We’re a group of friends, and friends of friends, and friends of friends of friends, and complete strangers, who love good books and sunny days and enjoying both as nearly in the altogether as the law allows. Happily, in New York City, the law allows toplessness by both men and women. So that’s the way we do our al fresco reading. If you’re in New York and the weather’s good, won’t you join us sometime…?
To find out when and where we’ll be meeting next, write to us at toplesspulpfiction[AT]gmail.com.
You can also follow us on Twitter: @toplesspulp
If you live somewhere else in the country (or somewhere else in the world) and would like to start a branch of our club where you are, we welcome it. Just drop us a note…
Awesome!
Absolutely brilliant!
Brava ladies! Gloria Steinem should be proud.
Good for you, girls! I was just saying the other day to my girlfriend that if men are allowed to walk around without their shirts on woman should able to as well.
Exactly. Maybe your girlfriend can come join us sometime.
what will you do when the winter comes ’round?
Shiver. Or stay indoors.😦
I wish there was a group like this in LA. I would love to join.
That would be great – maybe you could start one…!
Pretty Close too one – Malibu has a naked beach yes..
Hey around Venice just start slowly – smaller to see thru – paint on nice latex.. eventually – we know about the parking lot – winnebeggo’s snagging .yummiest for porn..
Not.much diff. Horse cops would love you…or rollerskating along on blades tiptoes in the wind. TOPS in hand case…¿ ?
very well done to you for promoting reading as a fun experience. do you have anything special lined up for Halloween?
good luck!
What a wonderful idea! Too cold to do something outdoors, but I bet we could throw one hell of a costume party. Come As Your Favorite (Topless) Character From A Novel, or something.
The law doesn’t just apply to NYC – it’s all of NY state. Thank you for helping to make the human body less taboo while also promoting a love of reading!
I think what you do is great and people need to get with it! Nudity is fun and relaxing😉
Just to satisfy my curiosity: Do you take turn taking picture of each other for you postings, ot do you have a designated photographer?
It varies. We’ve got one member who is a recovering photojournalist; any really nice photos you see are hers. But if she’s not around, we have someone else do it
I really, really enjoy reading this blog chicas. You guys are wonderful.
-Danee
Thanks, Danee. We’d love to have you join us sometime, if you’re in the area. Or send in a photo of yourself reading – we’d love to post it!
I admire your courage, O.C.T.P.F.A.S. By taking action, you are exercising your right and making it possible for others to feel more comfortable in exercising this same right. Even though this right has existed for a number of years, without this action it might as well have not. Thank you.
It’s encouraging to see American ladies bringing themselves in-line with what happens in Europe on a regular basis. Great to see society accepting this as well.
Today I drank toast to the day when websites like yours will no longer have to be NSFW.
Don’t stop now. There are always indoor gatherings – like naturists. But…. judging by the blankets y’all are using in central park and where everyone is placed, I can’t help but notice that the photos seem as if many were taken on the same day, or at least on days close together, during the summer months. Why are they being featured in subsequent blog entrees dates – as if you guys are constantly doing this?
Actually, we just went back to the same spot in Sheep Meadow three separate times! And when the same people came, they often brought the same towel (or blanket, or whatever).
The last two posts we made featured photos from prior events, but that’s just because it’s been too cold to go out. Until it gets warmer, photos from old events will have to tide us over. But other than that, each post has been from a different event.
Wow. You’re making the world a better place…seriously. Isn’t it nice you can have fun doing it?
You seem to be enjoying yourself and helping to make reading fashionable and sociable- sounds heaps better than the average book group.
Good luck to you girls. I think it’s great what you are doing. If you want to go topless in the park, why shouldn’t you?
How fun. Great idea. I have to tell my friends about it. Are there events when we can be totally nude?
Generally, full nudity isn’t legal outdoors (though there are some exceptions for artistic performances and such). But we have gotten together indoors sometimes, at spas and such, and gotten naked then.
Now that the weather’s almost spring-like in New York City, will you be planning any more meetings?
Not quite spring-like enough! But the thaw will come…
Anytime the weather’s good, you can assume we’re planning meetings. We held two this week and will keep doing it until it turns too cold.
here I sit with bated breath
(though even it should cause my death)
to hear good news of your next appointment
where, if the sun were a might too wicked,
I shall run, bring soothing ointment
to ease the burden of reading halfnaked
If only we were the Outdoor Co-ed Topless Poetry Appreciation Society…
You could always expand your repetoire to poetry.
Reading has always been sexy. That said, you have upped the ante somewhat. I was genuinely charmed and enchanted when I stumbled across this just now. Well done you.
I admire you ladies for having the courage of your convictions as well as your excellent taste in reading material.
BRAVA!
I don’t see any evidence of the “co-ed” part? Where are the topless dudes? Do you chase them away? If I showed up with a book, would I be welcome, no matter what age or sex I happen to be?
We generally have a guy or two at our events, usually the s.o. of one of another participant or a good friend. But we work hard to keep the male/female ratio female-friendly, which means girls outnumbering the guys rather than the other way around. Age is not an issue. We’ve never had any elderly participants or kids, but we’ve had people in their twenties, thirties and forties, and would gladly welcome older or younger participants if they were interested. What matters is your attitude and how you behave, not how old you are.
I had a similar question! I’m trying to find out if any members of IP would be willing to do this, but we are made up of 3 guys and 5 girls. Seems super fun and super cool, also it would be awesome to blog about / meet y’all.
Well, you can do it without us, of course – it’s not like we’re the only ones who get to enjoy the city topless. All women do. So if the 3 guys and 5 women at IP want to do it, do it! And who knows, maybe we’ll wind up doing it in the same place sometime and can all say hello…
Heureux commentaire ! Voilà qui est très juste. Bon dimanche à vous !
I’ve never seen a more compelling argument for visiting New York! What could be more wonderful than free-spirited people who love reading?
I think what you ladies are doing is great. People in this country will have a fit over a bare breast as if it’s going to damage a child, but yet those same people won’t have a problem with their kids viewing violent images on television, or playing violent video games. Who’s really going to be hurt from seeing totally natural and topless women in the park reading? I’ve also seen your bras with that thick metal underlining. I can understand wanting to let your girls hang free, and just relax, because it has to be uncomfortable to be in those contraptions all day long.
I’m curious – how do you handle the inevitable ogglers? and, now that your site has hit the huffington post, can you trust men (esp teenagers) to not shmuck it up and show up for the wrong reasons? Is this a case where you can become a victim of your own success? ie too much attention turns prospective free spirited ladies away? Personally, I think it’s fantastic, another way to show non judgementality and free an exercise of personal and political freedom. After all, we will all be dust one day, enjoy the wonder that is the human body! Anyway – awesome! One more reason why NYC is what it is…
They’re not inevitable. At yesterday’s event, for instance, not a single person ogled or made any unwelcome comments at all. On the contrary, everyone around us took it in stride, and several women who weren’t even part of our group joined in by taking their tops off as well. Sure, there are some men who’ll behave badly, but frankly that happens when we’re wearing both halves of our swimsuits too.
Here-Here! Power in numbers! The Sheep Meadow provides a safe haven for this beautiful, harmless movement. Intellectually speaking, it’s about time. My freestyle Frisbee friends and I will be discreetly observing.
You gals are awesome! I’d love to hang out with you and read a book but this ex-NYer has to suffer in the TX heat. No tan lines are soooo sexy, keep those tops off!
I love this idea, and you look marvelous. I would love to join you, but as a Seattleite it would be a bit of a schlep; not to mention that this sunshine thing you bathe in is quite foreign to me and makes me a little uncomfortable. Anyway, have fun out there and wear lots of sunscreen.
A very innovative and unique way I must say. I was also curious about how was the experience with onlookers and gawkers, but already answered above. Keep going, and hope to see your numbers grow!!! Kudos.
Wow. You guys are officially the coolest people on the internet. I totally want to join! (I’ll have to see if I can rope in any Aussie mates for a chapter of the Outdoor Co-ed Topless Pulp Fiction Appreciation Society).
Great to see people having fun while making some kick-arse political points.
P.S. reading is sexy!
We need to change Washington State law so a group like yous would be possible in Seattle, so both men and women could go to a park togther to read, topless,
… while the rain turned the books into “real” pulp fiction and the readers grew moss and little mushrooms on their shivering bare chests. Okay, so maybe it’s not such a great idea after all, but you New Yorkers keep it up!
Congratulations to all of you!!! A whole bunch of girls will be watching you to see how this turns out. You have created a wave!!!
Your project seems a little zany to me, but I don’t think it’s a bad thing. It could tend to make things just a little less neurotic. Really, even if not everyone has every body part, we all have more or less the usual body parts, and it shouldn’t be a federal case. If you wanted strategic parity with men, though, you wouldn’t sun bake in your underwear. Men wouldn’t do that. So, you’re not going at parity, but pushing the envelope the next bit. Over time, you might as well push it all the way. There’s nothing wrong with elbows. There’s nothing wrong with the rest, either. People just need to get a little more normal over the whole issue. Embezzling $1billion at Goldman Sachs is a big deal, but no one cares about that. Show an extra sliver of rump, and it’s a big deal. This is backwards. Systematic corporate corruption matters. Fashion choices (blunders or not) matter a lot less.
Agree with all you have to say…just puzzled by the comment about sunbathing “in your underwear.” Maybe I’m forgetting but I don’t recall too many of our members being in underwear. We’ve had some swimsuit bottoms, some shorts, some skirts…I guess once in a blue moon someone just wears a fun pair of panties, but it’s not like that’s the norm for us. As for what men do, we see them all the time in trunks that look for all the world like boxer shorts (or Speedo-type suits that are briefer than briefs). So I’m not sure I understand the comment about underwear. But your general point is a fine one. We’ve all got more or less the same parts, and anything we haven’t got we’ve certainly seen. So why get agitated about seeing them again?
I love how you girls celebrate the human body🙂 that’s the way it should be! Count me in🙂
I think what really counts here is that we all really are the same. In my humble opinion, women have much more interesting parts, but we all still are basically the same. What makes YOU ladies different is that you have the courage of your convictions.
BRAVO!!!!!!!
You are fighting a brave and noble fight here. (And winning) I am a nudist and I think any activity that points out the ridiculousness and pointlessness of clothing is a wonderful thing. Keep it up! I will too and maybe someday no one will be ashamed to be who they are.
Hooray for books and sunshine. Awesome.
Brilliant! This is a wonderful way to exercise your rights and to celebrate the beauty of womanhood! Please keep it up
Beautiful expression of liberty in Central Park. Continue the good work toward equality. I think the next step should on the beach at Jones Beach State Park.
Hi I live in Austin, TX and would be super excited to start one of these groups with your permission.
This is really cool.
Absolutely! We’d love to see chapters spring up all over. All we ask is that you send us some reports from time to time so we can post them here on the blog and show people what you’re up to.🙂
For all those that live in different places and would like to start their own chapter, you just need to get half a dozen people to meet up with. Maybe an anonymous local advert with a mobile number or email (it’s easy to set up a google email address). That way you can hopefully filter out the idiots, get a group set up and choose your first day and location. Go on girls go for it!
For too long it has been men leading revolutions, changing opinions, getting laws revised. It would be great to see women changing the world!
The phrase “slip your bra off” caught my attention and made me me wonder if our fight for topfreedom should also include brafreedom, or at least the right to choose.
Absolutely – women should be free to wear or not wear bras as they prefer.
I had meant to say that you have the full support of our group for what you are doing, both in public and here on the internet, so we applaud your efforts and remember the suffragettes.
Consciously or unconsciously you have undermined the two major arguments made for stating that all women should wear a bra at all times – modesty and ‘support’. A similar argument applies to naturism, which I note you occasionally indulge in.
If this site will allow links I will post one to a guest blog I just wrote for a naturist group on this topic.
http://nudistnaturistamerica.org/naturism-naturist-women-bra-necessity
Hope everyone can come out and join the topless march on Aug 26
http://gotopless.org/gotopless-day
Girls!
What you are doing is great! I am a little shy but def interested in trying it once or twice with the others.
Do you have any upcoming events in the flatiron district?
Thanks!
Lizbeth😉
We’d love to have you. Just write to us at toplesspulpfiction@gmail.com and we’ll get you info the next time we’re planning to be in your area.
And don’t be at all concerned about feeling shy. Baring your breasts in public by yourself might be terrifying to you, but when yours are only two of perhaps twenty nipples happily warming in the sunlight, I promise you’ll feel nothing but elation, pride, and satisfaction.
I am very much looking forward. I have mixed feelings of shyness and a sense that I also want guys to look at my breasts and find them to be sexy and attractive but to an extent- you know what i mean?
Lizbeth, I had a feeling that this tricky subject would come up sooner or later. Probably many of us harbour a secret exhibitionist streak, but obviously we don’t want what is being done here to be labelled as such, or it risks being beyond the legal protection. There is nothing inherently wrong in our feeling sexy or appreciating the gaze of other women or men, but it is not the primary motivation, which is one of empowerment.
What I have realized as a man, and recovering objectifyer is that there isn’t anything wrong with my being sexually attracted to breasts. Nor is there anything wrong with a woman feeling her breasts are sexual. It’s the notion that that is all they are or can be that is screwed up. I also find lips and legs to be very sexy but I don’t freak out every time a woman speaks.
I learned while watching my wife breastfeed our babies. Sometimes they’re no big deal and at other times they are wonderfully sexual.
Love what you are doing. It takes some brave pioneers to take these steps knowing full well the general public is going to make a big deal out of it. Keep it up! It is catching on! Just the other day I was riding my bike and noticed a woman on the park bench laying on her back. Shirt up to her chin. At first I thought I was hallucinating! Good to know we are co-creating the world we wish to be in. A fare, sane, and stable one.
As a writer of hero pulp, and an advocate for women’s rights everywhere, I have to say that this is one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. Thanks for keeping pulp fascinating. My only question is…any reason you seem to only go for mystery pulp? There’s a lot of fantastic horror, action, hero, fantasy and science fiction out there, too. Hell, I tend to consider most romance as the modern pulp (have you ever seen the Harlequin line Editorial Guidelines? They almost read like Lester Dent’s Master Plot Formula), so even that goes a long way towards keeping pulp alive. Keep up the reading, support pulp (and ePulp). I love you all just for being amazing.
We read other things too – but the guys at Hard Case Crime have been great about getting us advance copies of their books, so you’ll tend to see them at our gatherings more often!
As an as yet undiscovered writer, I too am happy to see and hear people reading. The fact that you choose to do so au naturel is almost a side issue. But for both causes/intents/reasons/whatever, please carry on your excellent activities and please continue being an example to all the rest of us.
Thank you for doing what you do. Now if only the beaches, or should I say the people at the beaches, were a little more appreciative if I went topless. It’s always the soccer moms who give the dirty looks or make the snark comments. I’m thankful your group is raising awareness that we can go topless in public anywhere men do. Your group should plan an event at one of the local beaches, maybe you’ll encourage some others to join in your freedom!
Completely agree! It’s one of the tragedies of how our society deals with gender that it’s often women who are most critical of other women taking advantage of their freedoms. Would love to visit the beach sometime with our army of bare-breasted culture warriors, proudly proclaiming “They’re just boobs! Like knees, ankles, shoulders, backs. Body parts. We’ve all got ’em. Nothing to be ashamed of.”
Hey, if you’re in the area, why not come to one of our events in the city?🙂
Of course the same thing happened when we raised our hems above our ankles and our sleeves above our wrists, and even when we wanted to vote. Fortunately we persisted. The feminist literature describes this as ‘internalising the patriarchy’. Women patrol their own ranks to make sure nobody steps out of line and risks women being further repressed or attacked. As long as we stay in the kitchen we are safe to do as we please.
[…] to go on August 26 and in New Jersey, it is still illegal for women to be topless. Kudos to the crime fans of New York City who meet weekly in Central Park, on rooftops, or other locations to read topless in public. […]
I love you all! My friend and I have decided it is time to move to NYC just so we can meet friends as brilliant as you all!
