- "Topless" redirects here. For the Miles Tredinnick play, see Topless (stage play). This article deals with topless females. For males, see Barechestedness.
Women wearing a topless dress at a party in New York City (2010)
Toplessness refers to the state in which the breasts, areolae, and nipples of a woman or post-pubescent girl are exposed, especially in a public venue or in a visual medium.
Social conventions about covering the female breasts have differed widely throughout history and across cultures. While exposed breasts were (and are) a norm in many indigenous societies, most cultures in the world today have informal and formal dress codes, legal statutes, or religious teachings that require females to cover their breasts in public from adolescence onward. Contemporary Western cultures permit displays of cleavage in appropriate social contexts, but exposing the areolae and nipples is usually regarded as immodest and is sometimes prosecuted as indecent exposure. The topfreedom movement challenges laws that forbid females to go topless in places where males are permitted to be barechested, arguing that such restrictions amount to gender discrimination.
Toplessness is less controversial in entertainment, fashion, and the arts than it is in society as a whole, especially when it is perceived to have artistic merit. From early prehistoric art to the present day, women have been depicted topless in visual media from painting and sculpture to film and photography. In contemporary mainstream cinema, Academy Award–winning actresses such as Halle Berry, Kate Winslet, and Nicole Kidman have appeared topless in their films. Cabaret and burlesque shows, as well as haute couture fashion shows and pictorials, frequently include toplessness.
Societies tend to take a stricter line when women expose their breasts for the express purpose of sexual arousal. When toplessness is used as a form of adult entertainment in venues such as strip clubs, or as an aspect of softcore pornography, it is often viewed as indecent and subjected to more stringent government regulations or prohibitions.
Public toplessness may occasionally be considered acceptable, depending on location and context. Many jurisdictions legally protect women's right to breastfeed in public or exempt breastfeeding from public indecency laws. In many parts of Europe and Australia, as well as at many resort destinations around the world, it has become culturally and often legally acceptable for women to sunbathe topless on beaches. Topless sunbathing may also be permitted in non-beach areas, such as some European parks and lakes, and swimming pools at some hotels.
The word "topless" usually refers to a woman whose breasts are exposed to public view, specifically including her aerolae and nipples. It can describe a woman who appears, poses, or performs with her breasts exposed, such as a "topless model" or "topless dancer," or to an activity undertaken while not wearing a top, such as "topless sunbathing." It may indicate a designated location where one might expect to find women not wearing tops, such as a "topless beach" or "topless bar." It can also be used to describe a garment that is specifically designed to reveal the breasts, such as the "topless swimsuit" (also known as the monokini) designed by Rudi Gernreich in the 1960s.[1]
The word "topless" may carry sexual or exhibitionist connotations. Because of this, advocates of women's legal right to uncover their breasts wherever men may go bare-chested have adopted the alternative term "topfree", which is not perceived to have these connotations.[2]
Two bathing Balinese women (c.1950)
Two Wichita Native Americans in summer dress (1870)
Attitudes towards toplessness have varied considerably across cultures and over time. The lack of female clothing above the waist was the norm in traditional cultures of North America, Africa, Australia and the Pacific Islands until the arrival of Christian missionaries,[3] and it continues to be the norm and acceptable in many indigenous cultures today. The practice was also the norm in various Asian cultures before Muslim expansion in the 13th and 14th centuries.[4] Upper-class women had been clothed fully, while other women had gone topless in public at much parts of North India including Maharashtra and Ganges basin before the Muslim conquest of India.[5][6] Malayalam people of Kerala had forced the women other than Brahmins and Kshatriya class to strip to waist in public until 1858 when the Kingdom of Travancore granted all women the right to cover their breasts in public.[7] Toplessness was the norm for women in several indigenous peoples of South India, including the Tamils along the Coromandel coast, Tiyan and other peoples on the Malabar coast, Kadar of Cochin Island, Toda, Nayar, Cheruman (Pulayar), Kuruba, Koraga, Nicobarese, and the Uriya until the 19th century or early 20th century.[8]
In Thailand, the government of Field Marshal Plaek Pibulsonggram issued a series of cultural standards between 1939 and 1942. Mandate 10 issued on September 8, 1941 instructed Thai people to not appear in public places "without being appropriately dressed". Inappropriate dress included "wearing no shirt or wearing a wraparound cloth."[9][10] Before the westernization of dress, Thai women were depicted both fully clothed and topless in public. Until the early 20th century, women from northern Thailand wore a long tube-skirt (Pha-Sin), tied high above their waist and below their breasts, which were uncovered.[11] In the late 19th century the influence of missionaries and modernization under King Chulalongkorn encouraged local women to cover their breasts with blouses.
