Azrael the Cat said:
Well it really isn't that unusual (for both sexes to go topless) outside of the USA. You obviously haven't done a lot of travelling around Europe have you? Throughout much of europe there isn't a lot of difference between men and women going topless, and far less hassle about going completely nude. In Germany, for example, you'll see female office-workers sunbathing topless in the parks during their lunch-break, no special laws required. There's female toplessness in ads and billboards with no controversy. You need to remember that the US is by far the most sexually conservative of all the western countries - and this is from an Aussie, whose country is about equal 2nd most conservative along with the UK (both of which are FAR less concerned with nudity than the US - I can still remember the shocked look on the US tourists' face when they saw the kind of nudity that was uncontroversial in ordinary TV and billboards in Europe). Most of the Western world isn't quite as repressed as you guys.
Oh really? I agree that there are different laws and standards, but it's more of a privacy issue. In the UK for example - most people just aren't comfortable with exposing areas of their bodies, men and women alike. plus, the temperature's dropped to just above freezing.
In Germany things
are different, and there is a higher degree of exposure and sexuality, but it would still be quite rare to find a naked woman in public, just through sheer embarressment. That doesn't make them repressed, it makes them normal. If someone was walking down the street naked, then they would have some serious trouble.
But normal human shyness just prevents too much exposure in a public place, and a woman's breasts are considered sexual. Look at the films and media - a man can be topless in a film of almost any certificate, but women can only be seen topless in 15s and 18s.