Thanks, Stephanie! We love you too! You don’t even have to move, just come for a visit while it’s still warm and we can all hang out…🙂
I have been pondering the link between naturism and topfreedom. One might expect naturists to support topfreedom, but while the former is generally ‘private’ the latter is very public. But how many of those supporting (I am being careful to avoid the word ‘activist’ since you say you are not) topfreedom are also naturists. You seem to be exploring that angle, which incidentally I support.
I think most naturists would support a woman’s right to go topless anywhere she wants, even if they themselves wouldn’t do it in all the public places we do. Similarly, I think most of us would support naturism, in the sense of not thinking it’s weird or peculiar or should be banned, even if some of us might not choose to go bottomless, even when were on a private rooftop. In general, I think people who enjoy nudity tend to be sympathetic to other people who enjoy it.
Happy Go Topless Day everyone! Although I must admit I prefer the term Topfreedom!
Are you anti-ogling? I’m not quite clear on that. There certainly a lot of photos of great looking topless women.
I have no problem with your toplessness if you don’t have a problem with my ogling. If you won’t modify your behavior to suit my sensibilities, why should I change mine to suit yours? Honest question.
Or, is the project simply trying to de-sexualize the breast? Doesn’t seem like it, since you’re trying to “make reading sexy.” I assume the “sexy” part is the toplessness.
We’re not anti-looking, we’re anti-rudeness. We’re out in public, and anyone who wants to look at us is welcome to do so, the same as they would be if we were wearing more clothes. But if we were fully dressed, it wouldn’t be okay to walk within inches of us staring hungrily as you pass, and it wouldn’t be okay to sit two feet away and stare intensely for an hour without pause–that would be rude. And it doesn’t become less rude when you do it to us when we’re topless. Look, smile, wave, say something nice if you feel like it, and keep on walking. Or sit nearby but occupy yourself with your own pursuits (reading a book, maybe!) and only glance our way casually now and again, don’t eye us like a hungry mongrel salivating over a steak. In other words, be a friendly, empathetic, normal human being.
This is doubly true because what we’re doing is apparently giving you pleasure! If you were an offended evangelical Christian who decided to make our lives miserable because you felt we were making yours miserable, that would be one thing. I wouldn’t be happy about it, but at least I’d understand your reasoning. But if you like what we’re doing, why in the world would you needlessly act in a way you know will make us uncomfortable and make it less likely we’ll do this thing you like again…?
I am European and since I was a child topless sunbathing has been known to me both in open air baths or especially on the beach in Italy or more in France. It is generally considered rude to look more than a few seconds at anybody clothed or not clothed, this applies to any situation. Staring at someone or fixing someone without talking to the person is making anybody uncomfortable. I for myself felt mostly uncomfortable having to look at bear breasts in a public context, especially because women over here sometimes scolded teens for looking at them, which sometimes happened only out of surprise. This of course was not so in my own family I don’t remember feeling embarrassed seeing my mum or sis walking around naked in the house. But why should I see breasts of women I don’t know? In my life I have been surprised several times about comments women made about their breasts. Most of them didn’t like them the way they were and I heard more than one time, that sunbathing topless requires a beautiful breast. Why? Most of the girls I knew didn’t do it because they thought they were not pretty enough, or they thought to be topless was only something they could do at home. I think its merely a question of cultural code. Female breasts are considered more in a sexual context than the male breast. Which surely is debatable. But it remains true that in some tribal context bare female breasts are not an issue at all, like in Africa or South America (Amazonas). So my conclusion is I absolutely have nothing against your habits, but tell me why it should be so purported and talked about, as if it was a major breakthrough in our society?
It’s not easy to follow everything you say, but to answer the last question you posed, we would never suggest that what we’re doing represents the most major breakthrough in our society…but we do feel it is a breakthrough of some sort, and we want to share our example of personal liberty and comfort in our bodies with women who might never have seen such an example.
And saying “Why should I see breasts of women I don’t know?” is a bit bizarre. Why should you see the faces of women you don’t know? Why should you see the arms and legs of women you don’t know? Why should we see the breasts of men we don’t know? We see those all the time when it’s warm out. The answer is that you see the faces and bodies of people you don’t know because you live in society and aren’t a hermit. You are surrounded by people you don’t know, and if you’re not blind, you see those people. The only question is whether a woman’s breasts should be treated as something to be covered up when a man’s are not, and the State of New York had the wisdom to decide the answer is no. And they were right. Imagine if we said that men could expose their knees but women couldn’t? At one point, that may have been the case. Today it seems ridiculous.
All I wanted to say was that it’s basically a question of habits and social conventions. Even if there is a law allowing you to be topless in a public park, it still can make people feel uncomfortable, I for my part would never take my shirt off in a park, on the beach yes, but not in a public park, so far men exhibiting their chest are for me on the same level. I also would never leave the beach topless to get a coffee on the promenade, thats against common rules. Your argumentation going why should you not want see a womans breast because you are not intimately connected with her, you see her face, her knees is simple to answer, we are a race that dresses, some parts of the body are considered more intimate than others, because they are involved in procreation and sexuality. Female breasts belong to that category. If your simple wish was only to lie in the park topless you’d do it without making such a fuss about it. Instead you post close-up pictures, reminding people not to stare at you. That strikes me somehow as being contradictory…In the end its always about finding a balance between each and everybodies freedom, respectfully, and that has not always to do with laws allowing or denying rights.
Women’s breasts are not involved in procreation or sexuality any more than men’s breasts are. They’re involved in feeding infants, but that’s neither procreation nor sexuality. And there was a time when it was against social conventions for a woman to expose her knees, or her elbows. Today that sounds ridiculous, and for good reason. Banning exposure of women’s breasts will seem ridiculous to our children and grandchildren too, just as exposing knees and elbows would have shocked your grandfather or his grandfather.
The reason we post pictures and make a fuss is because today we still have to combat ignorance and fear and prejudice like yours. When the ignorance, fear and prejudice goes away, there will be no need for a site like ours anymore.
I see you are quite radical in your opinion not willing to discuss it without calling someone with an other opinion an ignorant in the end. I am not afraid and I don’t feel ignorant. What was 150 years ago doesn’t concern us anymore is maybe interesting as a historical fact but I don’t see history really as a linear development, so maybe people at times in the past were maybe less constraint and more open than we are today, even freer who knows? Maybe some day you’ll be reading books completely naked in Central Park, who knows, if society and laws will allow it? Do what you think you have to do and do it well. And don’t take it as an offence if I expressed my views.
I think it is great that your group is challenging and hopefully changing opinion. You girls are topless in the park reading a book and minding your own business. Who is this hurting? It’s not against the law in NYC. What’s the problem? If only more people had your courage to stand up for their beliefs and rights. Keep it up!
Well good on ‘yer. I couldn’t possibly object to nudity unless it came with some faux-righteous putdown of the passer by’s natural attraction to it. For the record, I’ve spent untold hours on naked beaches and obviously support clothing-free whatever, on the other hand, I’m not a fan of having my natural inclination to admire (tactfully I hope) in any way restricted (that is, short of photographing, gross staring, or that thing I used to see in Sheep’s Meadow all the time, a dressed dude sitting literally at a bikini-ed woman’s feet, looking up her crotch.) You guys by the way are all ridiculously gorgeous.
Brilliant work, ladies. I applaud your group for expressing their freedom in such a beautiful manner. I think our society is much too restricted and closed minded. I hope your adventures and related blog open some minds to the beauty of the human form.
I look forward to some cerebral posts about the all reading that you’ve accomplished on your outings this summer!
Keep up the good work.
Too bad we don’t have a group of people like you over by my neck of the woods😦 Reading and getting naked 2 of my favorite pastimes🙂 These latest pics look really artsy, something about those black and white photos that really stand out?? Your beautiful people!! (-:🙂
I can’t help feeling how lucky you are to have such a beautiful roof top garden, although I did wonder if the photographer standing on the chair might attract attention from the windows in the background! (not that that would be illegal I think). I also felt that ‘meeting the public’ was an important step forward if one of your aims is to normalise breasts, as opposed to just having a nice time in comfortable wear. As you say, we should be able to socialise normally, regardless of what we are wearing above the waist without attracting any unusual attention, and feel completely relaxed about it just as guys might.
I see you have some imitators in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
NIFTY (Naked Iconoclasts Fighting the Yoke) held a successful topfree reading event in Vancouver’s Grandview Park on Saturday, September 8, 2012. Inspired by the Outdoor Co-Ed Topless Pulp Fiction Appreciation Society events in New York, we enjoyed an afternoon of reading and good company on a beautiful Vancouver Saturday. We are pleased to report that we were entirely unmolested, unchallenged, and simply accepted as part of the mix of humanity enjoying the park that day.
Our next event is scheduled for Saturday, September 29 from 13:00 to 15:00 at Grandview Park; all are welcome.
I suppose there is no reason you can’t franchise chapters all over the world.
Agreed! We were thrilled to hear about NIFTY’s event and would love it if other groups around the world were inspired by us to do the same.🙂
I hope this question is not out of line, but have any of your members ever posed for SuicideGirls? I am asking because I can’t help noticing that several of your members have collections of tattoos that would be right in style for that site. Just curious.
Not that we know of.
I really am glad for you girls that feel its ok to show the rest of the world its ok to go topless just like men. If the rest of the world would just “chill out” and do the same it would be alot better place. And Im new here.
Ok, this is officially awesome!
Have you ever considered holding some sort of event for Breast Cancer Awareness Month? Perhaps an indoor photoshoot/calendar shoot or book auction?
A book auction is a fun idea. Doing events indoors really isn’t the same, in terms of demonstrating that women and men should be equal in terms of public toplessness, but they can certainly be fun to do for other reasons…
Perhaps signed copies of books from Hard Case Crime?
While technically a group with ‘Outdoor’ in their name is not quite the same indoors, you have demonstrated that in fact you do have indoor events. If equality is the only issue then one would concentrate on venues where men have traditionally been allowed to do this. That would include parks, beaches, sports, the streets etc. However if men and women were equally shirt free indoors the objective would still be fulfilled.
However a related question, which people like Moira Johnston appear to be addressing, is whether women should merely follow male traditions, or explore other venues where being shirt free could be an option.
That in itself raises questions as to whether the objective should be merely ‘equality’, or also include breaking down taboos, stigma and shame relating to the human female breast.
Hi from your fan from Israel🙂
It is like 2 kind of art meeting together!
I love reading and I love being naked… You are doing both things together🙂
Do you have men reading with you too?
We do, though rarely more than one or two men at any given event, just to keep the events female-focused.
I go “spinning” and they have limited changing rooms. The guys change their shirts in the hallway while we wait in line for the changing room or just change our shirts while leaving on our sports bras (really, what’s the point?). Inspired by your website, I have found a corner to change in. No one said a word yet. Perhaps, you ladies are slowly changing the world … or at least New York City!
God bless you. Love to think we inspired you!
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Hoping everyone is safe after the storm
Thanks. Haven’t heard from everyone, but everyone we’ve heard from seem to be okay.
Haven’t heard or seen anything here lately? I hope everyone is alright🙂 best wishes!!!
Everyone is fine. It’s just too cold to go topless outdoors! We do have an indoor event planned for later this week, so you should see a new report soon…but they’re likely to be few and far between until the thaw comes in the Spring…
It would be good – even for an ‘Outdoor’ group, to be able to make indoor events topoptional. That would be one step closer to normalising topfreedom. That means more topfree friendly businesses and institutions. However it is asking a slightly different question to – I wish to remove my top to sunbathe, or because it is so hot, it would be moving beyond an equality question. But then by being occasionally bottomfree you already have!
how does a person become a member? I have been collecting pulp fiction for 6 years now and this seems fun.
Just send a note to toplesspulpfiction[AT]gmail[DOT]com, and we’ll add you to our list to hear about future events.
I support what you guys stand for. thumbs up! peace, love and topless reading to all.
Bravo à vous !
hope there will be something like this in Greece🙂 Brilliant work, ladies!!!! I applaud your group…..
Wait–don’t people go naked all the time in Greece? At least on the beaches? That’s certainly the impression I had…
hhaaahhah🙂 all the time??? where do i live anyway?😛
Great concept, after reading the posts please let me offer a couple things. Keep it pure, as pioneer’s of your club your going to get the good with the bad. You made the choice to exercise your equality. Don’t get caught in defensive posts, there isn’t any reason to defend or make rules how others should act. Guys that watch were brought up having to make an investment to see real breasts. Whether it’s dating or throwing dollars on a stage. So to keep it simple there is a little shock value there. Older ones can’t change, younger will be more accepting.Your getting some sun and reading, keep it that simple. When you get on a podium it defeats the normalcy of what your trying to promote. Also keep your groups around a dozen, small groups reflect the ” not a big deal ” premise. That way you can acomplish 2 things. First several groups can be in different places, reflecting a common act. Second you can have groups that don’t have event photographers. I’m sure more would participate if they knew it wasn’t going to be posted on the web. The random picture is going to happen but give an opportunity to not have event pictures taken. Not wearing a bra 30 years ago was not a big deal, not sure why that changed. Somehow it went backwards. Oh, just to poke a little fun, soccer mom’s did the same thing when they were young. It was just at parties or testing their boundaries. Your approach can bring about change, especially if you can get expanding to take hold. Repetition should help with the gawkers, the more common it becomes the less it should be a concern of their’s. One last thing, keep it focused. You might want to reflect on whether to post the roof gatherings. Fun but different, takes away from what I understood you were trying to promote. Ever forward and take care ladies.
you guys are awesome!
Dear all at OCToPFAS – a belated happy New Year to you all, and best wishes for a long outdoor season in 2013.
Your big fan in London, Douglas Lee
PS Thank you for posting your round-up of the most popular pics from 2012 – and how clever of you to put my own favourite at the top of the list!
Hi All.🙂
Thought you and your friends and fans might enjoy my new little venture on etsy…I carry inexpensive framed reproductions of classic pulp novels, magazines, movie posters…including a nice selection of exploitation/sexploitation titles. I’ve started out with 135 titles with many more to come! Thanks for the terrific blog!
http://www.etsy.com/shop/FRAMEDVINTAGE
While seen your pictures I’ve noticed something: you’re so cute that’s difficult to find a so pretty group of women walking just arround. I beleive you haven’t use fotoshop for them, so how you choose your members? Just by friendship between you? First of all you must love pulp fiction novels we know, but how else?
Just by friendship, or friend-of-friendship. There is no requirement that anyone look a certain way in order to come to one of our events. Of course, we tend to chose photos to post in which we look better rather than worse, but we have all ages and body types.
I mentioned on Twitter that the Law in DC was the same as in NY. I actually found the statute.
It used to just say any “exposure of his or her person” but was updated to say the actual parts.
DC 22-1312
It is unlawful for a person, in public, to make an obscene or indecent exposure of his or her genitalia or anus, to engage in masturbation, or to engage in a sexual act as defined in § 22-3001(8). It is unlawful for a person to make an obscene or indecent sexual proposal to a minor. A person who violates any provision of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, shall be fined not more than $500, imprisoned for not more than 90 days, or both.
Tom – what does that have to do with this group? Or did you mean that exposure of the person is now ok with the exceptions mentioned? The law in NY was determined by the courts not the legislature.
I thought it was interesting. The law in DC is the same as NY and was also because of a court case. People I know don’t believe it. I tried to look up the ruling but couldn’t find it. I did find the amended DC regs and found it interesting that the reworded it so there was no vagueness. It used to just say his or her person. Now it’s specific as to what you can’t expose and doesn’t include breasts.
It would be helpful if someone wanted to try walking topless here if they had a copy of the law in hand if they got stopped.
Thinking of the most recent post from this intrepid group of pioneers, when you live in NY as opposed to California Outdoor-Indoor might be a a more appropriate title – or just Public. Not easy to find a mixed spa these days for co-eds.🙂
As I think many people are aware House Bill 34 in the North Carolina General Assembly seeks to make the nipple and areola of the human female breast a ‘private part’ so that it is included in the indecent exposure law, and hence a misdemeanor or felony and hence possibly be subject to imprisonment.
