We had a notion that some hotel in New York City — where after all it is legal for women to go topless anywhere a man can, and has been legal for more than 20 years — might be willing to let us use their rooftop swimming pool sometime, side by side with all their topless male guests. We offered to rent hotel rooms so we’d be guests too. But no: they were all terrified to allow bare-chested women on the same roof as bare-chested men.
“This group seems incredible – and very fun!” wrote a representative of the Empire Hotel. But: “Because this is a private space (with food and families) – we require our guests to wear tops. So I am not sure that we would be the best fit for you. Thank you for understanding.” Yes, of course we understand: food, after all. Our bare breasts (unlike men’s bare breasts) will tend to cause milk to sour and meat to spoil and other food to go bad in other mysterious ways. And families! Individual, separate men, women and children can bear exposure to female mammary tissue, but a family, no, a family will explode like popcorn on a hot stove if you wave a nipple in its direction. A woman’s nipple, that is. A man’s nipple, no problem. (True, he wrote “we require our guests to wear tops,” not distinguishing between women and men — but we have a feeling he meant they require this of their female guests. If they required it of their male guests as well it would be a rare swimming pool indeed.)
Jenny Morales of the Gansevoort Hotel wrote, “You’re more than welcome to join us as hotel guests and access the pool, however being that this is family friendly hotel, going topless would not be an option.” Oh, don’t we know it! We have tried and tried to train our breasts not to be so unfriendly to families, but they’re just incorrigible.
Nicolas Oliveira of the Hotel Americano wrote, “We are supporters when it comes to topless sunbathing and as you said, our Hotel does have international flavor. We choose to be neutral at our pool since at the end of the day we are a Hotel and we need to cater to Hotel Guests first. We do not believe that it will have a negative reaction when it comes to our Hotel Guests, but we also do not want to risk anything because we are a Hotel and our guests are our biggest supporters.” We are still trying to untangle that one. But it sounds like “We choose to be neutral at our pool” means “Please, please, please don’t come.”
Well, Nicolas and Jenny and Unnamed Representative — so be it. Your pools, your rules. But it’s a pity that none of you are willing to stand up to mindless conservatism, to fear and shame. Because what terrible thing are we really talking about here? A dozen happy women enjoying the sun with a little less rather than a little more fabric on. Relaxing, reading, tanning — nothing more, nothing worse. Unless you’re all secretly in the fabric industry and afraid your swimsuit concessions will plunge in value, we really can’t comprehend the danger we represent. Just take a look at these photos and tell us — would this really have hurt you so badly? So badly that you were willing to turn away hundreds of dollars in revenue — maybe hundreds per person — just to keep it from happening…?
And to the enlightened folk at the Colonial Park Inn (where all these photos were taken, after we gave up on our search for a real pool we could use) we say: thank you. We always feel welcome with you. Your pool may be small, and it may be inflatable, and it may not allow us to swim laps or practice the back float, but at least we can ditch the swimsuits. Which is the best way to enjoy a pool.
And get this, you’re not only comfortable with breasts, you’re even okay with vaginas! And penises!
God bless you, Colonial House. God bless you.
Sheer poetry in the sunlight!
We shed our clothes at Colonial Park
‘Cause city hotels were forbidding and dark,
It was fun in the buff
Amid junk and muff
And the day was a total lark.
Nice post, as ever. But I want to say that I like the new slogan “Burn bras, not books” much more than “Making reading sexy”. It fits your group well because it cleverly compares the notions of censoring books and boobs, as well as having a feminist slant.
I was slightly baffled by the “making reading sexy” slogan as, it seemed to me, that the point of equal toplessness would be to take sexiness out of it. That is to say that someone with their top off in public could be regarded no differently as someone with their top on.
This would be in an ideal world, of course. Bare boobs will likely always be considered sexy (and I’m not going to deny that I find your pictures sexy). But we can hope that, eventually, the sight of topless women will be considered so unremarkable that they would not be harassed while sunbathing in public and the likes of Facebook will treat men’s and women’s chests the same.
Absolutely, women’s and men’s chests should be seen as comparable and treated the same way — but who says a man’s bare chest isn’t sexy? The best outcome wouldn’t be that no one is ever seen as sexy, it would be that everyone is, equally.
Didn’t you post the same thing last year?
I don’t think we’ll ever get to the point where people are thinking about sex as rarely as you’d like.
You do want grandchildren, don’t you?
We may have posted that we hoped to find a hotel with a rooftop pool, but we definitely didn’t post the results of the search, since that only happened over the past two months.
As for wanting grandchildren, it’s not the foremost thing on our minds.
But who says we don’t like sex or thinking about sex? Sex is great. What does that have to do with wanting to have the same freedom to swim topless in rooftop pools that men have?
Perfect reponse
Although you’re on the other side of the continent from us, if any of you wonderful people should ever find yourselves in beautiful Vancouver, BC, Canada please know that we also allow women to be top free wherever men can be, and we’re lucky to possess one of the world’s most beautiful clothing optional beaches – Wreck Beach (www.wreckbeach.org) – as well.
