
The court decision supporting women who go topless formally recognizes that women's bodies "aren't purely sexual," she said.