What nobody seems to be considering down there is whether in those states that have not criminalized the female nipple there is actually any perceivable harm to society. The worst that they can come up with is that ‘constituents are concerned’.
Even more bizarre was a comment in committee that the use of duct tape would protect women from arrest and conviction.
Ultimately that is why it will be courts that have to make the determination.
What is ridiculous about the duct tape. Aside from the obvious insensitivity, is that they still don’t get the irony of barely covered and bare. The irony is that skimpy revealing attire, that covers the minimum the law requires is much more sexual than a bare breast. Skimpy attire calls attention to the breast in a teasing manor. Once initial shock wears off, I think most people can get used to the naturalness of breasts.
I salute your courage, dedication and determination (Snow Day). I told the politicians in N Carolina (above) to visit Central Park in the summer. Clearly I was wrong!
If it’s co-ed why aren’t there any men? You’d think it would be a problem keeping too many of us from showing up. Maybe when they find out it’s about reading and not Tarantino they lose interest? A mystery.
We always have at least one guy, sometimes two, at all our events; they tend to be camera shy, but if you poke through our site you’ll spot them in some photos. But we do try to keep the events female focused.
I LOVE this and think you guys know how to take advantage of a good book and a sunny day in the city. Perhaps I’ll join you all sometime..
Please do! We would love to have you!
I am straight, not a lesbian or bi-sexual, maybe a little bi-curious,
CAN I COME OUT AND PLAY?
Of course! Our events aren’t about sex, they’re about enjoying an afternoon in the sun with friends. Straight, gay, bi…it’s all good.
Welcome to Spring! Now the question is – will the movement grow, and more importantly will it spread to shall we say – the less enlightened parts of the country?
I for one hopes the movement grows. As a journalist, this is a sign that women are finding their Lilith energy, well some of them. Also the east coast is different from the west coast, like OWS was different from Occupy LA. My two current stories about this new wave are below. The second link plugs your group.
http://temeculacalendar.blogspot.com/2013/04/accredited-charity-accredited-disease.html
http://temeculacalendar.blogspot.com/2013/04/nurses-get-cover-author-headlines-vid.html
I saw this on the news and thought that I should stop by and say hey. Reading and promoting reading is always a good thing, clothed or unclothed. In any case, if men can go topless, women should be able to as well. I was just talking about these topics with a female acquaintance of mine a few weeks ago. I feel the world would be a much better and happier place if everyone embraced two things 1. Equality for all regardless of size, shape, gender, race, status, or sexual orientation. 2. Recognizing that nudity/bare skin is not always sexual and that women(or anyone, for that matter) are not objects to be ogled. At the same time, people should accept and embrace the inherent sexuality and beauty in all human bodies and minds. On the topic of books, I haven’t read any pulp fiction crime-noir, but I’m a fan of some urban fantasy/horror crime-noir lol🙂. The books on your list look cool, though. I’ll read most anything but I like horror and sci-fi best, especially the classics(Poe, Lovecraft, Asimov, etc). I also read a lot of non-fiction works about science. I applaud you for exercising your right, and hopefully you can shift opinion elsewhere so that something that should be a natural right becomes legal everywhere else.
Have you ladies read Seduction of the Innocent by Max Allan Collins? It seems like a pretty interesting take on the Fredric Wertham book and ensuing controversy, and has received excellent reviews.
Have we? If you look through some of our photos, you’ll see some of us holding copies of that very book.
The best blog ever I have seen in my life
on the east coast
A little plug supporting your reading/exhibitionist group. http://hereticaljargon.com/2013/04/28/the-outdoor-co-ed-topless-pulp-fiction-appreciation-society/
Would your group ever consider graphic novels? There’s TONS out there that could fit into your literary sensibilities.
Absolutely! We have some members who are into comics and graphic novels. We even have one who writes them…
Thanks! I’m Mexican and love to see new ways of freedom, and most fun reading in groups! See you in the summer!
Heretic, that raises a number of questions. Do you think this is exhibitionism? – the legal definition would not appear to apply here, surely. Also do you think one of the purposes is to ‘push the boundaries of what is socially acceptable’? Couldn’t this just be a group of friends enjoying themselves and inviting others to join them? Pornography – well that is very much in the eye of the beholder, but by no stretch of the imagination does this reach that level. I think what is important is that if you don’t exercise your rights you lose them, and if you don’t know your rights, you don’t have any. However they say there is no such thing as bad publicity, so we shall see if the group grows or creates daughter groups.
Hi
In Kazakhstan friends of mine go topless at home, at their dachas and at the beach without reservation as to who might be about-I think that they are way ahead of the curve then is the case here.
Lewis
Hi
Without any need for a book my sister manages to put most of the women in our family on edge simply by wearing a bikini.
Lewis
Wow! I didn’t grow up in a nudist colony but at public parks and pools in particular, there was never any problem for the male, opposite for the female. At least in America since the 30s, 40s, and 50s from pictures I have seen. Recently I reported a story about the start of ‘hiding women’ on this website. Look for ‘Origin of Taboos On Women’ story here, http://temcal.com
Hi
That’s great that your group is changing peoples’ attitudes. I think you are all really brave and great role models for other women. Hopefully more women will follow where you have led. Keep up the good work!
Liam
This kind of feminine empowerment is sexy, beautiful, and peace provoking. I honor you all for your efforts and I hope it will spark a revolution back to reading books- that literature that helps us learn to be human beings. I think it would be a great idea to organize an annual topless/nude reading day for men and women to demonstrate that enjoying a book outdoors without clothes on is a wonderful and sustainable way to spend the day. Good luck in all your endeavors!
some great tattoos on smart chicks !! very sexy
I hope the O.C.T.P.F.A.S. will join moms and women’s groups like the 420Nurses in tomorrow’s international March Against Monsanto. 9% of marchers/protesters have registered topless. Hope you East Coasters push it to 10%
You can find details about this on facebook, but there is a media blackout on this story.
Bravo. You add a unique splash of color to our drab, deracinated 21st century. Just the right mix of retro savvy, sauciness, and social activism. Looks like you ladies are doing just fine on your own, but If you ever need some support for your activities, let me know via Wayne Foundation at mark88c2002@yahoo.com.
Talke and keep exploding stereotypes.
I love this, but for such a progressive concept, I wish I’d have seen more diversity! Some women with curves all over, maybe?
Other than that, awesome. Much love!
Wow, that’s awesome that Elmore Leonard is a fan and sent you some books! Maybe more authors will follow suit!
Good to see you are back and advancing women’s rights
Sex equality, freedom of your body and literature. This brings back to the 60s and 70s. Good to know that there are still people fighting for these values. Go on ladies! (and men, why don’t you join the movement too?)
I have 4 daughters, two of which are as gutsy as you, and two who are shy. I believe all women should be proud of themselves. As a male and a dad I commend your courage. The fact that you make none of your photos look tacky but yet lets the world see your beauty speaks volumes.
We should have a book club like yours in Denmark!!!! Your concept is so great!! Maybe I oughta start one😀
Ansolutely! Do it, and send us photos and we’ll post them. You can be our Danish branch…
Hi, When are you guys coming to San Francisco? We would love to have you here in Golden Gate Park. Please let me know. You can all stay at my place.
Cheeky, aren’t you? No cross-country trips currently planned, but if that changes we’ll certainly let people know on the blog.
I usually have Good Morning America on in the mornings and I often wonder why its sidewalk audience members are so plain vanilla. Why not do some Outdoor Co-Ed Topfree Pulp Fiction reading right there on the sidewalk? (Or does ABC actually own all the sidewalks in the area?)
I don’t think they own the sidewalks, but I doubt they’d let us broadcast our boobs to the rest of the country (in most places, what we do is not legal). But that doesn’t mean we couldn’t try sometime…
I’m curious – are most commentators here male?
I’m a guy. I’m sure there’s a few. You’ll need a lot of guys on your team if this is going to work.
I don’t think most are male. There seems to be a good mix.
I am interested in the mix of women that post. Are most bi or at least bi-curious? I agree that women should not be discriminated against if they elect to sun bath topless. I do have a concern if they are near schools with young children. Maybe that is a little old fashioned, but I do feel this might be inappropriate.
If there is one category of human being on earth that has no problem with breasts, it’s young children. Their parents might; the children themselves don’t. That’s why the “Think of the children!” refrain has always struck as particularly ridiculous in this case. Mothers with young children have sat down beside us, come by to introduce their children to us, asked to take pictures with us; school groups on field trips have walked past us and seen a very relaxed, natural, healthy scene of friends enjoying an afternoon in the sun. Far from harming the children, we believe that seeing us can be a valuable learning experience, especially for young girls, who need to learn that their bodies are nothing to be ashamed of.
As for our sexual orientations, they run the gamut from straight to bi-curious to bi to lesbian and beyond. We welcome all.
Thank you for replying to my comment. Well spoken.
The ‘harmful to children’ argument comes up regularly because it tends to produce a knee-jerk reaction – we have to protect the children. Of course there is absolutely no evidence to support this – it is adult anxiety about the human body that is harmful to children.
I am puzzled – what on earth has sexual orientation got to do with being body positive?!
I am sorry to hear you have run up against Facebook’s antediluvian rules. I am also banned. I hope you are fighting it as I am. I am sick of their double standard – women as objects is fine – women as the subject is not. Breasts as sexual objects are fine, non-sexual is not. Maybe you can post the offending image here.
Oh, I’m sure we have posted it here. I don’t remember which one it was, but it was just a standard photo of us out in a park somewhere. Nothing provocative or unusual.
Now, to be fair to Facebook, they seem equally unhappy with photos that objectify women if those photos show bare breasts. In that respect they’re equal-opportunity in their censorship. (It’s not like they’re allowing Playboy to post their naked models but refusing to allow us to post our photos of ourselves. In their eyes, bare breasts are ALWAYS objectionable, whether as sexual objects or not.) But it’s annoying that a photo with a tiny sliver of areola showing results in an account suspension and the same photo with the woman angled a hairline differently does not. What in the world is it about the slightly darker skin or the hint of protrusion that offends them so much? Why not censor photos that show a woman’s lips? Or a picture of a woman with a bug bite or a pimple on her arm? (Or, obviously, a picture of a man’s areola or nipple.)
Well having been following the debate on this in the media and having researched the issue I came to a different conclusion as noted in my last two sentences above – i wish it were not so.
The kid thing is the whole reason I follow this blog. Not just my little daughter, but my 4 yr old son. He doesn’t care about breasts. He knows women have them and men have facial hair. He has no reason to think they should be covered and couldn’t possibly be harmed if he saw them exposed in the park or at a pool.
Exactly. Some nice stubble on a man, or a nice beard or mustache, can be very sexy, but we don’t insist that men wear bandanas over their faces like Old West stagecoach robbers or ban photos of them from Facebook to protect children’s delicate eyes from the intoxicating sight of their bare follicles.
Yeah. It’s stupid. It won’t make any difference to the kids until someone tells them it’s supposed be a big deal. Why do we have to tell them that at all?
I agree that a 4 year old does not care. My wife took our son into the ladies bathrooms and I took my daughter into men’s rooms when they were young. Personally I am more concerned about the pre-teen and teen boys. I must admit to being more conservative and prefer young boys show respect for women. My wife was nude many times when our children were pre-teen. It certainly did not hurt them. If children are going to be around this “open environment” they need to be educated.
They’ll get over it. And fast. As soon as they see women’s breasts just hanging out. Not being pushed up and posed sexually. They’ll get bored as quickly as little kids.
There are lots of pictures that say This is Legal, This is not. With a picture of a large breasted man and a topless woman. But I’d like to see one with a picture of oversexualized barely covered breasts for commercial or sex purposes with a caption saying This is legal and This is Not being a normal non sexual topless sunbather. That’s what’s mind blowing to me.
I just found out about your book club and I just gotta say I think it’s fantastic. I will admit that a small part of that is because of the topless aspect (I’m a guy, I can’t help but think breasts are awesome), but the main reason I think what you’re doing is so great is because by being so public about this, you’re encouraging reading and the outdoors. So many people don’t bother to read these days, or they just read magazines, and they are missing out on all the amazing worlds that exist in books. And even if they do read, they stay cooped up inside, never seeing the sun. So I say good on you ladies for getting out, soaking up that vitamin D and exercising your minds with some entertaining fiction. Not much beats relaxing outside with a good book on a warm sunny day.
Actually women find breasts awesome too!
If you are trying to make the human body less objectified, why is your tagline “making reading sexy”?
We’re trying to make the female body less a thing of fear and shame and repression, and bring women and men to a point of equality. That doesn’t mean making our bodies less sexy. A bare-chested man can be sexy; so can a bare-chested woman. There’s nothing wrong with being sexy. (And being sexy does not necessarily mean being objectified.) What’s wrong is that men are allowed to be sexy in this mild, harmless way without interference or repercussion, but women (until now) have not been.
Anyway, “making reading sexy” felt cheeky and fun when WordPress asked one of our founders to input a tagline 2+ years ago, and none of us know how to change it now. Otherwise we might vary it up from time to time.🙂
I feel your concept is interesting. As an aside, I’d prefer to see no one topless (male or female) at a public park. A pool or a beach, sure. But, that is just a matter of opinion. I’m all for equality.
Let me pick your brain on this: would you also support full nudity? Right now, men can’t show their penis. Is the body is to not be objectified, would you be in support of men and women, totally naked, reading peacefully in the public park?
We would be fine with full nudity, yes; many of us go fully nude when we meet on one of the private rooftops we sometimes use. There’s nothing inherently offensive about a penis, or about a vagina. We’re all human beings, we’ve all got bodies, and if you’re reading peacefully, what difference does it make what parts of you are exposed to the sun and what parts are covered? That said, as long as the law prohibits public exposure of genitals equally for men and for women, we have no objection to that ban on the grounds of inequality.
Hi!
This must need a piece of courage to go topless these days, but it is also a good way to change the mentalities. The bible tells us that we used to go naked before the snake and the apple, blablabla… So maybe your action could be seen as a piece of Eden garden in a world of brutality. And reading! This is THE idea! What more peaceful than a group of ladies reading in a park, under the spring sun? I wish our French ladies could do the same, in the lawn of the Champs de Mars, by the Eiffel Tower, for example. But exposing breasts, topless, is not allowed this way in the cities, although it’s very common on the beaches.
(I hope you will excuse my english!)
For a better world, and a better place to live!
JL. M
I’m not a fan of making it equal by taking the right away from men. Men aren’t allowed to take their shirts off at the Nationals baseball games in DC. I suspect its because they’d legally have to let women then.
Now that’s not the women’s fault of course. Maybe if they start banning men taking their shirts off then it will show how silly all of it is.
Well spoken.
I always thought the French women were more open sexually. Send them to New York to learn.
[…] para viajar à “Grande Maçã” e quiser fazer parte do movimento, só precisa acessar o blog (https://coedtoplesspulpfiction.wordpress.com/about) e mandar um e-mail para saber o local do próximo […]
Translating from Portuguese:
Learn about the group of women who meet to read Topless – (see link on Literatortura, by Monique Almeida)
http://literatortura.com/2013/06/conheca-o-grupo-de-leitura-de-mulheres-que-se-reunem-de-topless/
June 21, 2013 at 4:20 pm
[…] To travel to the “Big Apple” and be part of the movement, just access the blog (https://coedtoplesspulpfiction.wordpress.com/about) and send an e-mail to know the location of the next […]
Everything Harry says sounds reasonably polite and all but that logic is just senseless. Even if I bought any of it, it still unfair because of the inequality of it all. It’s ridiculous for Men to say its ok for us to go topless but not you because of the way your breasts make us aroused. That’s nonsense. Some men get turned on by feet but we do not ban sandals or flip flops.