In Laos, Henri Mouhot took a picture in 1858 of Laotian women depicting virgins with clothed breasts and married women who revealed whole breasts in public, because the breast functioning as breastfeeding was considered to be desexed.[12]
In the Indonesian region, toplessness was the norm among the Dayak, Javanese, and the Balinese people of Indonesia before the introduction of Islam and contact with Western cultures. In Javanese and Balinese societies, women worked or rested comfortably topless. Among the Dayak, only big breasted women or married women with sagging breasts cover their breasts because they interfere with their work.[8][clarification needed]
In most Middle Eastern countries, toplessness has not been socially accepted since at least the early beginning of Islam (7th century), because of Islamic standards for female modesty. However, toplessness was the norm in earlier cultures within Arabia, Egypt, Assyria and Mesopotamia. Tunisia and Egypt are an exception among Arabic states, allowing foreign tourists to swim topless on private beaches.[13]
In the Himba society of northern Namibia, the social norm is for women to be bare-breasted. In many indigenous, non-Western cultures it is acceptable for both men and women to be bare chested. Female toplessness can also constitute an important aspect of indigenous cultural celebrations. For example, in the annual Reed Dance festival mature girls between the ages of 16 and 20 dance topless before the Zulu king.[14] However, this can lead to cross-cultural and legal conflict. During 2004, Australian police banned members of the Papunya community from using a public park in the city of Alice Springs to practice a traditional Aboriginal dance that included topless women.[15]
In much of contemporary Western society, it is not culturally acceptable for women to expose their nipples and aerola in public. Women who go topless may be cited for indeceny or lewdness. While women do not generally regard their own breasts as indecent, they are reluctant to forgo wearing a top in public. There are notable exceptions at specific cultural events, like Mardi Gras in New Orleans and Carnaval in Rio de Janeiro. In most Western societies, once girls enter adolescence, they are expected to behave modestly and cover their breasts in public.
Agnès Sorel, known to appear topless in the French court, was the model for
Virgin and Child Surrounded by Angels, by
Jean Fouquet (c.1450)
In many European societies between the Renaissance and the 19th century, exposed breasts were more acceptable than they are today, with a woman's bared legs, ankles or shoulders being considered to be more risqué than her exposed breasts.[16] As a result of the Renaissance, many artists were strongly influenced by classical Greek styles and culture,[17] and images of nude and semi-nude subjects in many forms proliferated in art, sculpture and architecture of the period.[17] In aristocratic and upper-class circles the display of breasts also invoked associations with classical Greek nude sculptures and art and was at times regarded as a status symbol, as a sign of beauty, wealth or social position. To maintain youthful-looking bosoms women could employ wet nurses to breastfeed their children.[18]
Breast-baring female fashions have been traced to 15th-century courtesan Agnès Sorel, mistress to Charles VII of France, whose gowns in the French court sometimes exposed one or both of her breasts. (Jean Fouquet's portrayal of the Virgin Mary with her left breast uncovered is believed to have taken Sorel as a model.) Aristocratic women sought to immortalise their breasts in paint, as in the case of Simonetta Vespucci, whose portrait with exposed breasts was painted by Piero di Cosimo in c.1480. During the 16th century, women's fashions displaying their breasts were common in society, from Queens to common prostitutes, and emulated by all classes.[19]
Similar fashions became popular in England during the 17th century when they were worn by Queen Mary II and by Henrietta Maria, wife of Charles I of England, for whom architect Inigo Jones designed a masque costume that fully revealed both of her breasts.[17]
In a survey of 190 different societies, researches found very few associated exposed breasts with sexuality and insisted on women concealing their breasts.[20] In Europe, the practice of concealing body parts with bathing suits was first challenged after World War II by the German nudist movement.[20]
From the mid-19th century onward, however, social attitudes shifted to require women's breasts to be covered in public, especially in the United States. This attitude has been reflected to a more limited degree in the arts. In the 1930s, Hollywood films' portrayals of nude or scantily-clad women was brought to end by the implementation of the Hays Code.
Although some social attitudes began to soften during the late 1960s, contemporary Western societies still generally view toplessness unfavorably. During a short period in 1964, "topless" dress designs appeared at fashion shows, but those who wore the dresses in public found themselves arrested on indecency charges.[21] However, toplessness has come to be a feature in contemporary haute couture fashion shows.
In contemporary society, the extent to which a woman may expose her breasts depends on social and cultural context. Women's swimsuits and bikinis commonly reveal the tops and sides of the breasts. Displaying cleavage is considered permissible in many settings, and is even a sign of elegance and sophistication on many formal social occasions, but it may be prohibited by dress codes in settings such as workplaces and schools, where sexualized displays of the female breast may be considered inappropriate. Showing the nipples or aerola is almost always considered partial nudity and sexually appealing. Women and girls may consider toplessness acceptable in gender segregated areas such as changing rooms and dormitories, and toplessness may be permitted in specific mixed-gender zones such as topless beaches (see below), but exposing female nipples and aerola is mostly confined to occasional acts of exhibitionism or protest.
