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gofree

Founder of clothesFREE

From: Hong Kong

Registered: 2006-07-18

Posts: 1,179

Go Topless Day

Every Sunday, weather permitting, the guy down the street mows his lawn without his shirt on and nobody gets their panties in a bunch about it. But if I stripped off my Dunder Mifflin T-shirt while clipping the hedge? There'd probably be a cop car and the crew from America's Most Frightening Videos in my driveway faster than you can say "put on a pair of pasties."

The feminist in me feels that just isn't fair. If baring chests in public is legal, then it should be legal for everyone, especially since I've seen many a shirtless man who has far bigger boobs than I do. GoTopless.org agrees with me. Members of the organization believe that as long as men can go topless, women should have the same right.

According to GoTopless.org, the 14th amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees equal protection under the law for women to go top-free in public wherever men are allowed to, which is almost everywhere in the 50 states.

And on Saturday, August 23, Go Topless rallies will be held at noon local time in cities across America, from Los Angeles and Santa Fe to Omaha and New York; even though it's been legal for women to go bare-chested in NYC since 1992. (In fact, a woman was recently awarded $29,000 by the city for being wrongfully detained for being bare.) "All women are encouraged to join us at these rallies with their peaceful femininity and unshakable determination," says Nadine Gary, a San Diego Raelian helping to organize the event. She adds, "A change in the law and in mentalities will prove to be a healthy change for the American population as a whole."

Most of the women I asked about equal boob-baring rights are for it, although they're not raring to rip off their tops (except maybe at the beach). My co-worker Susannah echoes the majority when she says, "Americans are far too uptight about matters of the body, so yes: Women should have the same rights as men. In theory, hell yes, I would do it. In practice, legality wouldn't stop my fellow Americans from being uptight and judgmental, so I'd likely hold back in most circumstances which is how I've (slightly resentfully) approached public breast-feeding."

I guess I think that's the point of having rights. You don't have to exercise them if you don't want to. And when others are exercising theirs in a way that's repulsive to you? Just don't look. That's how I handled it when Pierce Brosnan ripped off his shirt near the end of Mamma Mia. I understand why some folks may not want to look at my middle-aged boobs, because I sure didn't want to look at his.

2008.08.19 Anne Krueger

gofree

Founder of clothesFREE

From: Hong Kong

Registered: 2006-07-18

Posts: 1,179

Re: Go Topless Day

www.GoTopless.org is a U.S.-based organization that claims that women have the same constitutional right to go bare-chested in public as men. What's more, the group is encouraging women nationwide to rally bare-chested in public on Aug. 23, the date selected for the organization's "National Protest Day."

"As long as men can go topless, women should have a same and equal right," said Rael, spiritual leader of the International Raelian Movement and founder of GoTopless.org. "Otherwise, men should also be forced to wear something that hides their chests."

Raelians consider a National Protest Day necessary because women who go topless in U.S. public places are currently arrested, fined, humiliated and treated as criminals.

Women should go topless and rally publicly in great numbers on August 23 to protest that despicable treatment and exercise their rights. "All women are encouraged to join us at these rallies with their peaceful femininity and unshakable determination, in order to protest this gross inequality in the law" says Nadine Gary, who leads the movement – on the picture during a disrobing ceremony with a few friends in LA 2 years ago.

The women of gotopless.org demand that the right to go topless for women be recognized in accordance with the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, and that all state laws be amended to reflect that right."

The Aug. 23 rallies will be held in a number of U.S. cities, including Washington, Los Angeles, Miami and New York. The New York City rally will be important even though it has been legal for women to go topless in public in New York since 1992.

However, it will remind the women there to feel free and naturally exercise this fundamental right just as NY men do. This fundamental freedom permitted by the laws of their state that is still widely ignored by many. One way to update the public is to be part of National Protest Day.

Why August 23? Back in 1970, Congress designated August 26 as Women's Equality Day to remind people of women's continuing efforts for equality. The 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (giving women the right to vote) was finally ratified, after 72 years of effort, on August 26, 1920. The women of gotopless.org wanted to honor the Aug. 26 date, but moved it up three days to a Saturday so more women could take part in the rallies.

Challenging topless laws in the leading democracy in the world US women may have won the right to vote years before European women did but today they are the ones who are penalized by American puritanical laws when it comes to the use of their body in public.

For instance, on June 27, 2008, Phoenix Feeley, 28, was arrested for topless sunbathing on a New Jersey beach and now faces a possible jail sentence. (This would simply be unheard of in France or in Spain for example!)