But here’s the thing. I WOULD like to go topless in the park. In not in the best of shape. I don’t have six pack abs. We should all be above this body Squeamishness.
I moved from Toronto to Stockholm, Sweden 12 years ago, and one of the reasons I love it is they are so so so much more relazed about nudity, and definitely do not immediately relate it with sex. I sunbathe and swim nude here often, with no trouble at all.
Scandinavia is great. Lots of parts of the world are more relaxed than the Americas. (Of course, lots of part sof the world are more repressive. It’s all relative.) But we like to think of New York City as European in some ways even if the rest of the country is not.
has there ever been a problem with gawkers, stalkers, potential rapists or any other such undesireable papparazzi types as a result of a bunch of hot women posting naked photos of themselves with the locations of future gatherings in public?
you all seem very comfortable, i dont imagine a few cellphone snaps would bother you.. but its new york, you just never know..
safety considerations? or is all good?
No, there has never been a problem. But we don’t post the time and location of future gatherings in advance. We sometimes post saying something like, “We plan to meet tomorrow,” but we don’t say where. New York is a big place, and we’ve met in dozens of locations. And usually we don’t even post that much.
Yes, there have been some cellphone snaps. We snap back and the guys generally turn tail and flee. Occasionally a guy will sit behind a nearby bush or boulder and watch. Depending on how he goes about it, it can be annoying, but…eh. As long as he’s not bothering us, so be it.
Once in a very long while some loudmouth will make obnoxious comments as he passes or try to sit down with us, but again, we can generally chase such characters off by making it clear they’re not welcome. In the VERY rare case where we can’t, we can pack up and move ourselves.
In short, all is good.
What a wonderful way to celebrate the start of summer! I wish all of you at OCTPFAS many long, hot topless/naked days to come.
Douglas Lee, London
Great job. The more this happens the more normal it will become. Women should be free to be topless anywhere a man can be and people need to get over it. Toronto also has similar laws that women can be topless anywhere a man can. We like to point out the suppression of women in the middle east but this is no different. Laws should not identify gender.
The human body is just as beautiful and natural as flowers. If your religious it’s god’s greatest creation if not it’s nature’s greatest creation. As an artist I don’t think I would want my greatest creation hidden away.
As for kids, its natural. We take our grandson to Dominican Republic and he sees lots of topless women with no issues.
Be safe and enjoy life.
I love the previous comment..and I agree whole heartedely with it!!
This has always been the sort of thing I’d love to do. I’m all about equality and the doing away of modesty, but the only girls I ever see on here are girls who are skinny and look good topless. Flat stomachs, no stretch marks or fold or nothing, nothing but really gorgeous ladies, and it makes me feel like larger people wouldn’t really be able to do this, or be very welcome. Please tell me otherwise, because I fear my insecurity is getting the best of me.
Everyone is welcome: all body types and sizes, all ages. We don’t have perfect bodies, and if you look through our blog you’ll see a variety of shapes and weights, etc. But we can only show people who choose to come to our events (and actually only a subset of those, since some people ask not to be photographed), and my guess is that people who feel insecure about their bodies are less likely to come, or if they do come, less likely to be comfortable being photographed. So it’s a bit of a vicious circle: you don’t see them on our site, so you don’t feel comfortable coming; you don’t come, so people don’t see you; and so on. We encourage people of all sorts to join us. What we’re doing isn’t about looking gorgeous, or about looking any way at all – it’s about feeling comfortable and enjoying a sunny day in the company of good friends.
Hi, very interesting passion. I wonder if it exist a difference , in my mind yes, about topless and nudity, when you are outside. Because i see someone of you just naked, not only topless… This may lead you in some kind of problem with cops, especially in central park, i think. Correct me i’f i’m wrong. Bye !
When we’re outdoors in Central Park (or any of the city’s other parks), we only go topless, not fully nude. We only go fully nude when we’re on a private rooftop where we know it’s okay to do so.
The lady who goes topfree in the privacy of her yard and who wants to dip her toe in the water is lovely. There is no moral nor ethical reason she should not proceed.
“New Morals” Hmm. Not so sure about that – perhaps old morals. People only got uptight about the human body in the west in the latter part of the second millenium
To your friend of July 13th…
You have a lovely body and a great smile. Your confidence is very appealing. Thanks for sharing, and whatever you decide about joining the group in public, you rock!
I salute your new friend’s bravery. She is a braver woman than me! I have no issue going topless and do so whenever I can. I’m proud of my body. Perhaps one day, I will feel comfortable enough to go topless in a secluded area of central park. Or, even join your group on an outing if I could preserve my anonymity. Do you have any plans for the group to take a trip to the beach this summer?
We don’t have any beach plans, though we do talk about it from time to time. You should definitely come out with us to the park sometime, though! Everyone is anonymous in our group; we don’t use anyone’s name on the blog, and you can always wear dark glasses or a big floppy hat to disguise yourself in the great outdoors. If you’re at all tempted, send us a note at toplesspulpfiction[AT]gmail[DOT]com…
A floppy hat would defeat the purpose of being topless in the first place. I would have interest in attending, but would not have any interest in being on the website. While your names are not posted on the website, its clearly not anonymous. Anyone who knows you and wanders by the site would clearly recognize. I’m very proud of my body and enjoying showing it off, but could not risk such photos going “viral” at my workplace. You, and your new friend, are braver women than me!
We do have a few people who come to our events but don’t get photographed. Not many, but some, and if you wanted to try it once, we could do that for you.🙂
You are my favorite readers of all time. If I dedicate a Quarry novel to you, will you record a group reading?
Yes! That would be fun.
Noticed this in Albany (,NY) paper ; Nude? Consider yourself busted
http://www.timesunion.com/default/article/Nude-Consider-yourself-busted-4682256.php
This could become (or is a) problem
Law is always complicated. What is relevant here is the law as written and the law as applied. In practice, although the law still exists on the statute books, the chances of obtaining a conviction are virtually nil. Although over the years since the court decision, women have been arrested, no convictions have resulted. A number received financial compensation for false arrest. Thanks to the activities of this group and other like minded women, the chances of arrest are now virtually nil. If you have a right – you need to exercise it, or you might lose it. Tip of the Hat to OCTPFAS.
This is fabulous! If I send you my book, will you read it?
http://entertainment.time.com/2012/03/28/my-friend-dahmer-the-unspeakable-horror-of-life-in-the-1970s/
Appreciate the offer! But we’ve gotten so many books offered to us by very generous authors and publishers…more than we could ever possibly get to…that we’ve pretty much set a policy of not taking any more. Yes, we made an exception for Elmore Leonard, but that was Elmore Leonard.🙂
Bravo les filles !
I am told that today, August 9, is “HAPPY BOOK LOVER’S DAY”.
What a great combination…..Books and Boobs..
Love the idea and love your beauty. Well done: this horrible world needs things like these.
Good luck,
D.
Your excursion to the library is unexpected. The beach or the park for a little sun is one thing. The library or the business area is another. This is more than a bit shocking because a person isn’t used to that context. I suppose with some more chances, we could become less shocked in several different contexts. Still, aren’t you going a bit far? Guys would not take off their shirts for reading at the library. On the contrary, we might add a tie and jacket for that place. Still, there’s nothing wrong with it, it’s just SOOOO unfamiliar as to be a bit shocking. If someone came to a state dinner barefoot, it wouldn’t be immoral or illegal, just out of the social norm and so a little shocking. It’s like that. Are you sure this is a good thing? Where does it become allowable but past the bounds of appropriateness? I don’t actually know the answer to that question.
Going a bit far? By enjoying the sun on the steps of the public library, where guys sun themselves every sunny day? Not at all. We didn’t go INTO the library with our shirts off. The steps outside are a common gathering place. You don’t see too many bikinis, but the occasional shirtless man isn’t that unusual.
Great job!
This should be the normal… People may not know it but you are doing a great job pushing for equal rights for women and offsetting the repression of women by religious extremest.
People (women) need to be free!
I´ve sent to you an email to your gmail now on your blog I congratulate all of you for your second anniversary. Long life for O.C.T.P.F.A.S, you’re the sunshine that makes our life happy.
I will add my congratulations on your second anniversary. I enjoy your comments and pictures.
I was thinking about you guys the other day, and then I thought about Edouard Manet. His famous painting lunch in the park. In its time period there was out rage. Outrage that a nude could be so comfortable in the common place. I started to giggle imaging the artist in his grave cheering you guys on, as the day arrives where comfort of our spirits in their natural bodies, are comfortable in the common place.
Elmore Leonard has today passed. A legend enters the halls of time amd memory.
Read a number of his books and watched some of the movies made from the books. He will be missed as an author.
Yes, R.I.P. Elmore Leonard. I really enjoyed Out Of Sight.
Have any of you ladies attended a book festival, or considered attending an outdoor book festival as the O.C.T.P.F.A.S.?
We attended last year’s New York Art Book Fair, and may go again this year. We might do another show sometime. An outdoor one would be nice. If only “New York Is Book Country” still existed…
For Elmore Leonard: Requiem aeternam dona eis et lux perpetua luceat eis.
Hello beautiful people of co-ed topless… Since your post have appear almost daily, a new surprise!, I didn’t have opportunity to leave a comment om your visit to NYC public library. Although you have the right to go topless everywhere the other sex does, you have to be careful; since USA is still a puritan minded country and is said on a previous commentary that some legislators from NY are trying to create some bills against nudity could be recommendable not to ask much attention on public buildings. Maybe some of the people gathering round taking pictures believed you were Femen riot protesters. Don’t mislead my intentions, I’m not against your way of acting, but just be a little polite because so many civil rights have been withdraw this last years on USA, so try to preserve your right for equality. Go ahead cute girls, long life for your Society.
No. We do not have to “be careful.” We have every legal right to do what we’re doing, and we’re going to keep doing it, and the more public and visible we are, the better. The way we will lose this right is by hiding and being excessively polite and apologizing for what we do. Do men apologize when they read and sun and jog bare-chested all over the city? No. Do they think, “I’d better be careful, I’d better not attract too much attention, or I might lose the right to do this”? No. They don’t, and we won’t either.
I know your heart was in the right place when you wrote your message and your intentions were good, but we couldn’t disagree more strongly with this advice.
Yes what is needed is more exposure in public places. It needs to become commonplace. Soon people won’t think twice about seeing a topless woman on their way into the library. That’s how you win this.
I do not think that will happen, but at least people will be more tolerant. Alan
________________________________
I think we’ll all be surprised at how quickly people get over stuff like that. Once it’s not a surprise, no one will care.
Interesting how some people think this is inappropriate. A major thrust of the group has been equality from the start. That is – where men are not criticised for taking off their shirts – nor should women. On constitutional grounds, I agree.
However one could equally argue, as a woman, that such a premise on its own is limiting. Why should we let men dictate what is and is not appropriate? The court decision under which this right is being exercised, did not in the end address equality, to most people’s surprise. The court merely held that the State of New York had failed to demonstrate why it felt it was important to “criminalizes the mere exposure by a woman in a public place of a specific part of her breast.” In a prior case (People v Price 1973) the same court had ruled that NY’s statute “should not be applied to the noncommercial, perhaps accidental, and certainly not lewd, exposure”.
Within these parameters, this group and other women are quite within their rights, while in a public place. The actions of others, such as the crowd at the library, should be non-determinative.
I find no grounds for ‘being careful’, which merely internalises the prejudices of others.
I have no problem with women being allowed to go topless in public.I am certain that seeing women topless would eventually “desensitize” people and it would become a “non-event”.
However, as a man, if I am sitting outside without a shirt it is primarily to get a tan. When I sit outside to read I find I sweat more shirtless than wearing a shirt. In fact many times I “drip” on my book or magazine. Of course, we know that men sweat and women only “glow”.
That, my friend, is why we generally read lying down.
Amen. I’m very proud of your group standing up for the rights of all women. If its a crowd on the steps of the PUBLIC library or 1 creepy guy in Washington Square Park. I hope to see you in Bryant Park tomorrow. I think I may be ready to join this little movement.
And to all you guys out there, they are just boobs!
Yes, they are just boobs, but most men are still “turned on” by boobs. They can be covered by a sweater, a swimming suit, or “hanging free”..and men are still interested. It will take time for a man to sit with a topless woman and discuss Niche without having “eye and mind” drift.
Nietzsche.
And, I’m turned on by a man without his shirt on showing off his abs. I do not harass him. Its just his body in all of nature’s beauty.
My body is no different. And, I’ve been know to discuss Nietzsche, politics and world events while topless with a man … as long as he is also topless (and there are no cameras around).😉
A good idea.
Happy International Go Topless Day! A day of celebration of freedom.🙂
You guys are the best. Thank God for creating such wonderful beautiful creatures. Everything a man needs to begin and end his day!🙂
Hello from France!
You are all beautiful and I understand why you do this but I’m not completely ok with it.
For two reasons, the first is that you say men have the right to be shirtless so women have the right too, and I totally understand this freedom, however, men do not have breasts. The breasts are part of the privacy of the woman I think.
But the actual problem with topless, especially with pretty girls like you to be honest, is that whether you want it or not, it is very attractive. “My freedom ends where someone else’s begins.”, and this is the problem, I would feel very uncomfortable to be in a park next to a group like you. I find it annoying to see beautiful girls almost naked just next to me, both beautiful and inaccessible, and in addition feel guilty if I take a look. In the end I will change place because I would not being like a “voyeur”. And ultimately I think a lot of man (honest) think like me, you put people next to you in an uncomfortable position.
Maybe for you girls are just “boobs” but I assure you that it is not so simple for the common man🙂
greetings
You’re wrong: men do have breasts, sometimes larger breasts than some women, breasts that are biologically identical to women’s, and breasts that heterosexual women (and gay men) often find sexually arousing. A man’s naked chest can be an object of sexual desire just as much as a woman’s. The only difference is that some societies say that one must be covered and the other can be bared in public, just as some repressive, unequal societies say that men can expose their legs and arms but women cannot, or that women must cover their hair while men can expose theirs. Those distinctions are unfair and discriminatory, and so is the distinction between exposing the female chest and the male chest. You are just too deeply enmeshed in your own prejudices and the unquestioned assumptions of your own upbringing to realize it.
And: the problem is that we are “very attractive,” so you would be uncomfortable seeing us? Too fucking bad. Grow up. When you go to the Louvre, does the transcendent beauty of the Mona Lisa make you uncomfortable, to the point where you write a letter to the museum explaining why they must take it down and not display it, to make you feel more comfortable? When you pass a restaurant that serves delectable, mouth-watering food that you can see through their plate-glass windows as you walk on the street, do you complain to them and tell them they really should install window shades, to protect your delicate eyes and easily aroused salivary glands from exposure to this too-exciting display?
You do realize that what you’re saying is substantively no different than saying, “I don’t mind seeing heterosexual couples hold hands in the street, but it makes me uncomfortable to see same-sex couples do so—therefore they shouldn’t be free to.” Or: “I don’t mind seeing white couples kiss each other goodbye at the train station, but seeing men and women of different races do so makes me uncomfortable—they shouldn’t be free to, or even if free to, they still shouldn’t do it, because the simple fact is, a lot of people think like me, and if you do this you put people like me in an uncomfortable position.” Those remarks would be deeply offensive, and the ones you made are, too.
We don’t exist for your pleasure or your comfort and will not give up a freedom you enjoy simply because it would make you happier if we did.
“breasts that are biologically identical to women’s”
Euh… Sorry but it’s actually not true. But ok i understand your point.
But you really dont understand my second point it’s not at all like :
“I don’t mind seeing heterosexual couples hold hands in the street, but it makes me uncomfortable to see same-sex couples do so—therefore they shouldn’t be free to.”
Here it will be just my own issue because this opinion is not shared, and there is no ( like we said in France i dont know if there is same thing in USA ) “flagrant indecency” ( maybe it is not a good translation ).
However, in your case i think that a lot of men are attracted by topless women, and the problem that you didnt understand is that the issue is not to be attracted but the fact that we have to feel guilty about this and that we can be insulted of “voyeur” or “creepy”.