A wide-ranging review of 190 different societies during 1951 found that few insisted that women conceal their breasts. In Europe and Australia, topless swimming and sunbathing on public beaches has become socially acceptable. In 1994-95, Australian researchers asked 118 college-age students to rate the behavior of women who go topless on an 8 point scale, ranging from "Women should have the same right to topless as men" to "Topless women are exhibitionists". They found that 88% of Australian university students of either gender considered it acceptable for women to go topless on public beaches, although they felt that women exposing their breasts in other contexts, such as public parks, was inappropriate.[20][22] They did not find a correlation between exposed breasts and sexuality in social situations. A more recent study of 116 college-age women in Australia found that those who had gone topless were more accepting of toplessness generally, more sexual, and had higher self-esteem and higher body image.[20]
A online poll found that 99% of Germans and 93% of Britons were accepting of toplessness on a beach, compared to 92% of Swedes, 91% of Italians, and 67% of Russians.[23] In Canada, a poll in 1992 found that 38% favored general female public toplessness. Following that survey, several legal rulings in Canadian courts from 1996 to 2000 made public toplessness legal, but very few women take advantage of the rulings.[24]
Some cultures have even begun to expand social prohibitions on female toplessness to prepubescent and even infant girls. This trend toward covering the female nipple from infancy onward is particularly noticeable in the United States, Eastern Asia and the Middle East, but is much less common in Europe.[25]
Around the world, it is common for women to breastfeed in public.[26] In the United States during the 1990s and later, there were a number of legal incidents where women were harassed or cited for exposing their breasts while breastfeeding in public. A public backlash spurred legislators in most states to specifically legalize public breastfeeding. The federal government passed a similar law in 1999[27] that 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 many indigenous, non-Western cultures it is completely acceptable for both men and women to not cover their torsos. Female toplessness can also constitute an important aspect of indigenous cultural celebrations. However, this can lead to cross-cultural and legal conflict. During 2004, Australian police banned members of the Papunya community from using a public park in the city of Alice Springs to practice a traditional Aboriginal dance that included topless women.[15]
Many Western jurisdictions consider women who expose their nipples and areolae as immodest and in some instances may cite the woman for public lewdness, indecency, or disorderly conduct. Public toplessness is often subject to legal restrictions. The activist topfreedom movement has been successful in a few instances in persuading Federal courts to overturn some state laws on the basis of sex discrimination, arguing that a woman should be free to expose her chest in any context in which a man can expose his. Successful cases include the District of Columbia 1986; New York State (People v. Ramona Santorelli and Mary Lou Schloss)[28] 1992; Columbus, OH 1995; Moscow, Idaho 1998, Maine 1998, and Texas.[29][30][31] However, women in Texas appearing topless in public can be charged under public nuisance laws,[32] with the exception of Austin, the state capital, where some women sunbathe topless in Zilker Park, at various festivals, and at Hippie Hollow. Although explicitly illegal in Florida, topless bathing is tolerated on South Beach, along with a number of hotel pools in Miami Beach.[33] In Las Vegas, a number of hotels feature "European" pools that permit female toplessness.[34]
On July 19, 1991, a very hot and humid day, University of Guelph student Gwen Jacobs walked topless through downtown Guelph, Ontario, Canada. She was arrested for indecency but defended her act as a statement of equality. The Ontario court of appeals ruled in 1996 that women who are topless in public are not indecent or displaying sexual behaviour as defined by the Canadian criminal code.[35] Saskatchewan made a similar ruling in 1998 and as did the courts in British Columbia in 2000.[24]
In March 2008, after a year-long campaign by a pressure group, the Topless Front, Copenhagen's Culture and Leisure Committee voted to approve topless bathing by women.[36] Also in 2008, the city council in Vancouver, British Columbia, location of the World Naked Bike Ride, gave women the right to go topless in public, not solely at swimming pools and beaches.[37]
In 2008, Jill Coccaro, aka Phoenix Feeley,[38] of New York City visited the beach at Spring Lake, New Jersey. She did not wear a top and was arrested when she refused to cover up. She was given a T-shirt but left the police department and took it off, and was arrested again.[38] She was charged with violating a borough ordinance prohibiting public nudity. She appealed the conviction to the state appeals court, and the two-judge panel—one man, one woman—ruled against her.[38] "Restrictions on the exposure of the female breast are supported by the important governmental interest in safeguarding the public’s moral sensibilities." The court cited a 2001 case as precedent, State of New Jersey v. Arlene Vogt.[39] Vogt was fined when she appeared on Higbee Beach in Cape May County, New Jersey without a shirt in 2001.[40] Feeley had ben arrested in 2005 in New York City police for walking down a street without wearing a shirt. She sued the city for violating a ruling[41] in which New York State’s Supreme Court had declared that women can go topless in public. The city finally paid $29,000 to settle her law suit.[39] On August 23, 2011, a number of men and women celebrated Go Topless Day in New York City's Central Park by going shirtless.[42]
In 2009, members of the Swedish feminist organization Bara Bröst (Just Breast or Bare Breast) went topless at the city pools in Malmö, Sweden. This triggered a vote by the city's sports and recreation committee, which backed away from requiring women to wear a top, only stipulating that everyone must wear a swimsuit. Their ruling allows women in Sweden to swim topless in Malmö's public swimming pools[43][44] "We don’t decide what men should do with their torso, why then do women have to listen to the men. Moreover, many men have larger breasts than women", the committee chair said.[45]