Like most state penal codes, New Jersey’s is at odds with portions of the U.S. Constitution, namely the 14th amendment. Laws and "morality" To counter equality rights for women’s topless-ness in public, people like Carla Wren, talk show host for WTVN in Columbus OH (a top free municipality), argue that men’s and women’s breasts don’t look the same. That is true. However, our constitution guarantees equal rights to all individuals regardless of their gender, color, etc…There is no exception for shape or size!

Another argument often used by conservatives is that the sight of a woman’s breasts "simply isn’t family friendly." In Ashland, Ore, (another top-free municipality) a local committee refused to allow a woman to go topless in the town’s Independence Day parade this year, citing the fact that minors would be present.

So, one wonders how the majority of Western European children and adolescents cope each year when they see thousands of topless women on public beaches "None of them are suffering the least bit of emotional damage from that. Nor did Native Hawaiian or Native American children experience ill effects from observing female breasts – that is, until the Judeo-Christian colonizers shamed the women and forced them to cover their chests. That led to guilt and shame about their bodies – feelings previously unknown among these native peoples."

GoTopless.org is adamant about denouncing not only the unconstitutionality of U.S. state laws against female topless-ness, but also their psychologically damaging effects. American children today – especially girls – suffer from puritanical values supported by unconstitutional laws. In April, Miley Cyrus said she was embarrassed by semi-topless art photos Annie Leibovitz took of her for Vanity Fair but an adolescent male celebrity appearing topless in a magazine experiences no sense of shame. On the contrary, he’s sure to be proud of it, with no need to apologize to his fans!"

Raelianism promoting Gotopless.org Raelianism explains that the women and men of the Earth were originally created artistically and scientifically by people like us called Elohim who came from another planet and who were mistaken for god (s). Rael teaches how essential it is for humans to embrace their whole being, mind and body, and shamelessly enjoy this ingenious biological design that the Elohim bestowed us, in order to live a balanced happy and peaceful life. Rael insists that women must finally be allowed and encouraged to intellectually and physically express themselves to the fullest in order to enshrine our ailing humanity in their sage and beneficent femininity.

Raelian Women: Feminist VS Feminine activism Challenging the unconstitutionality of top free laws in an entire nation is no doubt a tall order for a group of women and has often been the type of challenges that feminists have undertaken in the past. In this world led by men, these relentless women leaders such as Alice Paul had to often act like man in order for their voices to be heard and their goals achieved.

Today, male aggressiveness has led the world to use science for destructive purposes and to develop massive amounts of sophisticated weapons threatening our very survival. The only way to save us from this deadly path is to allow femininity to express itself in our societies as Rael explains.

Women are genetically well endowed with this quality and must fully express it in their daily lives, professional lives and political struggles instead of suppressing it as feminist women were forced to do in the past centuries. Femininity is associated with inner and outer beauty, kindness, care, tact, compassion, humility, etc… and when combined with action and determination, it acquires its full potential and can indeed heal a violence ridden society.

Gotopless women’s goal The women of Gotopless aim at putting an end to this nipple phobia – as the late George Carlin called it, thanks to the wisdom embodied in the U.S. Constitution. If women will just make the effort, public opinion will soon adapt to the change, as it always does. And that change will bring about a more balanced, healthy and happy U.S. population.

gofree

Founder of clothesFREE

From: Hong Kong

Registered: 2006-07-18

Posts: 1,179

Re: Go Topless Day

8 月 22 日下午 GoTopless.org 在洛杉磯威尼斯海灘發起了遊行，示威者要求女人應和男人享有同等的權利，都可以在公共場所上裸逛街。當天同時舉行 GoTopless 遊行活動的還有芝加哥、舊金山市、西雅圖、丹佛、邁阿密和夏威夷的檀香山等地。示威者沿著威尼斯海邊的步行道一路向東，他們舉著標語牌，上面寫道：「法律要公正，要讓女性裸胸！」「男女都有乳頭，為何女人怕瞅？」示威者一路高喊：「敞開心房，露出乳房！」「憲法要公正，不可限制女性！」

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參與遊行的華裔女大學生表示：「每年八月份都會舉行一次全國性女權運動，訴求是讓女人享有和男人同等的權利，既男人可以在海邊之類的公共場合裸露上身，女人也應當享有脫去上衣，秀出乳房的權利。我們希望通過示威活動，敦促立法機構賦予女性這一合法權益。」