It is that the difference between your example with the restaurant, because if i found it attractive and can look it freely and even eat if i want to. But here you expose your beauty, almost naked, and i have to look away or being considered by you or others women like a “creepy guy”…
In all honesty I must admit that I do not like the way you say :
“I’m not here to attract you, i’m in pantie in the park, but deal with it.”
But you attract us, and thankfully, and NO women and men are not the same. A woman dont react in same way in case of a male casual nudity. It is proved sociologically that men and women haven’t the same reaction to nudity, hormones mounted and do not have the same effect.
“We don’t exist for your pleasure or your comfort and will not give up a freedom you enjoy simply because it would make you happier if we did.”
I agree, but some decency helps to live in society I think.
Sorry if it’s hurt, but a tried to be honest.
We’re not going to engage in an extended argument with you; there’s no point. But I will say that your attitude is extraordinarily entitled and self-centered. I am so very glad that not all men are like you.
Dude, your point is fair but the response is ridiculous and is a key part of the problem. If you, and honestly I mean We. If we have issues with looking at or objectifying these women then that is OUR problem not theirs. I said its. A fair point because sometimes we do have issues. I was raised in a culture of leering at women and accepting that boobs are for selling beer and cars and hamburgers.
These ladies are challenging that. Their breasts aren’t on display. Theirs no implicit promise that if I buy a book they reading that “attractive women” will want me. They won’t act out a penthouse forums charade for me. Turns out, that what they do has nothing to do with me or you or anyone else.
Put your frustration where it belongs. On a message board for companies with busty women selling beer.
See, I guess you can tell where I was looking.
Hi, do you accept men into your group? The gmail address you have listed is not working, just so you know.
The email address is working fine. You must have mistyped the address. As for accepting men, we usually do have one or two guys are our events…but never more than that, and almost always only ones we already know well.
Just read your latest piece (dated 11/09). Only one word will do……superb.
I understand and agree that woman have the right to be topless if they desire. Just like there are places where it is appropriate for a man to be shirtless and places where it is inappropriate so it is with women. I am a man in my 60s. I grew up in a more Victorian age than today. During the 60s, the time of free love, it was only the most liberal women that “gave it up”, not the “nice girls”. Also, we had homosexual men, but lesbian women were not as out in the open.
For men of my generation to get to see “boobies” we had to buy a magazine and even then the magazines were hidden behind counters or covered in plastic so they could not be opened. Is it any wonder why we still have a way to go on the learning curve before we are able to accept women as equal when it comes to going shirtless in public? Many men and women still feel that a woman’s breast should “not be exposed to fresh air”. I commend you for the cause you support. Maybe in the next generation growing up today your openness will become the normal.
I admire what you girls are doing. All my life, I’ve objected to the idea that nudity needs to be shut away. It takes courage to break down barriers and I salute you for it!
It is unfortunate that there are a number of men out there who just can’t or won’t understand women, and who post their problems here.
For a better than usual discussion see the recent article in The Atlantic.
The Social and Legal Arguments for Allowing Women to Go Topless in Public
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/09/the-social-and-legal-arguments-for-allowing-women-to-go-topless-in-public/279755/
Exercise your freedoms or you will lose them!
You guys are fucking awesome, girls and boys both.
A beautiful poem, and beautiful women; thanks for both. Enjoy the autumn/fall, and roll on spring!
Sweetsong, London
sorry for my bad english,
i am from Greece and i have to say one thing for your group!
REVOLUTION!
You make a true Revolution for human body against the human brain.Tabboo is a thing to make a human smaller smaller and smaller again.The Nudity is a piece of Brain,Soul,Freedom,Eye,and lovely lovely lovely feelings.
These girls are very beautiful,congratulations.You must keep your activity alive.Society must give you a reason to make your group bigger and bigger and around the world.Keep reading.Read for everything.Love,God,Stories and every you love to read.
Read for Justice too!Read for Democracy too!
7% of my society are NAZI/Facists and the goverment loves them.
Make a meeting for True Democracy and Justice for the kids around the world,you must do something like that.
Keep Reading Topless and feel Love.
War is for warriors,and we are the Human,the warriors spirit smells like fire,but Humans spirit smells like Human.
With Love
Steve Adam 83
You guys are awesome. I love elmore leonard books and I just finished ‘the Switch’. I roared at the excellent ending of the book.
Peter V.
I think you all are awesome. I enjoy reading of your goings on. Can you go to sporting events like that, just like guys sometimes do?
Don’t know. Sporting events are held on private property, so the owners can set rules as to what they will and won’t permit. Probably they’re less tolerant of female toplessness. But you never know until you try.
I think the discrimination part says if they let men take their shirts off at a game then they have to let men. Even if its private. That’s how it is here in DC which sadly has lead to equality in the wrong direction. Men aren’t allowed to take their shirts off at Nationals baseball games.
Ay comment from the members about the lady that “streaked” the golfers at the International Event? She was fast and patriotic as she carried the American flag proudly.
Hadn’t seen that! It’s sort of fun, though more disruptive than the things we do.
A couple of questions came to mind. First, is there any age restriction at what you do and is this only in New York City or the state of New York that it’s legal now? Thanks.
No, there’s no age restriction, and no it’s not just New York City. The legal ruling applies to all of New York State.
This dialogue about age restriction reminds me of a conversation with my late wife when we were dating:
She: I’ll tell you a little secret; until I was about nine years old I used to not wear tops quite often in the summer.
Me: Your parents didn’t have a problem with that?
She: Until I was 10 years old I spent every summer with my grandma who was much more open-minded. What my parents didn’t know didn’t hurt them.
It’s bizarre that anyone would care about tops on little girls who haven’t even developed breasts yet. I mean, it’s bizarre that anyone would care about tops on anyone, but even more bizarre to care about little girls whose chests look literally indistinguishable from boys’.
When the other poster asked about age restrictions, I wasn’t sure if she or he meant on the high end or the low end. We don’t have either. I don’t think we’ve ever had anyone join us who was over 50, but we’d welcome it; I don’t think we’ve ever had anyone under 16, but we’d welcome that too. We’re not doing anything but lying in the grass reading, and you can enjoy that at any age.
I like your attitude. BTW, a story I ran on your group is again trending on http://temcal.com check top ten right thumbnails
Interesting. 30 years ago I moved to Atlanta. We had some close friends that were Dutch. Their daughters, I believe, 5-9, went to our local pool wearing just bottoms. It was not unusual in Holland and they thought nothing of it. There was much discussion and they decided to wear 2 piece suits rather than have a problem. They felt if was better to conform.
Europeans seem to be much more progressive on these matters, as well as in other matters.
Well…some other matters. We did break away from them 200+ years ago for some reason.
Hey,
Im really interested yet some what apprehensive, I mean …
What do the girls with the big breasts do ? I am kinda heavy up top and in my mind it looks sexual… any advise ?
Beth
Suspect you’re not for real, “Beth,” because of the URL you provided, but taking your question at face value, the answer is that we’ve had women with all sorts of body types represented at our events. Some have very large breasts, some have very small, most are somewhere in between. It’s nothing to be ashamed of or embarrassed by either way. We’ve certainly never noticed that we’ve gotten different reactions from people around us depending on whether we’ve got more busty women in attendance. Same with tall/short, thin/fat, younger/older. People are people. Bodies are bodies.
When and where are you ladies meeting again? I’ve always wanted to join you since I read about you in the Huffington post but I wasn’t in ny then is it too late?
It’s never too late — we’re not likely to meet outdoors too much when it’s cold, but if there’s a last spurt of warm weather we’ll take advantage of it, and if there isn’t we’ll meet indoors until the thaw comes. Just send a note to toplesspulpfiction@gmail.com to get yourself added to our mailing list.
Interesting comment on the Krigsman case – when you get law Professors weighing in on constitutional grounds, the arguments shift further towards normalisation
http://www.dressingconstitutionally.com/2013/10/20/woman-sues-nypd-for-topless-arrest/
Come ad read about my encounter with the the “book club”
http://jamesmcallen.com/the-breast-day-ever/
I admire your guts going out like that, keep up the good fight.
I was very pleased to see that your group made the front page of VoyuerWeb. That is quite an honor.
I guess. We’re certainly glad for anything that gets word of our activities out to a wider audience. Not sure the voyeur audience has quite the same agenda we do, but what the heck. Just wish we’d know a day early so we could’ve rushed out and bought some stock in Kimberly-Clark…
Hi,
I’m a college student from Taiwan, and i’m thinking of starting these kind of movement recently (No Bra Day to be specific). Bras somehow seems like a tool to objective women for me, and i think these are the subjects that should be openly discussed by the public. I know there’s nothing to be ashamed of or be embarrassed of for your own body figure, yet, i got that feeling from the stare of others.
Last time I was doing a experiment on not wearing a bra outside, unsurprisingly, i got attention soon for the no-bra-breasts, and there was even a lady nice enough to come close to me and whispered “young lady, i think you forgot to wear a bra.”
If i am to hold this “No Bra Day”, then I should be able to feel comfortable about not wearing a bra. and if i’m really going to hold this event, i should be totally fine with this subject and start doing it in my every-day life, not just do this on the specific day or week, or else that’d be such a hypocrite for not really doing what your ideas are. The thing is, despite how i try to be ok with it, just i can’t. I’m not courageous enough to face the discouraging stares of the public, and how other people say you’re just a slut trying to get attention…
I want to know how you started this and how you tackled the obstacles if possible. It’d be great to hear from you just to give me any advice or such.
Julie
Thanks for your comment, Julie. There may be cultural differences at work (differences between Taiwan and New York)…but no woman should be made to feel ashamed of her body. It’s just a body, a collection of organs, and no more shameful or sexual or strange or sacred than a man’s. If a man can walk around without being the object of stares, a woman should be able to do the same thing. And shaming a woman for not wearing underwear is preposterous.
Fortunately, here in New York it is legal not just to go bra-less but to go entirely topless, and apart from being legal, most people take it in stride or are supportive when they see us doing it. This makes it easier for us to take it when the occasional person looks at us with disdain or criticizes what we’re doing. If it’s different where you are–if MOST people would look at you disdainfully, or if the police would stop you–it may be difficult to do the same thing there that we do here.
That said, we encourage you to try. The most important piece of advice we can give you is, don’t do it alone. Find a group of like-minded people (if you don’t already know any, I’m sure you can recruit them over the Internet) and do it together. It’s harder for adversaries to mistreat you if they’d have to mistreat 6 or 10 or 20 women at once. One woman by herself may be vulnerable. And the presence of your like-minded cohorts will give you more self-confidence too.
The other thing we’d say is not to feel you’re a hypocrite if you only go bra-less on one day, or once in a while. You have to start somewhere, and it’s better to do it once than never. Don’t think your options are “do it always” or “do it never.” You can do it once in a while. That’s fine. We don’t go topless every day. We do it when we feel like it, and when there’s a good opportunity, and the rest of the time we wear shirts. You can do something similar.
Good luck! We wish you the very best with the endeavor. Please let us know how it goes.
I congratulate you all for adding (bra or rather breast) freedom to your cause with your new byline🙂
Topless in November! I’m glad that you enjoyed yourselves! But I sure hope that some of the global warming deniers will see this!
This is a bit of a delicate subject, but I have a great deal of respect and admiration for you ladies, so it didn’t seem like something I could keep under my hat. I recently ran across some of your pictures (uncredited) on an, ahem, adult site as part of a collection of pictures of an entirely different nature. Now, before anyone jumps to any conclusions, no, I did not come here afterwards to gloat or make sleazy comments; I’ve been following your blog for months now. I just felt offended on your behalf that you should be lumped in with, and was wondering how you felt about it.
Appreciate your being offended on our behalf, but it’s not worth expending the emotional energy. Anyone who posts photos online has to be prepared that they’ll be picked up and reposted by who knows how many other sites, of every type. Ours certainly have, appearing on literally hundreds of sites all over the world. Some are ones we’re proud to be associated with, others not so much, but you sort of have to take the bad with the good. So some porn site has run some of our pictures. Fine. It’s a small price to pay.
Hey, I was just pointed to your group from Reddit. I was wondering what is the main idea behind it all? Is it about de-sexaulising nudity, or combating objectification, or exploring attitudes to body image. I guess in a group there may be many different ideas but wondered if there was an overriding mission.
Adam
The main idea is for us to have fun, and to get to do so in all the same ways guys get to have fun without anyone thinking they’re being weird or provocative. Why in the world should it be okay for a man to read shirtless in the grass on a hot summer day but not for a woman to do so? Fortunately we live in a city where the law says it is okay, so we do it. And if we can inspire some other women to try it for themselves, and maybe both women and men to think about this issue, so much the better. But the principal purpose is for us to enjoy some pleasant afternoons relaxing in the park.
Excellent – equality & enjoyment!
Adam
It seems to me that going topless is good clean fun. I believe that there are people on this earth that want to take away anything that is fun. Your society got my support, especially – when you read Elmore Leonard books. By the way, I love reading !
Did you ever link up with Free The Nipple?
https://www.facebook.com/freethenipple
We’ve exchanged some email with them. Haven’t done more than that yet, but we might. We’ll see…
Good day. I liked the ideology of equality. I find it very valid. I have only one caveat. I do not see men walking the streets in his underwear and I think would not be normal. The rest I fully agree.
In New York in the summer you frequently see men walking and jogging and lounging around in nothing but sneakers and jogging shorts, and the difference between jogging shorts and boxer shorts isn’t great at all. You also see men sunbathing in little Speedo swimsuits, which are as revealing as any underwear. Women should be free to do the same thing. And, happily, in New York we are.
It seems you are not the only people noticing the increasing convergence of the bra free and top free movements
http://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/36/47/dtg-topless-roller-blading-2013_11_22_bk.html%5Dupdate article
(oops) http://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/36/47/dtg-topless-roller-blading-2013_11_22_bk.html
Happy Thanksgiving !!! It’s great to be alive !!!
Enjoy it with lots of happiness and fun !!!!
This seems a worthy cause http://fundanything.com/en/campaigns/freethenipple
Such natural beautiful women…Youre reminded of the basic tenets of beauty in human beings…Its so refreshing compared to whats pushed in most media.
I think this is a great idea! Just two questions: Why are there hardly any men in the pictures? (aren’t they the ones who really need to be desensitized?) And how do you avoid being overrun by creepy guys anyway?🙂
Our members are mostly women, so the people in the photos are mostly women. We usually have at least one male at our events, but rarely more than one or at most two. And sometimes they prefer not to be in the photos, for one reason or another. If they’re there and willing, we’re glad to have them in the photos. And we haven’t had a problem with being overrun by creepy guys. Once in a while if we’re out in the park creepy guys will find us and cluster around, but not that often, and if it happens we can always pick up and leave. Happily most people are not creeps and treat us with respect.
Hello Ladies!
I wanted you to know I wrote you into a short story and gave your site a free plug at our blog. My pen name is C. Sanchez-Garcia, I write literary erotica (not my day job) and myself and some other writers from the venerable old Erotica Readers and Writers Association share a rotating blog called “Oh Get a Grip”. I placed you in a scene in a short story of about 2000 words I posted called “Kisses the Color of Thunder” about a violinist in New York who has also synethesia. The URLishttp://ohgetagrip.blogspot.com/2013/12/kisses-color-of-thunder-story-about.html#comment-form
Your web site is great pleasure and you girls have the attitude of the future. Come by and see what i wrote about you. C. Sanchez-Garcia
Loved your last pictorial in the Bookstore. What an interesting twist. Happy Holidays!
You are beautiful young ladies on the inside and out. Do be careful what you do and where you go. Brian G. Booth
Appreciate the sentiment. Everyone should be appropriately careful, whatever they do. Don’t know that what we do calls for any more care than normal.
Some day when the weather has you cooped up indoors, take and post some pics of the different tattoos. Would love to read the writings some of the ladies have on them.