In New York City, the Outdoor Co-ed Topless Pulp Fiction Appreciation Society has organized regular gatherings of women who read books in public while topless.[46]
Because toplessness often generates controversy in the media, some female political demonstrators have deliberately exposed their breasts in public to draw attention to their protest. In January 2012, the Ukrainian protest group FEMEN attracted worldwide media attention after some members staged a topless protest at the World Economic Forum in Davos.[47]
GoTopless.org, a U.S. organization, claims that women have the same constitutional right to be bare chested in public places as men. They further claim constitutional equality between men and women on being topless in public. They have successfully joined in legal challenges that have resulted in laws permitting women to expose their breasts just as men do in New York State and in Ontario, Canada. In 2009, they used 26 August (Women's Equality Day), as a day of national protest.[48]
Woman wearing Rudi Gernreich's original monokini design
Toplessness is most commonly encountered at the beach, either as part of a swimming activity or sunbathing. Sunbathing and a tanned skin became increasing popular after the 1920s. In the 1940s, advertisements started appearing in women’s magazines which encouraged sunbathing. The amount of skin covered by swimsuits began to lessen and the bikini was first introduced in 1946. In the 1950s, many people used baby oil as a method to accelerate a tan, while in the latter part of the 1950s silver metallic ultraviolet reflectors were commonly used to improve tanning. However, visible tan lines were not popular and which many people regarded as un-aesthetic and embarrassing. Women made an effort to avoid creating tan lines, such as undoing the back strap when lying prone, or removing shoulder straps, besides wearing swimsuits which covered less area than normal clothing.[citation needed] In other situations the social norm was for women to wear a swimsuit when bathing in a public place, though many women did not feel comfortable in wet swimsuits. Some women questioned the reason for the wearing of swimsuits, though few felt confident enough to defy the convention and actually dispensed with them, though swimsuits became increasingly abbreviated and form fitting.[citation needed] Some women sunbathed in their backyards, where they could tan topless or less.
In 1964, fashion designer Rudi Gernreich designed the first topless swimsuit, which he called the "monokini" in the US.[49] The design was first printed by Look magazine.[50] Gernreich's monokini looked like a one-piece swimsuit suspended from two halter straps in the cleavage of bared breasts. It had only two small straps over the shoulders, leaving the breasts bare. Despite the reaction of fashion critics and church officials, shoppers purchased the monokini in record numbers that summer, though very few monokinis were ever worn in public. By the end of the season, Gernreich had sold 3000 swimsuits at $24 a piece, which meant a tidy profit for such a minuscule amount of fabric.[51] The novelty of the design caught significant attention, and San Francisco Chronicle featured a woman in a monokini with her exposed breasts clearly visible on its first page.[52] A photograph of Peggy Moffitt, the famous model for the suit, appeared in Women's Wear Daily, Life and numerous other publications.[53]
The topless swimsuit was not successful in the United States where women never wore it on beaches.[54] The Soviet government called it "barbarism" and a sign of social "decay". The New York City Police Department was strictly instructed to arrest any woman wearing a swimsuit by the commissioner of parks.[52] In Chicago, a 19-year-old female beachgoer was fined US$100 for wearing a topless swimsuit on a public beach.[52] Copious coverage of the event helped to send the image of exposed breasts across the world. Women's clubs and the church were particularly active in their condemnation.[citation needed] In Italy and Spain, the Catholic Church warned against the topless fashion.[55] Even in Saint-Tropez, French Riviera, it was banned.[52] Jean-Luc Godard, a founding mover of French New Wave cinema, incorporated a shot of a woman in a topless swimsuit on the Riviera into his film A Married Woman, but it was edited out by the censors.[56]
In the mid-1960s, while Gernreich was promoting his monokini, and before the rise of woman's liberation, with its call for women to retake control of their bodies, women achieved the same result (at a lower cost) by simply removing their bikini tops. The first women to publicly defy the law and convention were movie starlets and models at Cannes and Saint-Tropez on the French Riviera. These acts achieved worldwide publicity and these resorts became a mecca for women who wanted to sunbathe topless.[citation needed]
A number of Caribbean locations, especially those that were formerly French and Dutch colonies, permit nude and topless sunbathing, like the French West Indies islands of St. Barths, Guadeloupe, Martinique, and St. Maarten.[57]
Sunbathing topless slowly spread to many Western countries throughout Europe and Australia, many of which now allow topless sunbathing on some or all of their beaches, either through legal statute or by generally accepted practice. A topless, or top-optional, beach differs from a nude beach in that beach goers of both sexes are required to keep their genital area covered, although females have the option to remove their tops without fearing legal prosecution or official harassment. Women who sunbathe topless do not necessarily consider themselves to be nudists.[citation needed]
In the South Pacific, while toplessness was relatively common prior to contact with Western society, it is less common today. On the French territory of Moorea, toplessness is common.[58]
However, media reports in recent years note that the number of women sunbathing topless on French beaches has markedly declined, and that younger French women have become more disapproving of exposing breasts in public.[59] Even in some parts of Europe generally considered to have a liberal attitude towards toplessness, such as Sweden, surveys show there is considerable resistance to its acceptance.[60]
The French have traditionally been relaxed with nudity and toplessness in entertainment, and dancers and actresses performed topless during the 1910s and beyond in musical theater and cinema. Toplessness in entertainment has survived to this day at the Folies Bergère and the Moulin Rouge.
