It was 95 years ago that American women secured their right to vote. Today, another battle has begun: a campaign for topless equality.
About 50 people gathered near the UNM Duck Pond on Sunday to celebrate Go Topless Day, an event that advocates a revision to Albuquerque’s nudity ordinance, which allows men to walk about the city without wearing a shirt, but outlaws the same act for women.
Event organizer Andrea Runyan said the demonstrators had one simple goal, which was to promote equality in public toplessness.
“Sometimes you don’t know what you are missing unless you experience it,” she said.
Raphaela Viereck, a senior psychology major, writes Albuquerque’s city ordinance for public nudity on the sidewalk near the Duck Pond on Sunday evening.
Albuquerque’s ordinance dictates that the areola of the female breast must be covered. Runyan said she believes the support for topless equality is there, and that it’s hard to make an argument for restricting one sex, but not the other.
While there are no immediate plans to meet with lawmakers or the city council, she would be willing if the opportunity presented itself.
Physicist Samantha Howard said she moved to Albuquerque from Ohio, where female toplessness is legal, four months ago. She said she didn’t realize Albuquerque was different.
“It seems so silly,” Howard said. “The fact that it’s 2015 and there are different laws based on gender sets a bad precedent.”
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Tucker Adlersflügel, a junior exercise science major, throws a frisbee at the Duck Pond on Sunday evening. GoTopless day is celebrated annually on the Sunday closest to Women’s Equality Day.
Tucker Adlersflügel, a junior exercise science major who co-organized the event, said the public tends only to see the female breast in a sexualized context. Adlersflügel said that by making the sight more common in everyday life, it can become less racy.
“You look at a guy’s chest, and you don’t say, ‘How could you show that?’” he said.
Brian Stinar, a senior Russian major, said he thinks the cause could ultimately be successful in achieving change.
“I would be surprised if it didn’t change,” he said. “Look at gay marriage, nationalized health — all sorts of things are going a different direction. Social change is accelerating.”
CNM student Caitlin Murphy said she hoped women baring their chests could lead to a new social norm.
“I think that over time, people would become accustomed to seeing women’s bodies in their natural state,” Murphy said. “Eventually, it won’t be so taboo.”
Adlersflügel said there are plans to host a similar event in the near future, and hopes to make it a monthly meet-up.
Robert Maler is a freelance reporter for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at culture@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @DailyLobo.