Appreciate the suggestion. We’ll consider it.
Thanks ladies for a great year. Have you ever thought of making a calendar and donating the proceeds to your favorite charity? Bet it would be a big seller!!! Looking forward to 2914 enjoying your beatific posts.
Thanks! We haven’t considered a calendar, but now that you’ve suggested it, we will…
HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL !
It has been a very cold December in Winnipeg, Canada; most of the nights are down around -20 F, but the perfect weather for a good book or two.
Here are my two suggestions: The night circus by erin morgenstern (2011) and the artifical man (1965) by L.P. Davies. I got the latter in a second-hand story and just love it – I ve read it three times.
Joy and peace to all !!!
Peter.
Thanks, Peter. Always appreciate suggestions for things to read on cold winter nights.🙂
Happy Holidays to all the beautiful women of “O.C.T.P.F.A.S.”. I enjoy reading your posts and your open discussions.
Thanking you all for another courageous year. I wonder what the gender breakdown of your followers is.
An interesting comment on our collective Breast hysteria from Lidia Yuknavitch
http://therumpus.net/2011/02/about-a-boob-or-the-hermeneutics-of-a-womans-body/comment-page-1/#comment-553242
Hello Ladies!
I think, it’s time to change the name of your society for “Indoor Co-ed Topless Pulp Fiction Appreciation Society” -(just for winter time) – and move your activity to swimming pools – great places to swim, play, laugh and talk about the books you have read.
Your presence should make swimming pools more popular in N.Y.
Happy New Year!!!
Best regards
An
Wish I lived in NYC. Love to have a group of intelligent women to discuss books and philisophy. Living in the south…not so fortunate.
Actually that’s an interesting point about swimming (though difficult to read and swim simultaneously). It reminds me of the successful struggle for topfree swimming in Scandinavia and Canada.
It is great that you have so many active members and remain committed to meeting so often. I would love to see more activities like this in Upstate NY. There is nothing like the feeling of the sun and a cool breeze on your skin on a hot day. There are so few places where this can happen where people would not immediately overreact or make one feel self conscious. Keep up the good work and perhaps in time more people will react as casually as you have described most NYC residents do here in Upstate.
I really enjoy your Blog. Beautiful people, lovely insightful commentary.
Thanks,
Chip
I noticed earlier someone asked about why there usually aren’t men in the photos and you said because there is a low male attendance and those that do attend are usually camera shy. Is the lack of males done on purpose and is there any effort going on to encourage more males to join the group as well?
Yes, the high female-to-male ratio is on purpose. This is primarily a women’s group, to address something that is primarily a women’s issue. We welcome a small number of trusted male friends at our events, but keeping the number small is deliberate and important. An event with 10 women and 2 men has a very different flavor than an event with 6 and 6 (never mind one with 2 women and 10 men, or 2 women and 40 men, which is very quickly what we’d have if we invited anyone who felt like coming). We have no shortage of men who’ve offered — asked, begged — to join us. But we plan to keep things as they are.
What is the purpose of putting coed in the name of the organization if having men there is more or less an after thought? What purpose do the two or three male members serve and why not just be a woman’s group?
It’s not an afterthought: it’s a very carefully considered decision. You might not agree with it, but that doesn’t make it an afterthought. And if you do disagree with it, you’re welcome to start your own group that has whatever gender balance you prefer. We have “co-ed” in our name because we are a co-ed group — our meetings always have both men and women present. That’s what co-ed means.
Fair enough. I can see how that last comment may have come off a little brash but I wasn’t trying to be confrontational. I have no desire to start any organizations I just want a better understanding of yours. So what type of men do you allow into your organization if I may ask? Obviously not every man who wants to join won’t have the purist intentions but surely that can’t be true for all of them. But do you exclude all single straight males in general or are there typically red flags that you look for?
I don’t want to turn this into an endless back-and-forth, so this will be our last response, but to answer your question, we generally only invite men we already know well and trust to behave in a mature fashion even when surrounded by topless (or fully nude) women. So almost all the men who’ve joined us have been good friends or boyfriends or husbands of one of the women. Some of them have been single men, and many of them have been straight; that’s fine. The important thing is that we know them, and that there is someone else we know and trust who can vouch for them. Sure, some of the random men who contact us over the Internet are probably lovely people and would behave well, but many would not, and we have no way of knowing which would be which. So our solution is to only invite men if we know them, not random strangers. (And before you suggest it, no, we don’t have any interest in exploring other possible solutions, such as interviewing people before inviting them or giving strangers who contact us some sort of test or application to fill out. We’re very happy with things the way they are.)
You shouldn’t have to apologize about who you choose to associate with…
It is interesting – being part of another topfreedom organisation – applications from men far outnumber women. Men have to be pretty persuasive for me to proceed with such applications. We still have a long way to achieving equality, when presumably such causes will no longer attract attention
Not at all surprised to hear it. One of the reasons so many women have participated in our events (close to one hundred and counting) is that they know they won’t be one of just two or three women in a room full of men. On the contrary, they know they’ll be in a room (or meadow, or rooftop sundeck) full of women. And a few men, but just a few. For what we do, having a primarily female group is important. All-female isn’t necessary (or, I think, desirable), but primarily female is.
I think you’ve struck the right balance. Having Co ed as part of your name and having on or two men regularly is good for letting people know this is about men and women being able to co exist in this way.
But really all that matters is the comfort level of the participants. And who could doubt that more men would certainly cause that to decrease?
If you are ever in Toronto near ______ Ontario Canada ______ apt __ 14 ____n st
come up for a spot of tea and toast and jam and peanut butter and wine Love and kisses Brian
Appreciate the sentiment, but you don’t really want to post your home address on a blog that’s already been seen 8 million times, do you? Hence the redaction.
I appreciate that we are at least invited to join the group. I live in the south, but wish I was in New York to join in the fun and frolic while reading.
I think it’s great that you’re pushing at the frontiers of equality this way. I know it’s winter, but breaking political events make it timely to do a public co-ed topless salon for readers of, say, Joseph Stiglitz’s book Freefall.
Just today, a proposal to fast track the secretive Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) bill was introduced in Congress. Stiglitz is against fast tracking this trade deal (as he has learned the hard way what these trade deals–which aren’t really about trade–do to people) http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/transatlantic-and-transpacific-free-trade-trouble-by-joseph-e–stiglitz.
It’s not only Stiglitz, though. The Sierra Club, Food and Water Watch, 350.org, the AFL-CIO, Doctors Without Borders, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and many other organizations are opposed to fast-tracking this bill. Wikileaks tried to raise the profile of the secretive 12-nation negotiations by leaking the IP chapter, but there is still a media black out. You could help break that, and I and at least a couple of my friends (of both sexes) will be glad to join you.
A recommended venue would be the SONY atrium, as this is “public private” indoor space. http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/priv/550mad.shtml
If you like this idea, and hold a book club meeting there, you should also consider doing a press release saying you are doing your part to “expose” the TPP.
In the meantime, please consider calling your Reps to tell them not to fast track the bill. 877-852-4710. Thank you for all you do!
Appreciate your thinking of us, but we really read — and meet — for pleasure, not for political activism. Not to say political activism is bad. But this doesn’t really sound like a good match for our group.
Fair enough. I figured it was a long shot, but thought I’d throw the idea out there. I envy the U.S. generations that had an easier time of putting activism and enjoyment together, and the other countries that seem to find it easy and intuitive even now. But it’s more the responsibility of the activists to work out how to integrate the enjoyment than it is the responsibility of enjoyers to work out how to integrate activism (until enjoyment itself is seriously under threat). Peace.
this is the best website of all fucking time. and I’ve seen a few websites in my time. and when I say a few, I mean a whole bunch, so, let’s just get one thing straight before I leave, ok, I have seen many many websites in my life, probably beginning around 1997 or so – that’s when I started seeing websites – ok, but this one, the one that involves the ladies reading books whilst topless, This One, is the Best Website I have ever looked at. I could totally be looking at olympics right now, but no, I have chosen to watch your website instead. I love you.
Very few posts on this site lately. Is it too COLD in NY?
Yes! Much, much, MUCH too cold! It’s 14 degrees today and feels like zero! Can’t wait for warmer weather…
Right at freezing here, GA. Ice storms tonight. Need something to keep me warm.
I absolutely love what you ladies stand for. I had no idea that women were allowed to go topless in NY, how is this not legalized nationwide?!
Its not legal nationwide because this country is still full of overly religious cretins;people who supposedly embrace god but deny one of his/her most beautiful creations.
You guys are simply great !
On a different note – I just read ‘another’ Elmore Leonard book (he’s my fav author); Get Shorty. I counted in the EL books listed – read about 32 of his books. I think I ll start a Stephanie Plum book that I got for Xmas. I read about 5 or 6 books at a time, which is probably not unique.
Hope winter ends sooooon !!
Love the site. All you ladies are beautiful. Have you seen this: http://hystericalliterature.com/sessions/ it is an artistic depiction of women trying to read while being….distracted. It “explores feminism, mind/body dualism, distraction portraiture, and the contrast between culture and sexuality”.
Yes, we saw that. Pretty sexy.
It would be fun to try something like that sometime, but it would need to be the right setting.
What a wonderful organization and a great web-site. My wife absolutely enjoys going topless (I understand the term is moving more towards “topfree”). We were just looking at all of the unbridled fun that everyone is having, and would very seriously like to take a 3-4 vacation to NYC and join in. Neither of us are very familiar with NYC, but we noticed that most of the outdoor events take place in Central Park, true? We have some refund vouchers on Alaska Air that we’re anxious to redeem (we live in Everett, WA), and are getting serious about flying across country to experience this freedom and friendshio. Are the events going on now, or do you wait until June/July? Are they on Saturdays, Sundays, or maybe both? Sorry for all the questions, but this will greatly help in our trip planning.
Thank you! Todd & Marianna
We don’t wait until June/July, we just wait until it’s warm out (which, alas, it currently isn’t…though it’s getting closer). Most of our events have actually been on weekday afternoons (nothing like playing hooky in the middle of the week!), and parks are less crowded then. We don’t only meet in Central Park; we meet all over the city. We do welcome visitors from all over the country and all over the world, but it would be a shame to fly all the way from the west coast only to discover that the weather is uncooperative or not enough people are free to do an event on the days you happen to be here. Of course, in a pinch you two could always enjoy a little topless adventure in the park without us – but if you’re hoping to meet up with us, be aware it’s a bit of a gamble as to when and where we’ll be meeting…
Now that spring is here when do you plan to have more outings in Central Park? My girl friend and I would like to know when and where to meet like minded free thinkers.
We don’t set or announce a calendar in advance. We make the decision week by week, based on how the weather looks and which of our members are available when, among other factors. If your girlfriend and you would like to get added to our invite list, you can send us an email at toplesspulpfiction@gmail.com and let us know a little bit about yourselves.
Understood and agreed about not getting locked into a calendar. On the other hand, getting to NYC from Seattle requires a bit of advance planning, especially with full planes & airfares significantly increasing around the first week of June. That being said, Marianne and I just booked our flights, and we’ll be in NYC a good part of Memorial Day week (arriving 05/25 and departing 05/29). Next step will be to book a hotel, which we should have done shortly. As this is a bit of a gamble, we’re hoping that the Society will have an outing planned on one (or two) of those days. This will be Marianne’s first ever trip to New York, but not her first topless experience. As with most visitors, Central Park probably ranks in the top 5 Must-see outdoor attractions, so we’re keeping our fingers crossed that we’ll cross paths with OCTPFAS in that lovely setting. Separately, we’ll write you at you gmail address with an introduction and request to get added to the invitation list. Kind regards…
hi there thought I’d drop you a line on my travels about town. Good to see you. I used to sun tan naked in Kilarney near North bay with my girlfriend at the time and on top of Rochdale near Spadina and Bloor downtown Toronto in my hippie days. Any way be careful preverts as peter sellars said in Dr. Strangelove lurk everywhere, its ok to be refreshing and nude but be careful.
hi there all together, I m a German and live in Ireland at the moment. Real like what you are doing, love the our webpage. In Germany I also enjoyed the sun in spring, summer even on good days in autuum in the nude, mostly at a nice wooded lake with other People around. Unfortunately the weather in Irland doesn’t allow it, because it is to cold, even in summer. Even the law I think ban it. So miss the Chance to do so. Hope I can catch up a few days in summer in Germany on vacation. Keep on your good work. Regards from Otto
hello guys i like your blog and i like nudist and topless community i hope i will join all of you one day , nudist is a nature and i like nature .
Hi!:) It great that you ladies are pushing for equality and exercising your rights. I just have two questions to ask you ladies. one, do you think that your efforts in fighting for women to right to be topless in public will lead to making it acceptable for woman to not be ashame of breast feed their baby in public. Two, am sure you have dealt with people who don’t agree with women be topless in public. Have you had to deal with this in your professional careers where a employeer/co-work see your blog or you in public topless. I hope may question make sense. Well take care:)
It won’t be our efforts alone that change people’s attitudes, but every little bit helps. The more people grow accustomed to seeing women’s bodies just as bodies, not as something sexual, the less they’ll object to something like public breastfeeding. And no, we haven’t had a situation come up yet where an employer or co-worker has seen our blog and objected to it. Some of us have had co-workers see it and compliment it, or say something neutral, or ask a question out of curiosity, but no one has had a problem because of it, at least that we know of.
Lovely day in Central Park
Good on you guys! It must be hard to get volunteers to go out in public, whack off the shirt and discuss books like nothing is out of the ordinary but it looks like fun!
All the best!
I would love to start a branch here in New Orleans. Please contact me to let me know how to start.
We’re always delighted if someone in another part of the world is inspired to do what we do – but we don’t know anything about the laws in New Orleans, so probably aren’t the best people to advise you on that score! But if you have questions about anything else, feel free to drop us a note at toplesspulpfiction@gmail.com.
I think folks would pay us to put our clothes back on, but we’ve had a book club dedicated to Dorothy Parker since 1989. Our motto, “Reading and Drinking like Dorothy Parker”.
http://www.dpas.tumbler.com
Reposted, wrong url: oops, wrong url: http://www.dpas.tumblr.com
I think folks would pay us to put our clothes back on, but we’ve had a book club dedicated to Dorothy Parker since 1989. Our motto, “Reading and Drinking like Dorothy Parker”.
http://www.dpas.tumblr.com
Guys allowed? I’m suddenly am craving a good read🙂
We do have one or two men at most of our events – but never more than one or two, since it’s primarily a group for women and we want to keep the female-to-male ratio high. And the one or two men we do invite are almost always men we already know well beforehand (e.g., someone’s bf or husband or longtime best buddy). So while the answer to the question “Is the group really co-ed?” is yes, the answer to the question “Can a random guy join the group?” is generally no — you’d need to be someone we already know or who comes vouched for by someone we already know.
[…] in a sense, is an extension of something larger than popping off the bra. Take the ladies of the Outdoor Co-ed Topless Pulp Fiction Appreciation Society for […]
Since I can’t join in as I’m a stranger, do you post the books you’re reading (or going to read) so that people can read along.
By the way, I love books, this makes me happy.
Best
Thanks, stranger. We don’t post a list of every book we read, but some of the ones we’ve read and enjoyed are listed on our “Books” page (though we haven’t been good about updating it), and others get mentioned from time to time in individual posts we make on the blog.
Wow. It is always inspirational when people are free to remove their clothes. Like at nude beaches, which I’ve been to a lot. Personally, I think it’s more of a human issue – public nudity is public nudity. The men I’ve seen have actually handled it just fine. Be young, have fun. I hope it spreads like wildfire🙂
[…] below. And if you’re interested in joining the OCETPFAS, find out where the group meets next here or follow them on […]
Great Ladies really Great ….for me its’ shocking too …..after seeing bra free pictures…yes there is need for bra free and not book free society….appreciate ur broad and liberal attitude for all ur members… as I am brand & advertising consultant If I can be of some help, pl let me know …
KUMAR
need to know if i can join while living in Kenya Africa
I’m sorry, but there really isn’t anything someone can do to join while living in another country. You can read and enjoy our blog, but that’s pretty much it. We only meet in New York. And even if you were in New York, we rarely invite men to our events whom we don’t already know; and we get a ton of inquiries from men (as you might imagine); so even if you were in New York it wouldn’t be so easy to join, alas.
