well, in england its probably carried over from the victorian era.
here in america... well, heres a crash course in our history: this country was a bunch of religious nutjobs who were kicked out of georgian (remember this was the one that preceded the victorian era) england for being too boring and stuffy. they didnt celebrate christmas and they all wore brown, they had a great time being fed by the natives, then proceeded to murder rape and con them out of a decent chuck of their continent. during a brief break in the murder/rape/conning we revolted, i guess because we hated tea and liked money, that entire period of history is kinda fuzzy to me to be honest, im not on board with the tea thing, but money's ok i guess, then we then had a great time raping murdering and conning the natives out of their continent, took their children, gave them casinos and never spoke of it again. while all this was happening we had a wonderful time in the slave trade, stealing people from villages in africa andwhat else-conning them out of their people, a few years later we went to war with ourselves (inventing some wonderful new weapons to kill each other with along the way, if theres one thing we hate more than foreigners its those god damn dirty/ignorant/elitist american bastards from *other geographical region*) and freed them, then a few generations later we officially recognized them as people. what does this have to do with topless women you ask? well, during this entire time women still werent able to vote, and those nosecock christians who were so conservative they didnt celebrate christmas and only wore brown? yeah, they were running the country. still are. keep in mind, we were claiming to be freedom and good through ALL of this. as a country we are, essentially, a bipolar schizophrenic compulsive liar with multiple personalities. and nukes. it doesnt have to make sense.
in the middle east i hear women get shot for not covering up their ankles, or showing hair. im sorry but ive gotta blame this one on religion.