plus 1000
There are lots of laws on the books that a majority of people would disagree with, if they actually stopped to think about it for a moment (for example, did you know it's illegal to dance in public on a Sunday before 2:00PM in New Hampshire??). Sadly, the law about topless women is not one of them. Even if you managed to get the law overturned tomorrow, or to get the Keene police to stop enforcing it, a big chunk of the local population would still think it's the wrong thing to do and would be offended and angered by women going around topless in public. Now, if your primary goal is to live exactly as you want every minute of every day, then maybe that's OK, and you are willing to live with the knowledge that a lot of your neighbors have negative thoughts about you. But if your primary goal is to convince your neighbors of the irrationality of their current ways, and that a society without violent, coercive government is possible, then rubbing their noses in something you know offends them, like a dog who's had an accident on the carpet, is not the most effective way to convince them that you are right and they are wrong.
For those who feel strongly about fighting our cultural bias against female boobs in public, here's an idea: do some sort of positive activism while topless. That might go farther to point out the silliness of the cultural bias, which is the reason for the law. "A group of volunteers were interrupted by the Keene police department while doing a litter pickup. Some of the volunteers were arrested, while others weren't. The reason? It was the hottest day of the summer, and the volunteers had all removed their tops to try to cool off. It was a co-ed group. The police arrested the females, and left the males alone." Something like that might actually generate some public sympathy (some people would undoubtedly be unsympathetic no matter how you spin it, but whatever.)
That would be a better situation (IMO) than walking around downtown topless, but I don't think the point would be made right. Yes, there would be more sympathy, but is that what the goal is? I'm not sure. But if it was a planned alt. to do a topless litter pickup, I would totally do that as well. I think the real problem here is that we need to figure out how to get more support than frustration from people, or they won't listen to us, and we have some good things to say.
Anyways, in my mind, the goal is to make a serious statement about 1) The human body, and 2) Equality.
I agreed to do this because the human body should not be feared, and it shouldn't have to be covered up. It is completely natural. As mammals/animals/whatever we should be comfortable walking around in nothing but our own skin, and that shouldn't be shunned. Personally, I think that treatment of the human body is getting worse and worse. It's always less about the person and more about the sexual image when it comes to wearing (or not wearing) clothing. Nakedness in society is not natural, it's sexual. (
Especially with women. You know it's true.)
It is when breasts are exposed casually with no sexual suggestion that they are suddenly deemed offensive. "Those can only be exposed if they are entertaining me or turning me on!!"
I wish that I could say that I live in a culture where this is untrue, but I don't. I wish that on a sunny day I could go in my backyard and get an even tan without worrying about the neighbors, but I can't.
100% true statement. I've never heard of a straight guy who had a problem with seeing tits, but I could see a few being extremely confused if they saw the protest. And even some who would be angry. Sadly enough, there are men (and probably twice as many women) out there who would be angry and confused.
And that is
exactly why this protest needs to be done. Because sitting around wishing we had a better way to fight tan lines would never accomplish anything.
I believe this is a necessary step in a long hike for liberty in every sense of the world.
And I am so sick of being told that issues aren't important enough to take a stand on. Any issue that anyone cares about is important enough. It's just going to have to come down to who's going to grow some balls and stand up for what they believe, and who's going to stand on the sidelines and never get anywhere except by others' coat tails.
~Cassidy
"Stop bitching and start a revolution."