And, given how amazing the Colonial Park Inn has been to all of you, there is no doubt in my mind that it is where I will stay if ever I’m in New York.
All the best,
HP
Great to know where people have been liberated! Thanks for posting.
“Equality? Great idea! We love that! Our city needs more of that!
(Just not here. You’re still second-class citizens while you’re on our premises.)
But hey, equality! Yay!”
A lot of people in the US and Canada seem to pick some arbitrary point in the past – more often than not, the early ’50s – and try to live as if it’s that date forever. Don’t worry about logic, facts or the better society we’re trying to build for the 21st century – just keep pretending it’s 1952 and that women belong in the kitchen (or in the secretarial pool at two-thirds of male wages).
Society’s moving beyond that now. Smart businesses keep up with the times.
It’s sad. I don’t know if and when this society will ever come to a point where it’s ok to look like you all do anywhere in America.
The 1992 court ruling is tough to read. It’s possible that it applies to public accommodations. Someone should look into that.
That just looks and seems so relaxing, so natural to let your entire body just be free. There are many health benefits to sun exposure and an unclothed body. I admire people who have that freedom.
This was very nice!!! indeed admirable!!!!
so glad there are still people in the world who love their bodies and enjoy being naked in the sun. Thanks for being.
WOW!!!!!!! What happened to “just topless”. As a man..your day in the sun was more than just reading topless. You have become a group of beautiful, erotic women as well as intelligent. I am not complaining, but just WOW!!!! Any one familiar with a play called “The Book Club”? One of you talented women should write a play based on the “OUTDOOR COED TOPLESS READING CLUB”. Great idea for an Off-Broadway production.
Although I always enjoy the pictures there were no books to be seen! What are some of the better titles that are being devoured?
Well, when your primary goal involves going into the water, the books take a bit of back seat. But we did have them on hand for when we dried off. This time, one of our members (herself a celebrated graphic artist) brought along a trove of comics and graphic novels to share, and we still had some advance copies of UPROOTED by Naomi Novik on hand, plus BRAINQUAKE by Samuel Fuller and EASY DEATH by Daniel Boyd. More books in our next report, we promise. 🙂
It’s strictly business. Conservative families complain about the toplessness and the hotel loses clients and therefore money. I would love to see the day where us Americans don’t freak out if a woman dares to take her top off in public because I simply don’t understand how there is anything remotely obscene about it. However this attitude is rooted in our culture and it’s hard to see it ever changing. I wish I knew how Europe became so open while we’ve stayed stuck in the 1950’s. Even in places where it is legal here, women simply don’t do it, because they’ve been raised to believe that their breasts are strictly sexual and for the eyes of a lover only. They’re too ashamed. Any woman that does take advantage of it is “attention seeking” or even a “slut.” Thank you, ladies for being such a refreshing break from that foolishness. I wish it were different.
Your stories of the support you’ve received has given me hope for humanity, especially support from women, who have no sexual bias.
Strictly business is part of it but it is also warped perceptions of how many people are prudes. It is also failure by sensible folks to make complaints. If every naturist or woman wishing to go topless made a complaint then they would soon start to take notice.
You ladies NEED a large pool!!! Keep enjoying your freedom girls.
Just an observation but if you had not called ahead about rules and rented rooms at these hotels / motels then headed toward the pool to do your thing what could they say? (and still make sense considering the $$ spent on rooms) Most likely your group would have been in the majority at the pool so few complaints, and that would prove the point on equal rights for all.
Maybe so. But we prefer to be polite. And probably we’d have been asked to cover up, which would have made the exercise costly and disappointing.
Reblogged this on clothes free life and commented:
Ironic that they say we are supportive and thanks but no thanks. Even the establishment with an ‘international’ flavor. You all do a great service to society by normalizing toplessness that is what will eventually bring these folks around. Keep on with you great effort.
How did NYC come to not discriminate between men’s and women’s toplessness? Why is this not a universal civil right in the US?
Answering this question fully would require an essay of 10,000 words. Fortunately, other people have written such essays, and if you Google for phrases like “toplessness legal in New York,” you will find them. As for why it is not universal, sadly not every part of the country is as progressive or as rational or as concerned with equality as New York.
I will admit to frequently swimming naked in hotel pools, I just choose the time carefully, but when in I do find other seem to choose not to notice one’s state of dress. Not that the hotel can do much about it. I have answered some polite questions and noticed some polite smiles.
It’s fun to read the responses to your overtures and how they squirm and equivocate, and talk from both sides of their mouths at once.
I couldn’t agree more Shirtfree…Say what you mean, mean what you say. Stop the hypocrisy.
Reblogged this on Look at Both Sides Now and commented:
This is a well-written piece on the lack of acceptance of body equality. Too bad these hotels couldn’t see the economic benefit of not dismissing the requests. Keep up the great work you women are doing for the cause.