So, you are co-ed, but exclude strange men? So you are topless women and their close male friends club.
Yes, we are co-ed, because both women and men attend our events. That’s the definition of co-ed. As opposed to “single sex.” And yes, we don’t invite strange men we don’t know. No contradiction there.
If you want to start your own club, you can invite all the strange men you like. This one is ours, and we’ll invite who we like.
Are there men in the club, or just women? And if there are men, do they get naked also?
Yes, there are men (not many, but some). Yes, they get naked (when we’re somewhere private enough for any of us to get naked). If you look through the blog you’ll see some photos.
I do not see any penises.
Then you’re not looking hard enough.
Does the naked man get an erection and make it really awkward when you’re in the middle of discussing a synonym?
Nope. Hasn’t happened yet.
Just wanted to say Kudos to all of you! Freedom of speech at it’s finest and never stop following what you want to do. West Coast Support!
[…] Outdoor Co-ed Topless Pulp Fiction Appreciation Society really has a good thing going. In a world where this exists, is there any purpose to my own book […]
Do you have branch in Europe?🙂 wanna join you!
We don’t have any branches outside New York – but by all means feel free to start one if you’d like! (And if it’s legal where you are. We wouldn’t want anyone to get arrested over it.)
Good to see that your group can enjoy your freedoms without being hassled. Being a photographer I enjoyed your photos that tell a story of women just being themselves and enjoying literature. Bravo to you all. Possibly one day I will take to ride from Long Island and attend one of your gatherings.
Appreciate the vote of support. Just so you know, though, we rarely invite guys to join us whom we don’t already know (at least one of us). Not saying it’s never happened or that it never will again, but…it doesn’t happen often. And we get a LOT of inquiries, as you might imagine.
But we do appreciate your comment.
I’m trying to understand why you need an association: Are you advertising the free topless areas in New York, to all the women who don’t know about them?
I don’t care what people wear while they read or do anything else in public, and maybe that’s why I can’t see the reason why you need to create a group with a name that nobody can memorize… Wait, are you trying to prove that titles can have more than two words, if you accompany them with naked breast?
We need a group because one woman sunning or reading topless by herself is more likely to be the victim of harassment than a group of, say, ten women sunning or reading topless together are.
Having a group also gives women who are interested in doing this a way of finding like-minded people to do it with whom they don’t already know. (Why does anyone with any hobby or interest form a group? Because it’s fun to enjoy your favorite pastime with other people who share your interests.)
Huffington Post prefaced my first exposure to your group with, “NYC Book Club Goes Topless ‘To Make Reading Sexy,’ Succeeds”. Would you say that this headline captured the purpose of having a topless public outing, and posting pictures of your members in full nudity? If so, it is my opinion that the “sexy” component has been well accomplished (meant in the most respectful way possible as I realize that “sexiness” has many connotations and your bodies far more than the sum of the sexual enjoyment others may derive), but I wonder how this would make the concept of reading more “sexy”?
“Making Reading Sexy” was the original slogan of this blog, and though we’ve since changed it up (and may well change it again at some point), we still feel that being sexy is a good thing (although not the only good thing one can aspire to), and that reading is a good thing (although not the only good thing one can spend time doing), and that reading topless or naked can add an extra frisson of delight to the activity if done outdoors in good weather. I don’t know that it makes the *concept* of reading any sexier, but it sure can make the experience of doing it feel sexier.🙂
Just leaving you a note of encouragement. What you are doing is tasteful, classy, intelligent and very non-conforming. I love the strength of conviction and I like it even more that what you are doing is bold but not in-your-face. It must be very empowering. I do hope there is an added dimension to your purpose, that this is a metaphor for shedding our hang-ups, shedding our great tendency to be blind followers, and overcoming the fear of showing our true selves. As a man I do find every single one of you sexy while you all have my utmost respect. Peace and love!
I love what you are doing over in New York, and I hope it becomes so normal that we can ALL go about dressed or undressed as we wish. Its lovely to see women of all shapes and sizes enjoying their books, their bodies, and the gorgeous weather. I tell you what though I was really shocked by how waxed and shaved you all are! Maybe I should start an all weather group over here in the UK where you can get your boobs out AND your big hairy muff. I could call it bushy books or something… It might actually be helpful on cold days.
What is the purpose of being top less.. I dont understand how you would enjoy reading more if u r topless.
When it’s 80 or 90 degrees and you’re out in the sun, everything feels better topless. Reading is one example. Why do you enjoy taking your shirt off when you go outdoors in warm weather? We enjoy it for the same reasons.
Also, when you are topless you feel the breeze blowing across your body that you do not feel when you wear a top.
As long as you have a towel to wipe the sweat for men and the “glow” for women off your top.
Alan
Would an old fat woman be welcome? I enoy the nude beaches in Europe, just because it’s good to get a bit of fresh air circulating, you know?
Of course! We welcome all women. All ages, all sizes, all shapes. Not everyone wants to do this, but anyone who would enjoy it is welcome.
Wow, you are all awesome and inspiring and I hope I can come and read with you one day when I visit New York.
Did I just spend a minute or two on a bookclub website?! My mum will be so proud!!
You guys are doing an amazing work for women in general around the world. it’s actually required because i am not sure why, but somehow a more conservative type of behavior is imposed all around the world, where it’s not important what happened to a woman but it’s important what kind of dress she was wearing or how she behaved. I think it should have been other way around, the freedom of women should have been spread from west to east but it looks the hypocrisy of the east towards women is spreading to west. at least few women are taking control, keep doing what you are doing, the men just need to get used to it and everything will be fine after sometime. I saw a B&W video of women in bali early 1900s, the women were topless and it was ok, today it’s not. at least few places in this world should be safe for women.
Congratulations! I really appreciate your idea and project. I live in Italy but I lived in your country, too. It is about time for people to understand that being naked is being human, not shame.
I wish you all the best!
Ah, Yes, I would like to start this in my country..
Seba
This is a great initiative. I am a little disturbed by how everyone in your group is good-looking though. You’re fighting patriarchy by taking control of your bodies, but do not feel the need to subvert standards of beauty the same patriarchy imposes? If some people are not comfortable enough with their bodies to join your association, shouldn’t you go out of your way to reassure them and convince them to join?
Each of us only has the body she has, and can only fight patriarchy (or do anything else!) with that body. We gladly welcome people with any body type, and in fact our members have a variety, but we can only photograph the people who choose to come (in fact, only a subset since some of our members prefer not to be photographed). We welcome as diverse a set of women as wants to join us, and have in fact tried to encourage some people to come who might diversify the group further, but we’re not going to twist anyone’s arm — no one should do this unless she genuinely wants to. And our primary goal here isn’t to present a maximally diverse face to the public, it’s to get together and have fun. We’re not first and foremost a political group or an organization for social change (although we’d like to see change occur); first and foremost, we’re a group of people looking to go outdoors and relax. So while we do pay attention to this issue and care about it, we’re not going to beat ourselves up about it too much (or let you beat us up about it either).
Fair enough. I just wanted to hear your views on the matter.🙂
Thanks for being such an inspiration.
My husband forwarded me your blog… because 1. I am a feminist. 2. I love to be nude in the outdoors 3. I love to read 4. I love to sit outside naked and read (and 5. probably also because he likes breasts, if we’re being honest…)
Kudos to all of you ladies for your joy and your bravery. And so nonchalantly subversive! I love it. Most public images of women’s bodies are used to sell something and the images promote hurtful stereotypes and misogyny. It is so refreshing to see women owning their bodies, their images, their freedom. My mom is French, and she could never understand America’s obsession over breasts. It’s absurd.
Every one of you is beautiful, no matter what size/shape/age, etc. I’m so proud of all of you, even those of you who choose not to be photographed. I hope to join you in New York someday. With love and appreciation from the Left Coast…
Thanks so much, Stephanie. It’s comments like yours that really make the whole thing worthwhile.
This is one of the strangest things I’ve read about in a while. I really do not understand the concept of this group, there is no escaping the fact that seeing bare breasts in public creates awkwardness because of the undeniable associations breasts have with sex in our society. It’s great that you enjoy reading and that you are all comfortable in your own skin but you should really think about the people around you too -for instance in parks where you are surrounded by men (who will be doing a lot of gawping), children, teenagers, elderly people and other women who quite frankly get enough body issue pressure from the media already without having to come across a whole group of topless ladies (whether reading or not) on a simple walk in the park. I think you should have a little more respect for the people around you, if you enjoy being topless while reading then why don’t you do it in your back garden with your friends where it is more private and where it won’t make other people’s trips to the park(and other public places) awkward?….
We don’t agree that there is “no escaping” the “associations breasts have with sex in our society” – we think the way to escape them is to get people accustomed to seeing bare female chests in casual, non-sexual contexts just as they’ve gotten used to seeing bare male chests. Not so very long ago, people would have thought it scandalous to see a man shirtless in the park – it would have been seen as a sexual provocation. Today that seems ridiculous. Not so very long ago it would have been seen as scandalous for a woman to bare her ankles or her neck in public, or her arms or her back. Today that seems ridiculous. Not so very long from now, it will seem ridiculous that people ever thought men’s chests were okay to expose in a park but women’s were not — if we take steps, as our group is doing, to make the sight of a woman’s chest as normal and innocent and unremarkable as the sight of a woman’s neck or arms or ankles, or the sight of a man’s chest.
But does it bother you at all that up until the point where American society is used to it (which will take a long time in my opinion), most men passing through will be receiving sexual pleasure from looking at all you naked ladies sitting there in the park? I am a guy so I know what I am talking about here. You can trust me on the fact that I wouldn’t mind seeing topless ladies everywhere. But, I would assume that it would bother the ladies themselves.
Do you have a response for that?
Why would it bother us if someone receives pleasure? Pleasure is a fine thing to receive. The only thing that would bother us is if a man experiencing such pleasure lacked the self-control to keep that pleasure to himself and felt the need to intrude on us in some aggressive or hostile or otherwise unwanted way. But if he keeps it to himself and just enjoys it, who is it hurting?
It’s probably worth noting that men derive sexual pleasure from seeing women who aren’t topless, too. But somehow they manage to restrain themselves from drooling and hooting like wolves in a Tex Avery cartoon just because they see a woman in a swimsuit, or a tight dress, or a loose dress, or whatever.
Asking whether it bothers us is a little like asking someone eating a delicious meal whether it bothers her that someone catching a whiff of her food might experience pleasure from the smell. As long as you don’t grab a fork and dig in, enjoy the smell all you want.
Following that reasoning, touching a woman’s breasts is no different than touching a woman’s arm, correct? So you have no problem with someone resting their hand on your breast rather than your arm, right? It is no different.
And to Jay, i do not think I perceive breasts the same as most men receiving sexual pleasure. I perceive them as profoundly beautiful. A natural work of art. I enjoy looking at them similar to the way I enjoy looking at natural wonders like a sunset on a beach, or waterfalls, or nebulas but a thousand times better.
No, following that reasoning touching a woman’s breasts is no different than touching a man’s breasts…and I’m confident if you went up to some shirtless man in the park and rested your hand on his bare chest you’d get a punch in the jaw a large fraction of the time (and at minimum an “Excuse me! Take your hand off me, you creep!” the rest of the time).
If I don’t know and like you, I don’t want you touching my breasts OR my arm, whether I’m naked or clothed, and whether I’m a woman or a man. Just keep your hands to yourself.
So if a man came and touched your breasts without your consent, in your eyes that isn’t sexual assault? Just a normal passing of physical boundaries, akin to some stranger grabbing you by the arm?
At this point you’re just being annoying. You know very well the answers to the questions you’re asking; you’re only asking them to prolong the discussion and show how clever you are, and how good at debating. Enough. We don’t owe you more of an explanation than we’ve already given you. You don’t have to agree with our point of view, but we’re not going to waste any more time or effort discussing it with you. Any further 7th-grade debate-team sophistry you try to post will just get deleted. To give you the one last answer you seem so badly to crave: no, an arm is not the same as a chest, just as a foot is not the same as a tongue and a thigh is not the same as a shoulder. Every body part is different, and a touch by a stranger on some body parts would be more intrusive, surprising, and unwelcome than a touch on others. But that doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with sex or gender or whether one is clothed or not. Go up to a strange man you don’t know and reach out and stroke his hair or touch his tongue, or put your palm on his chest. Go ahead. A really big, manly man. I dare you.
Well put! Nobody bullies a reader, lol.
Couldn’t have said it better myself. Damn, you ladies are so smart. Tell it! Those guys are acting like jerks and this is definitely my new favorite blog. Thanks for featuring a disabled woman, too. Awesome and beautiful. It is so nice to witness your joy.
In solidarity, sisters! Viva la revolucion!
After my girlfriend sent me a link to your page I couldn’t help but scroll through every last pic and read all about your fun activities. I was quite surprised that I could not find any clear mention of the name of the “nude-friendly, gay-friendly, everything-friendly boutique hotel”. I think I eventually figured out that it is actually a “gay hotel” in Chelsea and probably not my cup of tea. Perhaps its reputation is such that it needs no promotion on your site.
The idea of a nude friendly hotel in the heart of NYC was very intriguing however. Perhaps one of the other boutique operators will pick up on the theme and put together a classy place, close to the action, somewhere in Manhattan, where guests can explore the city by day and then shed their clothes and have a drink by a fire pit while communing with other like minded people. Maybe pop open one of the books you ladies are championing.
On the subject of the books you are reading, Could I suggest that you add a review section to your page?
Thanks for a good morning’s fun! It was almost as good a morning sex…almost
Thank you for celebrating our freedom in a beautiful way!
Love a good book. Would love it more with such an interesting background. How do I join?
Send email to toplesspulpfiction@gmail.com and let us know a little about who you are and what your interest is.
How cool it would be if the law would even allow more. In our public Parks in Germany you have some full nude areas were you can enjoy the sun on every spot of the body. Also famous are the nude beaches in Eurooe along with nude mixed Saunas and many other spots. Good to see that you are using your freedom in NY🙂 Cheerio
Great comment on the freedom women and men are allowed in Germany. Has New York considered opening a coed health club where men and women can swim, steam, and sauna clothed or nude in the same unit? If it is a private club and each person signs a membership release, I would think that would be allowed. My sister lives in Germany and they have coed steam and saunas.
Alan
Don’t know if anyone has considered opening one in New York, but I’m pretty sure no one has ever opened one. It’s a shame. We’d use it if someone did.
When I was in the US I just visited two full nude camping Areas in Wisconsin and Indiana. Nice places with relaxed and open minded bunch. I am not aware of any plane in NY, but the flight over to Germany is not that long and you would not believe some of the coed saunas and swimming areas over here. It is just natural to go there, really incredible as these places partly have up to 1,500 visitors at the same time.
Check out these pages, all are full nud coed Saunas:
Best Sauna ever: Mediterana near Cologne
http://www.mediterana.de/sauna-wellness-und-therme-vor-den-toren-von-koeln/sauna-entspannung.html
Largest Sauna – Therme Erding near Munich:
http://www.therme-erding.de/de/100686/100703/100758/saunen.html
Huge Outdoor Area with access to a Lake:
http://www.miramar-bad.de/saunaparadies/
Thease are just a few, we have lots more like that. In Frankfurt Area alone there are 7 large Saunas not listed here so far…..
(And no, I am NOT commercially involved in any of these)😉
Hi, do you know about a group doing the same in the Seattle area??
We don’t, no. Sorry.
If there are any mothers among you, they might well appreciate this project:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/09/bodies-of-mothers-jade-beall-beautiful-body-project-photos_n_5280419.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000063
For that matter, you all might appreciate it, since it is obvious that body acceptance is important to you all.
