I would Walk Around Topless if I Realistically Could, Believe Me

My problem with movements like Free the Nipple, though, are that they don't address the culture that is behind impeding women from existing toplessly in public without consequences. Regardless of the legality of female toplessness (it is legal in many cities for women to be topless), making something legal does not change a culture that hates breasts outside of a sexual context. In New York City for example, where female toplessness has been legal since the early 90s, women get arrested all the time for it still.

It gets really hot where I am in the summer, and believe me, I wish I could go lay in the park topless. I can't, because there would be consequences. 1) I don't want men staring at me, which they inevitably would be if my boobs were in plain view. I dont stare at men's bare chests, because it is so normal to see shirtless men. Until women's breasts are desexualized, I would get a lot of unwanted attention. 2) I don't want men groping me or assuming that my toplessness is an invitation for them to touch me or invade my personal space. Until women's breasts are desexualized, I would get a lot of unwanted attention.

Free the Nipple, and other movements like it, do not address the fact that it will be unsafe for women to go out topless simply because it is legal. Nor, do they address the fact that there are more breast shapes and sizes out there than those that belong to skinny, conventionally attractive, white women. There is nothing more uninspiring than the thousands of "body positive" selfies of perky, small, pink breasts. I want to see fat women's breasts, black women's breasts, latina women's breasts, native women's breasts, large breasts, saggy breasts, breasts with stretch marks, women with mastectomy scars, women breastfeeding in public...all of this needs to be normalized. We need to stop fetishizing and sexualizing breasts as a culture. They are literally just sacks of fat designed to feed babies, they are not inherently sexual. Until women's breasts are desexualized, we will all continue to get a lot of unwanted attention.