Topfree Organizer Needs Thicker Skin, Clearer Message

In the past, protesters have been subjected to tear gas, bullets, fire hoses, taunts, thrown eggs, spit or worse. The heart of any protest is for people to stand up to an inequity in society, and to accept the consequences from the reactions of those who disagree.

When 20 year-old Ty MacDowell decided to organize a women's topfree march through the heart of Portland, Maine, she somehow thought that people would automatically accept bared women's breasts as a normal occurrence. "I was shocked by the number of people", she admitted. "I expected that (people would watch), but not to the extent that it was."

Ty was also upset that a video of the event was posted online and blurred out as if it was pornography, noting that such censorship felt like "total objectification".

Now I give Ty major props for taking on this endeavor, but she needs to thicken her exposed skin a little more in the face of public reaction. After all, the women were not arrested or hindered in any way. If some men behaved like young boys seeing their first Playboy centerfold, it's a male problem, and illustrates exactly why the topfree movement is important. The only way to reverse the objectification of women's breasts is to make them ubiquitous.

Ty states that she "can't understand" why other women would find the display of female breasts "disgusting" since there is nothing inherently sexual about nudity. Again, I applaud her efforts, but Ty has to get a little more savvy in dealing with the press if she wants to make her positive message more effective. It's hard to imagine Betty Friedan or Gloria Steinem declaring that they "didn't understand" society's push back against feminism. I would argue that Ms. MacDowell does in fact understand, which is why she is organizing topfree events in the first place, she is just inexperienced at articulating her position.

Embrace the photographers, embrace the publicity, and embrace your new position as a women's rights leader, Ty. It's all a good thing if you channel some of the negativity you feel into focusing your message and expanding the movement. Shock and indignation should not be the thrust of your platform.

Ty reports that she has been contacted by a University of Maine at Farmington student who wants to organize a similar march on that campus, but she also states that she wants to take her movement "more grass-roots" and plan events through word-of-mouth rather than through social networking on the Internet.

Like it or not, Ty MacDowell has made international news with her topfree walk through an American city. Shying away from the publicity is a mistake, and will likely create the impression that society is not ready for topless women in public. Trying to avoid the "circus atmosphere" only assures that the objectification and voyeurism will continue. A civil right not properly exercised will wither and die.

Women Exercise Their Topfree Rights in Portland

The best way to normalize women's topfreedom is to exercise the right, and that's exactly what about two dozen women did in Portland yesterday.

The point of the march was that a topless woman out in public should attract no more attention than a man walking around without a shirt on, said Ty MacDowell, 20, of Westbrook, who organized Saturday's event and promoted it on Facebook....MacDowell said she understood that for women, going topless in public "is not socially acceptable yet, and obviously there's going to be a reaction to something that breaks the norm." 

But, she said, the picture-taking was particularly upsetting.

"A lot of people were taking pictures without even asking," she said. "Even if you're somewhere where people are fully clothed, you should ask."

I find it rather odd that Ms. MacDowell would be so savvy about her topfree rights, yet so ignorant about photographer's rights. Anyone who appears in public and has no reasonable expectation of privacy can be photographed.

Also, in our breast-obsessed society, women who appear topfree in public should not be surprised by getting a lot of attention, particularly from males who have been conditioned to regard female breasts as sexual objects.

It's very encouraging that women turned out in such a relatively large number for this event, and since interest was high with no incidents or arrests, perhaps the next topfree protest in Maine will be even larger. For their next event, the women say they are planning a "topless adventure".

The Daily Newds 1/9/09

• A writer in the San Francisco Chronicle explains how Facebook's banning of breastfeeding photos has backfired.

  What should we make of Facebook's harsh stance, which may as well have been well-intentioned? Even good intentions backfire: Facebook has fallen a victim to the Streisand effect - an emerging phenomenon on the Internet, where an attempt to suppress the dissemination of information on the Internet only makes it more widespread. The reasons that made Facebook decide to enforce rules that do not exist in real life are less clear. In many countries, actual venues could be fined for asking breastfeeding mums to cover up; why should the virtual space be any different?
  
  Facebook's purist efforts are likely to have opposite consequences: If the photos of nursing mothers, scattered throughout the whole site, were previously hard to find, now they have all been arranged in one place, with many links to other Web sites. Thus, if Facebook was concerned about those who complained about so many sightings of breastfeeding in the virtual space, then such concerns have certainly not been addressed.

• An editorial on TheDestinLog.com explains that a community can have a topless bar and still be family friendly.
• If you plan on taking public transit in Portland on Saturday between 3 and 5 PM, be prepared to take off your pants.
• An artist is preparing a nude portrait of cooking show cutie Rachael Ray using paprika miked with oils.
• The annual Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas has become a "full-blown mainstream media event".

  To use words such as “most respected” and “most recognized” when describing a trade-show business convention is acceptable when it comes to the Consumer Electronics Show winding up its 42nd anniversary here in Las Vegas this weekend. But the adult entertainment industry says the same about itself because it has grown into a staggeringly massive, annual $12 billion-plus business, and on Saturday, just like the Oscars and the Emmys, gold statuettes will be handed out in more than 100 sex categories to the industry’s top stars and producers! Yes, X-rated entertainment has gone completely mainstream, and flesh fans themselves will be able to sit in on the provocative power parade of pulchritude at the Grammys of the Adult World co-hosted by Jenna Haze and Belladonna.

• The Lexington Art League's annual Nude exhibit has a few surprises this year. In a related story, six art professors share their views on teaching students about the human figure.
• An Australian in Indonesia compares the recent rise of the "morality police" in both countries.

  And in a world like this, let any law — in Australia or Indonesia — that threatens such tolerance to appease small–mindedness or potential voters be fought, on the beaches and everywhere else.

• Ohio Governor Strickland has signed a law increasing penalties for anyone found guilty of "surreptitiously video taping, filming, photographing or recording a minor in a state of nudity." Child pornography is despicable, but this law is certain to be misinterpreted. Don't - repeat - DON'T take nude photos of your kids to be developed at the local drug store, no matter where you live.
• The mother of a 16 year-old boy found a nude 15 year-old girl in his bedroom and called the police, who issued her a trespass citation and took her home. If the boy invited the girl in, how is this trespassing? And why call the police in the first place?

Tags: nudism, naturism, nudist, nudists, naturist, naturists, nudity, nudes, bare, au naturel, nude, naked