This article deals only with female toplessness. For male toplessness, see barechestedness.

Toplessness refers to the state in which a woman or postpubescent girl has her breasts uncovered, with her areolae and nipples visible, usually in a public space. The adjective topless may refer to a woman who appears, poses, or performs with her breasts exposed (a "topless model"); to an activity or performance that involves exposing the breasts (a "topless dance"); to a graphic, photographic, or filmic depiction of a woman with her breasts uncovered (a "topless photograph"); to a place where female toplessness is tolerated or expected (a "topless beach"); or to a garment designed to reveal the breasts (a "topless swimsuit").

Cultural attitudes towards toplessness

In Southern Ethiopia, women's traditional clothing does not conceal the breasts

Attitudes towards female breast exposure have varied widely throughout history and across cultures. In many parts of Europe between the Renaissance and the nineteenth century, women's breasts were not necessarily considered overtly sexual. Upper-class women maintained youthful-looking breasts by having their children breastfed by wet nurses, and often displayed their breasts openly as a sign of virtue, beauty, or wealth.^[1] Images of the nude breast proliferated in art and sculpture during this period.

In the contemporary Western world, cultural norms of female modesty dictate that girls should begin to conceal their nipples and areolae before the onset of puberty and cover the lower portion of their breasts in public thereafter. Although displays of cleavage are considered acceptable in many contexts, toplessness is generally regarded as partial nudity, and the very term "topless" often carries the connotation of sexual licentiousness or deliberate defiance of cultural taboos. Although female toplessness is accepted in appropriate gender-segregated areas such as women's changing rooms or communal showers, or in certain specific zones such as topless beaches (see below), it is now rare in the Western world for women to expose their breasts publicly. Toplessness is mostly confined to occasional acts of exhibitionism or nude protest.

By contrast, many indigenous, non-Western cultures do not regard female breast exposure as indecent, and some consider it culturally normative for both males and females to go without clothing on their torsos. Female toplessness can also be an important aspect of indigenous communities' cultural celebrations. Cross-cultural conflict has taken place on the issue, such as when Australian police banned members of the Papunya community in 2004 from using a public park in the city of Alice Springs to practice a traditional Aboriginal dance that featured topless women.^[2]

Legal issues in the Western world

Some Western jurisdictions consider the public display of women's breasts to be indecent exposure. However, in response to campaigns promoting the health benefits of breast milk, many jurisdictions now expressly permit public breastfeeding.^[3] In the United States, U.S. Public Law 106-58 Sec. 647. enacted in 1999, specifically provides that "a woman may breastfeed her child at any location in a Federal building or on Federal property, if the woman and her child are otherwise authorized to be present at the location."

In the United States and Canada, a small topfree equality movement has grown to protest legal proscriptions on female toplessness, arguing that such laws are sexually discriminatory since they allow men to expose their chests and nipples while denying women the same privilege. In some cases, these protesters have managed to overturn legal prohibitions on female toplessness, such as when activist Gwen Jacob was acquitted in 1996 by the Ontario Court of Appeals after she had been arrested for walking topless on a street in Guelph, Ontario.

While images of topless women are increasingly prevalent in Western magazines and film, images of topless girls under the age of eighteen years are controversial, and are potentially considered child pornography in some jurisdictions. Photographers such as Jock Sturges and Bill Henson, whose work regularly features images of topless adolescent girls, have been prosecuted or been embroiled in controversy because of these depictions.^[4] Even insinuated toplessness by minors can cause controversy.

Topless beaches

Two women on a topless beach

In the mid-1960s, led by movie starlets and models in Cannes and Saint-Tropez, women began to remove their bikini tops while sunbathing on the beaches of the French Riviera. The practice slowly gained acceptance throughout liberal societies in the West, many of which now permit topless sunbathing on some or all of their beaches, either through legal statute or by custom. A topless beach differs from a nude beach or naturist beach in that beachgoers of both sexes will keep their genital area covered. Additionally, there is no obligation for a woman to go topless if she does not feel comfortable doing so. Women who sunbathe topless do not necessarily consider themselves to be nudists.

Topless beaches are especially common in Europe and Australia, where they are mostly not considered to be controversial. An academic study conducted in the mid-1990s found that 88 percent of Australian university students, of both genders, considered it socially acceptable for women to remove their tops on public beaches, even though the majority disapproved of female toplessness in other contexts, such as public parks.^[5] In the United States, which is generally more disapproving of female toplessness than Europe or Australia, topless sunbathing is permitted at specifically designated beaches such as South Beach in Florida and Black's Beach in San Diego.

Topless sunbathing is sometimes permitted in contexts other than beaches. Many resort hotels now allow topless sunbathing at their swimming pools, and some cruise ships offer adult-only decks on which women may remove their tops. At the Kenwood Ladies' Bathing Pond in London's Hampstead Heath, the Greater London Council has permitted topless sunbathing and swimming since 1976, although men are not allowed to enter the bathing area.^[6]

Western women can find themselves in legal trouble for sunbathing topless in countries with traditionally conservative values. In July 2008, police in the Muslim city-state of Dubai arrested 79 Western tourists for offenses including topless sunbathing. The arrests were part of a police crackdown on indecent behavior after two British tourists were allegedly found to have engaged in public sexual intercourse on the Jumeirah beach.^[7] Signs have now been erected in English, Arabic, and other languages warning women not to remove their tops or to change clothes in public on Dubai's beaches. Police have warned that violators could face criminal prosecution.^[8]

Entertainment and media

In many Western cultures, female toplessness is regularly featured in magazines, calendars, and other print media. In the United Kingdom, following a tradition established by The Sun in 1970, several mainstream tabloid newspapers feature topless female models on their third page, known as Page Three girls.

Female toplessness is also often featured in mainstream film. Many popular and acclaimed actresses, such as Gwyneth Paltrow, Keira Knightley, and Nicole Kidman, have appeared topless in their films.

Adult-only venues may employ women to perform or pose topless as a form of commercial erotic entertainment. These can range from downmarket strip clubs to upmarket cabarets, such as the Moulin Rouge.

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Toplessness

• Handbra
• Sociology of clothing

References