In many Western cultures today, images of topless women are regularly featured in magazines, calendars, and other print media. In the United Kingdom, following a tradition established by the British newspaper The Sun in 1970, several mainstream tabloid newspapers feature topless female models on their third page, known as Page Three girls. Although 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 depicts topless and naked adolescent girls, have been prosecuted or been embroiled in controversy because of these images.[61] Even insinuated toplessness by minors can cause controversy.
Women are also at times employed in adult-only venues to perform or pose topless in forms of commercial erotic entertainment. Such venues can range from downmarket strip clubs and topless bars to upmarket cabarets, such as the Moulin Rouge. Topless entertainment may also include competitions such as wet T-shirt contests in which women display their breasts through translucent wet fabric—and may end up removing their T-shirts in front of the audience.
Female toplessness has also become somewhat common during Mardi Gras in New Orleans[62] during which women "flash" (briefly expose) their breasts in return for strings of plastic beads,[63] and at Carnaval in Rio de Janeiro, where floats occasionally feature topless women.[64]
In the 1920s, toplessness was featured in some Hollywood silent films as well as on the stage, though not without objections from various groups, and several jurisdictions in the United States set up film censorship boards to censor films. In the 1930s, the Hays Code brought an end to nudity in all its forms, including toplessness, in Hollywood films. Social and official attitudes to toplessness have eased since those days and the Code came under repeated challenge in the 1950s and 60s, and had to be abandoned. Women now appear topless in mainstream cinema, although usually somewhat briefly. A notable exception was Rapa Nui which featured repeated scenes of bare-breasted native women. Film critic Roger Ebert said the producers got away with ongoing toplessness because of the women's brown skin:
Rapa Nui slips through the National Geographic Loophole. This is the Hollywood convention which teaches us that brown breasts are not as sinful as white ones, and so while it may be evil to gaze upon a blond Playboy centerfold and feel lust in our hearts, it is educational to watch Polynesian maidens frolicking topless in the surf. This isn't sex; it's geography.[65]
It has become increasingly common for actresses to appear topless in movies. Actresses who have appeared topless include Jane Fonda, (Coming Home, 1978), Julie Andrews (S.O.B., 1981), Patsy Kensit (Lethal Weapon II, 1989), Kate Winslet (Titanic, 1997), Gwyneth Paltrow (Shakespeare in Love, 1998), Reese Witherspoon (Twilight, 1998), Rene Russo (The Thomas Crown Affair, 1999), Katie Holmes (The Gift, 2000), Rhona Mitra in (Hollow Man, 2000), and Halle Berry (Swordfish, 2001). Many more have appeared nude. Toplessness in film is no longer considered controversial. In an interview in March 2007, Halle Berry said that her toplessness in Swordfish was "gratuitous" to the movie, but that she needed to do the scene to get over her fear of nudity, and that it was the best thing she did for her career. Having overcome her inhibitions, she went on to a role in Monster's Ball, which included a nude scene and which won her an Oscar for best actress.[66] Some actresses prefer not to expose their breasts and use a body double.[67][68]
In many European societies as a result of the Renaissance many artists were strongly influenced by classical Greek styles and culture.[17] As a result, images of nude and semi-nude subjects in many forms proliferated in art and sculpture.
During the Victorian era, French Orientalist painters such as Jean-Léon Gérôme presented an idealized depiction of female toplessness in Muslim harem baths,[69] while Eugène Delacroix, a French romantic artist, invoked images of liberty as a topless woman.
From the mid-19th century onward, there was a shift in social attitudes in the West, especially in the United States, towards the prohibition of the exposure of women's breasts. This has been reflected to a more limited degree in the arts.[citation needed]
The artifacts in the Ancient City Museum located in the Bangkok neighbourhood depict Thai women topless. The Ramakien Mural representing the epic lives of the Thai people found at the Wat Phra Kaew Temple depict Thai women wearing only a skirt in public.
