Photos by Courtney Pedroza
Women and men of all ages gathered Sunday at Steele Indian School Park for the third annual AZ Topless Day to protest decency laws that make it illegal for women to be shirtless in public but allow the same behavior for men.
The three-dozen protesters, most of whom were shirtless with only their nipples and areolas covered, marched in triple-digit temperatures down Central Avenue a few blocks past the Osborn light-rail station before circling back to the park.
People covered their breasts with everything from body paint and Band-Aids to duct-taped Xs and heart pasties. The male protesters were encouraged to cover their nipples as well in solidarity or even to wear shirts, to represent the behavior women are legally required to practice.
As the protesters marched down Central Avenue, their chants battled with the traffic to be heard.
“What do we want?” “Equality!” “When do we want it? “Now!”
“Free your breasts!” “Free your mind!”
“What do we want?” “Topless rights!” “For whom?” “Everyone!”
“All we are saying is give these tits a chance.”
Whatever wasn’t clear from their words was made apparent by how they were dressed, though. Many people driving by snapped pictures of the protesters on their cellphones or honked.
AZ Topless Day is just one of many events that were held around the world on Sunday to protest topless inequality. International GoTopless Day is held annually on the Sunday closest to Aug. 26, which is Women’s Equality Day and the anniversary of women in America being granted the right to vote. GoTopless was founded in 2007 by Rael, the spiritual leader of the Raelian Movement, which suggests that life on Earth was created by advanced extraterrestrial male and female scientists.
“Just like we had to demand the right to vote, we want to be able to go topless. Back in the 1920s, when ladies had to be like, ‘Hey, if I’m working this hard I have to be able to vote.’ If I’m working this hard, I have to be able to go topless just like the men,” said event organizer Beatrice Ngonmbii, a member of the Raelian Movement. “If I’m warm and I want to take my shirt off, I should be able to do it without getting arrested.”
Arizona’s decency law, Arizona Revised Statute 13-1402, says “a person commits indecent exposure if he or she exposes his or her genitals or anus or she exposes the areola or nipple of her breast or breasts.”
Local lawyer Ruth Carter, who was participating in Topless Day for the second year and who has also participated in the annual No Pants Light Rail Ride, said the difference between following the law and breaking it is “basically what two silver dollars cover.”
“As long as you have sufficient coverage, you’re fine. And really, I mean, you stick a string on this,” she said, gesturing toward the two silver star pasties she was wearing, “and it’s a bikini. … People wear less to the beach.”
Carter and Phoenix resident Erich Sweet discussed locations across the U.S. that permit or tolerate some form of public nudity. New York City and San Francisco were mentioned, as well as several cities and towns in Vermont, which does not have a law against public nudity.
Sweet, who participated in the protest with a square piece of duct tape covering each of his nipples, noted that there was a time when everyone was naked. Now, only a couple cities allow women to walk around topless, and even fewer allow or tolerate total public nudity.
“If you think about it, we ran for a long time naked before we had clothes, so, it’s not as painful as you might think,” Sweet said. “Otherwise we wouldn’t be here, they wouldn’t have bred, we wouldn’t have made it.”
Contact the reporter at kimberly.koerth@asu.edu