Wait a minute! I don’t believe that the 1992 N.Y. Supreme Court ruling was limited to public spaces. I’m confident it was more of a broad based ruling which provided women the SAME topfreedom RIGHTS as men within state boundaries. I’ve read this law to include equal treatment in ANY setting – even public accommodations. Thus, I would be confident in saying that if you were denied your State Constitutional right to swim topfree in the hotel pool, then the hotel would have to prove that it mandates tops for men as well or it risks a lawsuit. (Remember, this is about equal treatment!) That is the meaning of a Constitutional right – whether you agree with it or not, it is the law. It would be the same as if a Massachusetts (for instance) hotel ejected a gay couple from the pool because it was a “family friendly” establishment. THEY CAN’T DO IT!!!
That may be correct (or it may not be), but a) I’m not sure a luxury hotel pool constitutes a “public accommodation” (might it fall under the “private club” exemption? the one at Soho House almost certainly would, since you have to be a member to use it) and b) then we’d have a fight on our hands instead of a relaxing afternoon swimming, which is what we wanted.
Reblogged this on Naturist Holidays in Europe and commented:
Its a shame they didn’t let you in the hotel’s pool. I think that all the hotel’s answers where somehow idiotic and sexist. If you booked a room you would be their “guests” too so they would have to respect your willingness to be topless and there shouldn’t be any problem with it.
I’d expect they would increase their regular clientele if they’d be more tolerant..
1) Kudos to your peace-first approach — you’d immediately fall in the “undesirable” category with even a moderate discussion, which should never happen if a wider acceptance of human nakedness is the goal. Most probably, a lawyer among you wouldn’t keep quiet!
However, pardon me, but exposing to public shame the full names of those who refused your toplessness at their hotel pools does seem a bit childish and/or a little too heavy to me (“Now look at what you’ve done, Johnny Doe!!!”) although it may be your legal right. It turns this into a little less peaceful thing, doesn’t it?
2) Getting even more pedant and finnicky: judging by the pics you publish, Colonial Inn are comfortable with penises and vulvas, not vaginas — OK, it’s a widespread misquote, everybody understands what you mean.
All the best!
1) Eh…we’re not losing any sleep over it, and we haven’t heard from any of the people we quoted, so our guess is that they aren’t either. They’re presumably proud of the stands they took, not ashamed. If any of them do contact us and ask to have their names redacted, we’ll do so. That said, if they didn’t want their real names associated with their statements, they didn’t have to sign their messages.
2) Eh…not going to lose any sleep over that one either. Yes, “vulva” is medically and scientifically correct, but no one fucking says it, and as language gains meaning not through top-down decree but through the mutual consent and common understanding of speakers, we feel that “vagina” has come to be the more appropriate term. Anyway, there was at least one vagina on display, briefly, even in the narrow medical sense, so we’re standing by our use of the word. 🙂
Spoiling your sleep was by no means my purpose, nor was it to make you change your viewpoint! No flame or disapproval intended: just shared some afterthoughts about your post.
–>”Anyway, there was at least one vagina on display” — aww, missed this one… ;-D
So another summer is gone.
The government has been covering up the real reason why breasts are so dangerous—nipple radiation.
Nipple radiation is a very curious and, apparently, very dangerous phenomena. It appears to have the following characteristics:
1. Nipple radiation is considered very harmful to humans, especially children who no longer breast feed, although the alleged traumatic effects have never been documented or observed.
2. Nipple radiation is considered to be so dangerous that a mere glance of a mother breastfeeding an infant is believed to cause severe trauma. Thus mothers are sometimes encouraged to breast feed in restrooms or at least cover the infant’s head with a heavy blanket.
3. The effects of nipple radiation predominantly occur within the borders of the United States. It has been known to occur to a lesser degree in other repressed societies around the world.
4. Alcohol intensifies the effects of nipple radiation on males, which is why many states do not allow clubs that serve beer and liquor to have nude dancers. Due to the dangers involved, patrons must be at least 21.
5. Nipple radiation is only transmitted by female homo sapiens who have reached puberty.
6. Nipple radiation is not transmitted by males with the possible exception of transsexuals.
7. There is a suspected link between nipple radiation and the female hormone estrogen although post-menopausal women are still known to be transmitters.
8. Nipple radiation effects humans via direct sight of the nipple.
9. Nipple radiations can also be transmitted through visual media to include broadcast, cable, and satellite television, and the Internet.
10. Nipple radiation can also be transmitted by photographs, paintings, and sculpture.
11. Nipple radiation can be blocked simply by covering the nipple and areola with semi-transparent material such as a wet T-shirt, sheer nylon, pasties, or lace or any opaque material.
12. Nipple radiation does not appear to affect Europeans. Apparently, they have developed an immunity to its effects.
13. Nudists and naturists seem to have a natural immunity to the effects of nipple radiation although many conservative experts refute this claim and believe social nudity to be a natural disintegration of society with nipple radiation as a root cause.
I’m sure there are other characteristics that have not been discovered yet. Quite obviously, the dangers of nipple radiation are real. Global warming will have to wait until the dangers of nipple radiation are eradicated forever.
Perhaps if you sent them some images . . . ?