In European pre-historic societies, sculptures of female figures with pronounced or highly exaggerated breasts were common. A typical example is the so-called Venus of Willendorf, one of many Paleolithic Venus figurines with ample hips and bosom. Artifacts such as bowls, rock carvings and sacred statues with breasts have been recorded from 15,000 BC up to late antiquity all across Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. Many female deities representing love and fertility were associated with breasts and breast milk. Figures of the Phoenician goddess Astarte were represented as pillars studded with breasts. Isis, an Egyptian goddess who represented, among many other things, ideal motherhood, was often portrayed as suckling pharaohs, thereby confirming their divine status as rulers. Even certain male deities representing regeneration and fertility were occasionally depicted with breast-like appendices, such as the river god Hapy who was considered to be responsible for the annual overflowing of the Nile. Female breasts were also prominent in the Minoan civilization in the form of the famous Snake Goddess statuettes. In Ancient Greece there were several cults worshiping the "Kourotrophos", the suckling mother, represented by goddesses such as Gaia, Hera and Artemis. The worship of deities symbolized by the female breast in Greece became less common during the first millennium. The popular adoration of female goddesses decreased significantly during the rise of the Greek city states, a legacy which was passed on to the later Roman Empire.[70]
During the middle of the first millennium BC, Greek culture experienced a gradual change in the perception of female breasts. Women in art were covered in clothing from the neck down, including female goddesses like Athena, the patron of Athens who represented heroic endeavor. There were exceptions: Aphrodite, the goddess of love, was more frequently portrayed fully nude, though in postures that were intended to portray shyness or modesty, a portrayal that has been compared to modern pin-ups by historian Marilyn Yalom.[71] Although nude men were depicted standing upright, most depictions of female nudity in Greek art occurred "usually with drapery near at hand and with a forward-bending, self-protecting posture".[72] A popular legend at the time was of the Amazons, a tribe of fierce female warriors who socialized with men only for procreation and even removed one breast to become better warriors. The legend was a popular motif in art during Greek and Roman antiquity and served as an antithetical cautionary tale.
- Notes
- ^ "Topless Swimsuits and Dresses". BBC. http://bbc.adactio.com/cult/ilove/years/1964/fashion1.shtml.
- ^ "Busting Out: The Right to Bare It All". Ethos Magazine. http://ethosmagonline.com/archives/6654.
- ^ Nida, Eugene A. (1954). "Customs and Cultures, Anthropology for Christian Missions". New York: Harper & Brothers. http://christianbreastsnbuns.groups.vox.com/library/post/6a00e398d17d33000200e398d8bc4f0005.html.
- ^ Fernando, Romesh (15 November 1992). "The Garb of Innocence: A Time of Toplessness". http://livingheritage.org/toplessness.htm. Retrieved 14 January 2010.
- ^ Hyecho. "Wang ocheonchukguk jeon" of AD.727
- ^ A. L. Bhasham. "The Wonder That Was India"
- ^ W. Crooke. "Nudity in India in Custom and Ritual", Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute. 1919. p.239f
- ^ a b Hans Peter Duerr. "Der Mythos vom Zivilisationsprozeß 4. Der erotische Leib"
- ^ The Royal Gazette, Vol. 58, Page 113. January 21, B.E. 2484 (C.E. 1941). Retrieved on June 4, 2010.
- ^ M. Smith. Physician at the Court of Siam (1947) p.79 cited in Note 3 of Chapter: Southeast Asia in "Der erotische Leib"
- ^ "Traditional Dress in Chiang Mai". http://www.chiangmai1.com/chiang_mai/sub/traditional_dress.shtml.
- ^ M.H.Mouhot, "Travels in the Central parts of Indo-China, Cambodia and Laos" (1864)
- ^ Rovere, Elizabeth. "Culture and Tradition in the Arab Countries: American Returns Touched by the Land and the People". The Habiba Chaouch Foundation. http://www.habiba.org/culture.html.
- ^ Image of dancers at the Reed Dance festival 2011
- ^ a b "Aborigines' fury over topless ban". BBC NEWS. 27 February 2004. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3493408.stm.
- ^ C. Willett and Phillis Cunnington, The History of Underclothes. London: Faber & Faber, 1981. ISBN 978-0-486-27124-8.
- ^ a b c d Lucy Gent and Nigel Llewellyn, eds., Renaissance Bodies: The Human Figure in English Culture c. 1540–1660. London: Reaktion Books, 1990.
- ^ "French Caricature". University of Virginia Health System. http://www.hsl.virginia.edu/historical/artifacts/caricatures/fr6-wetnursing.cfm. Retrieved 13 January 2010.
- ^ "Historian Reveals Janet Jackson's 'Accidental' Exposing of Her Breast was the Height of Fashion in the 1600s". University of Warwick. 5 May 2004. Archived from the original on 3 August 2004. http://web.archive.org/web/20040803155530/http://www.newsandevents.warwick.ac.uk/index.cfm?page=pressrelease&id=1858.
- ^ a b c d Herold, E.S.; Corbesi, Bruna; Collins, John (1994). Corbesi, B., & Collins, J.. "Psychosocial aspects of female topless behavior on Australian beaches". Journal of Sex Research 31 (2): 133–142. DOI:10.1080/00224499409551740. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00224499409551740#preview.
- ^ "Sixties City – Bringing on back the good times". http://www.sixtiescity.com/Fashion/Fashion.shtm. Retrieved 2010-01-14.
- ^ Herold, E.S.; Corbesi, Bruna; Collins, John (1994). Corbesi, B., & Collins, J.. "Psychosocial aspects of female topless behavior on Australian beaches". Journal of Sex Research 31 (2): 133–142. DOI:10.1080/00224499409551740. http://books.google.com/books?id=EFPs55zfAKcC&lpg=PA483&ots=QzarGX6Q5A&dq=topless%20attitudes&pg=PA483#v=onepage&q=topless%20attitudes&f=false.
