Topfreedom

Topfreedom is a cultural and political movement seeking changes in laws to allow women to be topless in public places where men are permitted to be barechested, as a form of gender equality.

Many public swimming pools in Europe are owned by municipalities, which are treated as private organisations and allowed to set their dress codes.

During 2006–2010 and earlier, a number of news reports in the United States cited incidents where women were refused service or harassed for breastfeeding in public.

[13] In March 2008, after a campaign by the group, Copenhagen's Culture and Leisure Committee voted to allow topless bathing in its swimming pools.

[13] Public breastfeeding is supported by the vast majority of both sexes in Denmark,[14] is entirely legal and accepted in almost all places, except for a few private cafés and restaurants that have restricted it.

[19] On Finland's Independence day, 6 December 2019, both Marins and Vallarén showed their breasts on live TV and it sparked a lot of conversation.

Female toplessness has been officially legalized (in a nonsexual context) in all public beaches and swimming pools throughout the country (unless otherwise specified by region, province or municipality by-laws) on 20 March 2000, when the Supreme Court of Cassation (through sentence No.

3557) determined that the exposure of the nude female breast, after several decades, is now considered a "commonly accepted behavior", and therefore, has "entered into the social costume".

[29] Krzysztofek, along with her female companion, were fined by local municipal officials for topless sunbathing at a public recreation area.

In her rationale, the judge also said that it is not up to the defendants to teach youngsters human anatomy; however, her decision was appealed by Krzysztofek's female friend soon afterwards, with the plea of not guilty.

[29][32] In 2009, the appellate court declared both women to be innocent,[33] because the city staff were unable to prove that anyone at the beach was indignant or scandalized by their toplessness, and no complaint was ever reported.

[31] The appellate court's decision was binding, but it also created an aura of ambivalence, with topless sunbathing in public declared acceptable only if nobody else including families with children formally objects to it.

[35][36] There are no laws in Spain that officially prohibit public nudity (in a non-sexual context),[37] and because of this, both topless sunbathing and naturism (the latter on a smaller scale) are frequently practiced without any issues in all beaches throughout the country,[38] while the amount of partakers may vary depending on the location and the day.

The group staged several events in public swim baths in September and October 2007, starting in Uppsala from which they were evicted several times, before succeeding in Sundsvall.

In February 2023, the cities of Edmonton and Calgary, both in the province of Alberta, changed their policies such that wearing bathing suit tops in city-operated pools was an individual's choice.

[55][56] The only public place in Mexico that officially allows female toplessness is Playa Zipolite (a nude beach located in the state of Oaxaca), where the practice of naturism was legalized in 2016.

[57] However, the practice of topless sunbathing (as well as naturism in some cases) is commonly tolerated on a few beaches in the state of Quintana Roo, more precisely in the Riviera Maya region (especially between the cities of Playa del Carmen and Tulum); furthermore, there are a few clothing-optional resorts made for adults only (also located in the Riviera Maya) where all men and women aged 18 (or older) can frequent the facilities without the need to wear clothes (if so they wish).

Each lawsuit, if it prevails at the appellate level, will legalize topfreedom in the following U.S. circuit courts of appeals (from west to east): 9 (California), 8 (Missouri) and 1 (Maryland).

That effectively gave females of all ages the right to go topless wherever males can in the jurisdiction of the 10th Circuit (Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Kansas and Oklahoma states as well as all counties and cities therein).

On 7 February 2017, hundreds of topless women protested in Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Mar del Plata and Rosario, among other cities throughout the country.

[68] The protestors objected against the "objectification" of the female body, and also disapproved the decision made by 20 police officers, who days before, had expelled from a beach located in Necochea 3 women who were topless sunbathing there.

Despite this vagueness, female toplessness tends to be considered an "obscene act" by the Brazilian authorities, and the practice has been frequently repressed, including some arrests made by the police throughout the years.

During the famous two-night parades yearly held by 12 samba schools (6 on each day) at the Sambadrome Marquês de Sapucaí, the official policy is that only the genital area cannot be publicly shown (in this case all nude men and women must wear a merkin, which is known in Portuguese as tapa-sexo, roughly translated as "sex cover").

Exposing the breasts in public is not a crime, although it is an offense applicable according to the Article 373 of the Penal Code[72] to those who "in any way offend modesty or good customs".

Similarly, the Article 495 says: "Shall be punished with a fine of one monthly tax unit (first paragraph) whoever contravenes the rules that the authority dictates to preserve public order or prevent it from being altered, unless the act constitutes a crime or simple offense".