Topless is More

A Go Topless event

Topless Equality Hawaii spokesperson Kyllie

Topless is more but naturism is most. Those of you who follow me on Twitter know that I often use those phrases, with hashtags, when I post something referring to topless women, often celebrities caught on the beach, such as Celebrity Naturist of the Year Heidi Klum.
As a naturist, I look at topless as a halfway house. It's a stage between textile and naturism, a first step for women in the right direction, but one that often remains without its local conclusion, the conversion to naturism.
The reason that topless is the subject of a posting is of course the fact that next Sunday, August 25, has been proclaimed Go Topless Day by activists in the United States. In some locations, the day was held earlier, yesterday, August 17.
Their basic demand is topless equality or topfreedom, basically the right of women to be or go topless wherever and whenever men can.
Until now, most European countries and beaches are basically topless, i.e. if you're a woman - or man - and you want to be topless, you can do so. The problem lies of course with swimming pools and parks, and with beaches outside of Europe. In other continents, Asia, Africa, and even the Americas, women can still run into trouble, even when all they do is lie flat on their belly on a beach.
As a naturist, of course I believe that everybody, man or woman, should be allowed to wear or not wear the amount of clothing he or she is comfortable with in any place. Unfortunately, our societies are still too 'gymnophobe' or afraid of nudity, even when non-sexual. I know it's unrealistic to expect that in the near future, women will be allowed to walk topless around shopping streets, supermarkets and parks in the world's major cities, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't try, and the beaches are of course the ideal starting point.
That's why groups of women have stood up, especially in the United States, to promote the cause of topless equality and topless freedom. Some women have already paid dearly for their insistence on non-sexual partial nudity by being forced into prison.
Fortunately, that has not scared other women from taking up the cause, with as a result the August 25, 2013 Go Topless Day, which is to be marked in several parts of the US, including Venice, California, and Boston.
The organization behind the event is Go Topless (http://gotopless.org), a group with a small religion as its background, the Raelites. Having grown up in a European country with one mainstream religion, I'm always rather suspicious of small sects or cults. In my country, people are either Catholic or non-believers, and other groups such as Jehovah's Witnesses, Scientologists and Mormons are being rather looked at with suspicion. If you remain aware that the creed of Rael might not be for you, then Go Topless is still a movement worth respecting.
The other movement I discovered is Topless Equality (http://toplessequality.com), which fights for the same cause and has appointed regional representatives, including in Hawaii. They have no religious agenda which could scare off some potential supporters.
No review of the topless world could be complete without a quick mention of the Outdoor Co-Ed Topless Pulp Fiction Appreciation Society (http://coedtoplesspulpfiction.wordpress.com, and yes, that name is far too long to memorize so I had to look at a piece of paper), a group of women who sit in New York parks to read Elmore Leonard novels while not wearing tops.
All these groups have their own ways of bringing the topless into daily lives, and while as a naturist, I would like to see those women take the final step and move on to naturism, I still believe that without being true naturists, they are making a positive contribution to the cause of non-sexual public nudity and therefore deserve our support.
See you on August 25, as topless as possible.
Pictures: on the left, a Go Topless event, on the right Topless Equality Hawaii representative Kyllie.

2 Breasts and 2 Guns

'The most gratuitous nude scene by a major actress since Halle Berry in Swordfish.' Not my words, but those of an article on the Yahoo! US site about Paula Patton in the new cop movie '2 Guns.'
Do you remember that Halle Berry scene? Swordfish was a none-too-memorable action movie with Hugh Jackman forced to work as a hacker for an evil John Travolta and his ambiguous sidekick Halle Berry. At one point, Halle is sitting by a pool reading a publication when Hugh comes up to her to ask something. It's only when she lowers the magazine to reply, that we - and Hugh - see she's actually topless. Big deal - since sitting topless by a pool or a beach should be the rule rather than the exception.
The latest news item was caused by the movie '2 Guns' - a violent buddy cop movie reportedly saved by the charming banter of Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg. A major talking point about the movie - which I haven't seen yet - is that Paula Patton appears topless after a love scene with Denzel's character.
The star of Deja Vu and Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol went to the media to explain that she was actually the originator of the idea for the topless scene. She told an interview that it was completely unnatural for a man and a woman who have been making love to wake up afterward and be dressed. And you know what? I completely agree.
There have been many movies and television series where I thought - how come these two people have been in bed together, we know that they were not just sleeping, but actually making love, but still, when they wake up, the man is wearing shorts and the woman has panties on and a T-shirt or a blouse or something? I'm not saying there should be full-frontal nudity everywhere, but it's just not natural to have a scene like that. Paula Patton is absolutely right. The 'controversy' - which is a bit too much of a grand word - will no doubt fuel interest in the movie, so apart from action fans, people who 'want to see Paula Patton naked' will also go.
I could also talk about the debate between nudity and guns in movies. An often heard complaint from naturists is that US movies are so generous in showing violence against people but scare away from showing naked bodies. According to reviews, '2 Guns' has too much of the former and some of the latter. But that's a debate for another time.
For the article where Paula Patton says 'It was my idea,' look here: http://yhoo.it/1ehHEik
For the Halle Berry scene in Swordfish, look here: http://yhoo.it/1bYqcDH