- ^ "UK travelers' attitudes to being topless on holiday". Essential Travel. 19 July 2010. http://www.essentialtravel.co.uk/news/travel-news-article7945.asp. Retrieved 9 March 2012.
- ^ a b Fischtein, Dayna S.; Edward S. Herold, Serge Desmarais (Fall-Winter, 2005). "Canadian attitudes toward female topless behaviour: a national survey". The Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality.
- ^ Allen, Anita L. (2006). "Disrobed: The Constitution of Modesty". HeinOnline. http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?collection=journals&handle=hein.journals/vllalr51&div=41&id=&page=. Retrieved 11 September 2009. "American laws compel sexually modest behavior... By contrast to Western Europe, topless sunbathing is rarely permitted in the United States"
- ^ Wiehl, Lis (22 June 2006). "Indecent Exposure". Fox News. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,200615,00.html.
- ^ "Treasury and General Government Appropriations Act, 2000". http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=106_cong_public_laws&docid=f:publ058.106. Retrieved 14 January 2010.
- ^ Zuckerman, Esther (June 9, 2011). "Yes, Ladies, You Can Walk Around the City Topless". Village Voice. http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2011/06/topless_bowery.php. Retrieved 8 February 2012.
- ^ "10 successful court cases". Gotopless.org. http://www.gotopless.org/news.php?item.3.1. Retrieved 26 August 2009.
- ^ Wiehl, Lis (22 June 2006). "Indecent Exposure". Fox News. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,200615,00.html. Retrieved 14 January 2010.
- ^ "GoTopless: 10 successful cases giving women the right to be topless in certain states or cities". http://www.gotopless.org/news.php?item.3.1. Retrieved 14 January 2010.
- ^ "Toplessness: A Right All Women Deserve". http://www.feministezine.com/feminist/modern/Toplessness-A-Right.html. Retrieved 14 January 2010.
- ^ Muench-Pace, Dawn. "Topless and Nude Beaches in Miami". About.com. http://gomiami.about.com/od/naturebeachesparks/a/ToplessBeaches.htm. Retrieved 9 March 2012.
- ^ Yancey, Kitty Bean (7 March 2012). "Las Vegas adult and topless pools open for the season". USA Today. http://travel.usatoday.com/destinations/lasvegas/story/2012-03-07/Las-Vegas-adult-and-topless-pools-open-for-the-season/53389122/1. Retrieved 7 March 2012.
- ^ "R. v. Jacob, 1996 CanLII 1119 (ON CA)". Canadian Legal Information Institute. http://canlii.ca/t/6j5g. Retrieved 9 March 2012.
- ^ "Victory for topless bathers". London: TheSun.com. 29 March 2008. http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/article977650.ece. Retrieved 14 June 2010.
- ^ "Is nudity the new normal?". TheSun.com. http://www.straight.com/article-150165/nudity-new-normal. Retrieved 14 June 2010.
- ^ a b c Durante, Thomas (September 15, 2011). "Breasts are a moral ‘threat’: Court rules topless sunbathing violates 'public sensibilities' Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2037604/Breasts-moral-threat-New-Jersey-rules-topless-sunbather-Phoenix-Feeley-bizarre-ruling.html#ixzz1m8TuWHaV". Daily Mail UK. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2037604/Breasts-moral-threat-New-Jersey-rules-topless-sunbather-Phoenix-Feeley-bizarre-ruling.html. Retrieved 12 February 2012.
- ^ a b Baxter, Christopher (September 15, 2011). "State appeals court rejects N.Y. woman's fight to go topless in public". New Jersey On-Line LLC. http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/09/state_appeals_court_rejects_ny.html. Retrieved 12 February 2012.
- ^ "NJ v Arlene Vogt". http://naturisteducation.org/Toni_Egbert_Library/State_Appellate_Courts/NJ_v_Arlene_Vogt/nj_v_arlene_vogt.html. Retrieved 12 February 2012.
- ^ "NY v Santorelli". Naturist Education Foundation. July 7, 1992. http://naturisteducation.org/Toni_Egbert_Library/State_Supreme_Courts/NY_v_Santorelli/ny_v_santorelli.html. Retrieved 12 February 2012.
- ^ "Photos (NSFW!): Topless Women Celebrate Right To Bare Breasts In NYC". Gothamist.com. April 24, 2011. http://gothamist.com/2011/08/22/photos_nsfw_topless_women_celebrate.php#photo-1. Retrieved 12 February 2012.
- ^ "Malmö win for topless Swedish bathers – The Local". Thelocal.se. http://www.thelocal.se/20250/. Retrieved 23 July 2009.
- ^ "Women fight for right to bare breasts – The Local". Thelocal.se. 29 March 2008. http://www.thelocal.se/8557/20070920/. Retrieved 14 June 2010.
