Topfreedom letters:
To whom they may concern, the following letters may be cut, copied, modified, rewritten in part, or in whole in your own words, and sent to whomever you feel may have the, influence or desire to help women gain the legal right to be topfree in the same manner that men are allowed to be.
To locate your legislators go to: http://www.govspot.com/
Letter #1
Dear ________________ (Legislator),
While the following subject matter may seem trivial to you, and to some sexually motivated, I ask you to understand that to us it is neither
American women today deserve to share the same rights that men enjoy, and while in most cases they do, in some cases they still do not. In most areas where women are not treated equally, at least they are equal in the eyes of the law, and as attitudes change are becoming more, and more equal in actual practical terms as well. In at least one remaining situation however, women are absolutely unequal by statute. That situation is the continued criminalization of the female breast. By this we mean laws that prohibit women from taking of their tops in areas where men are allowed to freely remove their shirts.
Until 1939 it was illegal for men to remove their shirts in public. During that hot summer in New York men began disobeying this law in such large numbers that the courts became clogged, and the laws changed. Now sixty-two years later men still enjoy the freedom of removing their shirts at the beach, in the park, in their own backyards, etc. while women are considered criminals if they dare remove their tops in view of any public place, even on the remotest of beaches.
"Topfreedom" is fast becoming the law in Canada, and acceptance is growing. Women are gaining this freedom, and no one is being corrupted, or injured. Women are not running topless across the country, nor will there ever be great numbers of topless women walking about in public. Thanks to enlightened court rulings however, on hot summer days, at the beach, in the park, and in all areas where men can be shirtless, women who would like to, can take off their shirts as well, without being thrown in jail for it. Here in America a grassroots topfreedom movement is growing, and topless protests are on the horizon. We however, think a different route could, and should be taken to preemptively achieve the same equality, without topless protests, and their inevitable resulting arrests.
What can be done in our country? We think a start would be to make a distinction between breasts, and genitals in our indecent exposure laws. A topless woman is not a nude woman, and should not be treated as such. Breasts are not obscene, and their mere public visibility should not be considered indecent exposure. Topfreedom is a civil rights issue. It is a women’s rights issue. It is not a slippery slope to public nudity. Nudity standards should be the same for men, and women. It is not a sexual issue. In fact, these changes would make exposed breasts less sexual.
In conclusion, if you feel that we haven't sufficient reason to make topfree options legal for women, as it is for men in our country, we ask you; do we have sufficient reason to make it illegal? After all, shouldn't something have to be harmful, in order to be illegal? By what standard have we decided that women without shirts are harmful? By any standard wouldn't you consider that determination to be insulting, and degrading to women? We consider our current indecent exposure, and lewd conduct laws to be extremely insulting, degrading, and unfair to women, and this is our motivation, in writing to you.
Any consideration given to this concern would be greatly appreciated.
Very sincerely,
__________________________