- ^ "Swedish city legalizes topless bathing....at public swimming pools". Inquisitr.com. 27 June 2009. http://www.inquisitr.com/27519/swedish-city-legalizes-topless-bathingat-public-swimming-pools/. Retrieved 23 July 2009.
- ^ "Outdoor Co-ed Topless Pulp Fiction Appreciation Society". Huffington Post. Sep 7, 2011. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/07/co-ed-topless-pulp-fiction-reading-naked_n_952510.html. Retrieved 8 February 2012.
- ^ "Feminist group take topless protest to Davos". The Telegraph. 28 January 2012. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newsvideo/weirdnewsvideo/9046442/Feminist-group-take-topless-protest-to-Davos.html.
- ^ "National GoTopless Protest day". Gotopless.org. http://www.gotopless.org. Retrieved 26 August 2009.
- ^ "bio...Rudi Gernreich" (in German). http://gernreich.steirischerbst.at/pages/bio1.htm. Retrieved 14 January 2010. [dead link]
- ^ Shteir, Rachel (2004). Striptease. Oxford University Press. pp. 318–321. ISBN 0-19-512750-1.
- ^ "Bikini Styles: Monokini". Everything Bikini. http://www.everythingbikini.com/monokini.html. Retrieved 14 January 2010.
- ^ a b c d David Smith Allyn, Make love, not war, pages 23–29, Taylor & Francis, 2001, ISBN 0-415-92942-3
- ^ Walls, Jeannette (14 January 1991). High Fashion's Lowest Neckline. http://books.google.com/?id=fOkCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA21&dq=peggy+moffitt.
- ^ Menkes, Suzy (18 July 1993). "Runways: Remembrance of Thongs Past". The New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE7D81430F93BA25754C0A965958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=2.
- ^ Thesander, Marianne (1997). The Feminine Ideal. Reaktion Books. p. 187. ISBN 1-86189-004-4.
- ^ Monaco, James (2003). The New Wave. UNET 2 Corporation. p. 157. ISBN 0-9707039-5-3.
- ^ Curley, Robert. "Best Topless and Nude Beaches in the Caribbean". About.com. http://gocaribbean.about.com/od/bestcaribbeanbeaches/tp/Caribnudebeaches.htm. Retrieved 9 March 2012.
- ^ "About Moorea Island". Tahiti Sun Travel. http://mooreaisland.com/about.html. Retrieved 9 March 2012.
- ^ Crumley, Bruce (30 July 2009). "In France, a New Generation of Women Says Non to Topless Sunbathing". Time. http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1912685,00.html. Retrieved 23 January 2010.
- ^ "Topless är botten". Aftonbladet. http://www.aftonbladet.se/resa/solobad/article7501762.ab. Retrieved 20 November 2010.
- ^ Westwood, Matthew (23 May 2008). "PM says Henson photos have no artistic merit". The Australian. http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23745396-2702,00.html. Retrieved 14 January 2010.
- ^ "Mardi Gras FAQ". The Times-Picayune. http://blog.nola.com/mardi_gras_faq/index.html. Retrieved 17 June 2010.
- ^ "Mardi Gras New Orleans". The Times-Picayune. http://www.mardigrasneworleans.com/quartermardi.html. Retrieved 17 June 2010.
- ^ "The Samba Parade". Ipacom travel. http://www.ipanema.com/carnival/parade.htm. Retrieved 17 June 2010.
- ^ Ebert, Roger (September 30, 1994). "Rapa Nui". Chicago Sun Times. http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19940930/REVIEWS/409300301/1023. Retrieved 6 October 2009.
- ^ Jam Showbiz Movies, 22 March 2007: Halle Berry bares her soul
- ^ Harris, Richard Jackson (1 April 1999). A Cognitive Psychology of Mass Communication. Lawrence Erlbaum. ISBN 0-8058-3088-X. http://books.google.com/books?id=k9aK_znZpfsC&pg=PA44&lpg=PA44. Retrieved 11 September 2009. "... the use of body doubles, even for attractive stars, is common."
- ^ Carr, Rachael (3 August 2008). "I'm Kylie's bottom, Britney's boobs and Kristina's tummy ... but I still don't like my body". The Daily Mail (London). http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1040895/Im-Kylies-Britneys-boobs-Christinas-tummy---I-dont-like-body.html#. Retrieved 11 September 2009. "Forget plastic surgery and airbrushing, we celebrity body doubles are the big secret of the entertainment industry. Look hard enough and you'll find us everywhere – from pop videos and adverts to films and magazines. For the past three years, I've been working as a celebrity body double and have seen parts of my body 'stolen' by some of the world's biggest female stars."
- ^ "Toplessness defined". Bikini Science. http://www.bikiniscience.com/costumes/soutien-gorge_SS/topless_S/topless.html. Retrieved 14 January 2010.
- ^ Yalom (1998) pp. 9–16; see Eva Keuls (1993), Reign of the Phallus: Sexual Politics in Ancient Athens for a detailed study of male-dominant rule in ancient Greece.
- ^ Yalom (1998), p. 18.
- ^ Hollander (1993), p. 6.
Media related to 