Roger Zelazny, Amber series, read by a beautiful girl. Bloody great!
Dave
One of my favorite series of all time.
I know I’m just another guy on here, but I think what you guys are doing is great. I’ve always believed that the ban on female toplessness is one of the stupidest quirks about American society. It just makes no sense. A barely-there string bikini is fine but topless is not. 12 year old boys blow people up with hand grenades in the world of virtual reality, but we gotta shield their eyes if a woman shows a nipple. It’s hilariously idiotic.
These rules are vestiges of a more misogynistic time in history. In ye olde times, men were afraid that they would be tempted by the evils of the flesh if a woman were allowed to bare her breasts in public. They in essence blamed women for their lack of self control. Instead of forcing women to hide their bodies, how about we teach our sons to respect women? There’s a novel idea. There’s nothing obscene about boobs. I have yet to hear a good reason from anyone as to how a woman’s bare chest is any more inappropriate than a man’s.
I’ve actually talked to a handful of friends, both male and female, about this and all of them pretty much agree that it’s stupid. I think the majority of people have a similar opinion, but it’s one of those things where the people who want to ban it care WAY more than the people who don’t. I think probably about 70% of people either support it or simply don’t care, but it’s the other 30% as well as this country’s staunch traditionalism that keeps the dumb rules in place.
I think it’s great that a place like New York has taken a progressive stance on this and that beautiful women such as yourselves embrace it. I hope one day it becomes normal and commonplace in this country, but I fear that day is a long way off. If there’s one thing Americans hate, it’s change.
A question: I don’t think getting men to embrace this will be too hard (albeit largely for the wrong reasons), but I think women will be a tougher sell. I know you guys don’t consider yourselves activists, but I’m just curious, what has the reaction of other women been?
All the best,
Eric
The reaction from other women has mostly been terrific – but you’re right that there are some women who don’t like it, and those women make sure we know it. But we’re big girls, and can shrug off the occasional rolled eyes or muttered comment. No one has ever done anything worse than that.
I hope one day we can live in a society where a topless woman is no big deal, and where women are more comfortable with their bodies. I think it’s great that you’ve gotten as much positive reaction as you have. I hope that the views of other women continue to soften on this.
I would also like to apologize on behalf of all men for the depressingly large number of creeps that exist in this world. Any attractive woman on facebook or twitter has to deal with it and so do you guys. I swear, sometimes it almost makes me ashamed to be male. I think they are one of the big reasons why more women aren’t doing what you guys do (although your turnout has always seemed pretty good). I do fear that if one day a creep goes too far and it becomes a legal issue that that could be the ammunition some conservative legislator needs to change the law. It all feels so fragile to me.
Just know that some of us were raised to respect women and act like mature adults🙂
I’ve also been meaning to apologize as well for the members of my sex who make the stupidest, most obvious statements here. Thanks, Eric!
I’ve also been meaning to ask a question. Any thoughts of encouraging young girls (daughters, sisters, etc.) to join you? It seems to me this would be a good test of whether this law is secure, as well as displaying good role models giving other girls encouragement to enjoy their freedom as well. I believe it’s really important to learn this freedom early. How about you?
We agree that it’s important to learn early, and we’re proud to be a good example to girls of all ages who see us when we’re out in the park. We have often had mothers of young girls bring them by to talk to us or take photos with us, and that makes us very happy.
That’s a great idea. My congratulations to New York for allowing tonelessness by both men and women. Unfortunately, here, in Brazil, only a very few places would allow the women to enjoy the sun – without a shirt – and a good book at the same time.
I follow O.C.T.P.F.A.S. and I am glad that your group and website are showing women that in New York that women have the right to be topfree the same as men. I applaud what you are doing. it’s about time. I also notice that O.C.T.P.F.A.S. has been getting publicity from Huffington Post and others. Thats great! What criteria do you use to determine who interviews O.C.T.P.F.A.S.?
I know that Young Naturist America (based in NYC) and The Naturist Living Show have both tried to contact your group for an interview, but got no response from O.C.T.P.F.A.S. Maybe I am wrong, but wouldn’t interviews with both groups help you reach more people?
Just a thought…
Thanks. If someone has a few questions that we can answer by email, we generally say yes. But we generally don’t do video or audio interviews – podcasts, radio shows, etc. We just feel more comfortable with the written word.
Apart from that, we’ve found that naturists often aren’t our biggest fans and like to lecture us about how the human body should never be described as sexy, that sort of thing. Life’s too short to spend time on arguments with people like that.
And even naturists that do like us…our main objective is to get a message out to the broader community of general readers who need their eyes opened to the fact that female toplessness is not sinful or reckless or destructive. If we have to choose between talking to them and preaching to the converted, we’ll at least do the former first.
I think that comment right there pretty much defeats the whole “all they want is attention” argument that many people use. They lambasted Scout Willis for being an “attention whore” and protesting what they saw as an unimportant issue…as if that mattered. Not every protest has to be about starving African children and carbon emissions. All she did was post pictures on twitter to protest a dumb rule and an idiotic double standard in American society. It’s not like she started some massive campaign with tv appearances right and left.
Female toplessness is just one of many inane and utterly harmless things we Americans make way too big a deal about. Our police officers have better things to do than harass women for taking their shirts off on a hot day.
First off, I am no prude. I come from a culture where topless men and women walk around on the beaches without anyone taking notice (of course being topless away from the beach would raise some eyebrows, so I am not saying there are no cultural issues with nudity). I live in an American city where, until recently, public nudity was not an offense.
But, still, I feel you are failing to pass your intended message, your voices getting lost in the sea of pornographic content on the web. There is one crucial difference between a full-bodied human being sunbathing, or eating, or swimming topless next to you, and a picture of one on the web. The element of human contact is missing from the latter, making a whole world of difference. The latter is much more likely to be objectified than the former.
I wish you could somehow record the statistics of the intent of users visiting your website. What percentage has a voyeuristic intent, as compared to the ones who are interested in being able to go topless in their own communities? For example, what percentage checks out the books and comments, and what percentage simply scrolls down the images? I would love to hear these statistics, but I fear the results might disappoint you…
We would love it if ten million people could see us live and in person. That’s sadly not possible. But ten million people have seen our website, and even if only a minority of those are people with good motives whom we inspire to greater exercise of their freedoms or healthier self-image, and the majority are just enjoying a voyeuristic thrill, that’s a reasonable trade-off in our eyes. (Among other things, there’s nothing so very terrible about voyeuristic thrills. As long as people behave respectfully when they see us in person, we don’t really care what they do in the privacy of their own home.)
Well said.
I think your group is unique and interesting as well, I am suprised that you aren’t spotlighted in the upcoming movie, Free the Nipple.
New York is the leader in topless freedom and is setting a positive example for the rest of the country.
For those who are intersted, there are a couple sites that are a little slow right now that would love your particpation, “goingbraless.net”. and “Topfree”.
Anyone here would love reading all the stories and experiences and conversation there.
Lina’s approach is a little different than ours, but that’s the nice thing: we all use our freedoms in our own way. We focus on pleasure; for us, the activist side of things is secondary. (Important, but secondary.) No balaclavas and picket signs for us.
Well, since you ask, I like them apples just fine! And in the 11th image from the top, is that a beautiful old Rolleiflex I spy in the bag? So you ladies are connoisseurs of cameras as well as books! Sweetsong, London
Hi all,
I am sorry to hear that your spa is closing. Have you heard of Terlam in Fords, NJ?
YNA Will Host the First Co-Ed Nude Spa Sunday At Our New Gym / Spa – Terlam Women’s Wellness in Fords, NJ
Venue
Terlam Women’s Wellness
55 Lafayette Road, Fords, NJ 08863 United States
+ Google Map
Phone:
848-205-2964
Website:
terlam.com
Website:
http://youngnaturistsamerica.com
We have heard about it, yes, and we’re glad to know it exists. But getting out to Jersey isn’t really practical for us; anywhere more than a subway ride away bumps up against the twin engines of laziness and inertia, which conspire to keep us in our accustomed environs.
Keep up the good work ladies. You guys are very brave!
I love what y’all are doing! The human body is nothing to be ashamed of. Keep up the work. Y’all are changing society!
It’s a lot of good clean fun. I say “Enjoy the summer to the fullest!”.
May your summer days last for ever. From a steaming hot and sultry London, wishing we could have a huge thunderstorm to clear the air, Sweetsong.
As the authors of Sex at Dawn, we’d just like to say that this is how we dreamed our book would be read! Many thanks for the exposure.
— Chris and Cacilda
We couldn’t be more thrilled. Thanks for stopping by to comment! And for writing such a terrific work.
Thought you might be interested in this
http://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2014/aug/04/-sp-body-paint-artist-nyc
Is there any way you can put a “like” button on the blog? Many of the posts deserve support but – especially months later – don’t seem to warrant another reply.
Not a bad idea at all, but honestly I’m not sure how to do it. If we figure it out, we might make the change. But it’s not so critical that’s it’s worth spending a lot of time on…
Hi All,
I have been busy and so missed several of your posts. So I’m catching up. When I read your posts and see your pictures… I feel like I am reconnecting with old friends… because I love being naked and reading books. Through your pictures and posts I get a feel for NYC even though I have never been. Thank you for doing your part to promote body freedom, especially for women. I enjoy your site. Keep up the good work!
Maybe this has been mentioned before, but does anyone in OCTPFAS remember the “founding” date and year? Something worth celebrating as time marches forward, and the Society becomes firmly rooted in the annals of history.
I believe our first event was on August 12, 2011.
Well, then Happy (belated by a day) 3rd Anniversary! We’ll mark our August 2015 calendars and perhaps make a trip to NYC in time for whatever event may be planned.
You guys should have a mixer, even if it’s clothed.
Why not start your own group and join the fun posting pictures here?
How many women was at the largest gathering you have ever had and where was it?
We’ve had several with about 20 women. Rockefeller Park, Central Park, Ayza Wine Bar…a number of them have been that size.
Probably should check your verb tense. Still it was a good question.
Truly a great concept. Where were you guys back in the 70s, when I was young? (rhetorical question). We all talked about freedom and such but few of us got beyond our repressive upbringing in the 50s. In the early 70s, while we were both in college in Seattle, my wife and I had a clothing optional apt. where we were usually nude. We hd a warning on out door and usually answered the door sans-clothing. Even our so-called hip friends thought us a bit odd and too free.
I was lucky. When I was 12, my mother pulled a couple of tubes (that’s right tubes!) from our TV, while we were at school. She said it was broken and there was no money to fix it. After a couple of weeks of watching me mope around she gave me a copy of Hawaii by James Mitchener. That was one of he greatest gifts I ever received.
A few years ago, I gave most of my library (all of my over 100 hardbacks) to my younger son’s former alternative HS. Their library was pathetic.
I gave my sons and their wives a great gift recently, a link to your site.
Welcome back – I missed you!
Loved the rocks. What a beautiful place to read and relax. Hope we will have more warm fall days to enjoy.
I just watched the movie “Maid in Manhattan”. Were the rocks you were reading and sunbathing on the same ones in the movie?
Don’t know. There are a lot of rocks in Central Park!
I did not realize that. I have only been to Central Park a couple of times and never through the park. Thanks for the information.
Re Getting Wet in the Sun – well said, that woman! And I love the pic of the water; bare breasts (etc) and art in the same piece – woohoo!
[…] currently transcribing an interview with the Co-ed Topless Pulp Fiction Appreciation Society for my parallel luxury erotic magazine project, Quite Frankly (which you can out more about […]
It is refreshing to see that all of your activities aren’t limited to sitting down, reading books or sitting on the roof top. Walking thru the park or wherever you might be either topless or with shirts open with obvious braless bodies underneath with not a care in the world expresses the freedom and confidence that all women should enjoy wherever they are.
Let’s hear it for the Dream Hotel, and for that beautiful Rolleiflex!
WOW! I am REALLY happy you didn’t give up. The Dream Hotel turned into a dream come true! This proves that some businesses show sanity and not fear! Congrats! Maybe this will serve as a key so that topfreedom becomes a non issue for women as it is for men. This is one step closer to equality for all. Keep up what y’all are doing! It’s working awesomely.
This is my second reply. In my first, I asked the rhetorical question, where were you all, when I was young. The answer is, of course, you were not yet born. Still better late than ever. You are the realization of a dream that we in the 60s and 70s believed could and should exist. That is people who are not ashamed of their bodies.
Seeing your continuing stories both gives me hope for the future and makes me sad at how much most members of my generation lost their way and retreated into the old taboos we were supposed to be fighting against. The same people who swam naked together with complete strangers in the pond at Woodstock, now get upset about an exposed nipple. What a shame. The test of time will be, the way you all feel about such freedom, when you are in your 60s, as I now am.
My hope is that you will still believe that freedom, joy and beauty trump any irrational social norms. Good luck!
Well said. But if you are in your 60″s you were in the middle of Woodstock and the “Hippie” generation and “FREE LOVE”. Maybe the topless was less open. Woodstock was in NY.
Alan,
When we were young, my generation fought for freedom, equality, peace and a more sane and just world. My disappointment is caused by the lack of follow through by my generation. Now, the same people have drifted back into supporting many of the same old irrational taboos. If that was not true, there would be no concern over ‘wardrobe malfunctions’ and the posting of naked pictures of famous people would not be the scandal you see in the news today.
As for ‘Free Love’, one thing we learned (the hard way) back then is that love is never completely free. If you truly love someone, you feel a sense of responsibility for that person. That sense of responsibility restricts your actions in some ways you may not have expected. The popularity of on-line porn is largely because it provides a sexual outlet free of personal contact and by that fact free of responsibility. It is the ultimate outlet for sex without love. While I do not object to that outlet, it is no substitute for the real emotionally messy thing.
PS: The ‘Hippy’ was largely a creation of the press. In reality, it was a caricature and an attempt to marginalize a serious reform movement. We were much more than that. If the press ever catches on to your movements, they will try to do the same to you. You will be caricaturized and made to fit their notion of a bunch of amusing kooks.
So, with that all said, good luck…enjoy your freedom…try hard to hold onto your ideals and, as David Crosby once wrote in a song, “teach your children well.”
Well spoken. I am part of that generation. Graduated from college in 1969.
nudity not just topless was open at Woodstock. I wasn’t there but the news did just as you say, dumbed it down for the rubes. They did the same thing to Occupy and I was there for that. Love, free or otherwise, brings responsibility, and that means plugging back into the system. It isn’t your generation’s fault. “The system makes the people, the people don’t make the system.” (I think bobby Seal)
Good to see you lovely ladies enjoying this lovely autumn/fall in a lovely new venue.
There is nothing better than reading a good book on a sunny day. Oh, and the less clothes the better so my body has more exposed skin to absorb those warm rays of delight.
Your book club is inspirational and beautiful all the same; I would be ashamed to join you because I am fat, short and ugly. Do you discriminate or just not photograph the less fortunate members.
We welcome all, and photograph all who want to be photographed.
As always, I enjoyed reading (and ogling – along with some impure thoughts🙂 your latest post. Whether it’s meant to make a statement, or just for fun, I believe that what you girls are doing is part of a movement that will ultimately have a positive influence on American culture.
Please don’t take offense, but I do want point out what I see as a small bit of hypocrisy on your part. I’ve read a few mentions (at least one of which was rather lengthy), describing how “creepy”, “rude” and offensive you found people who stared at the group, or individual members of the group, during your public outings. You especially seem to dislike people taking more than one or two photos.
Like it or not, women’s breasts are highly sexualized/eroticized in our culture, and seeing them displayed in public is – currently – unusual. So you are bound to attract attention. And if someone has a camera handy, they’re gonna use it. A lot.
When you put something unusual, and attractive, on display people will be drawn to it. And yes, they will stare. If you consider it rude, think of a performance artist of some sort on the street. Would you consider it rude to stare at him/her while he/she performs? Of course not. At this point, your group is making a point (a valid point, by the way) through a kind of “performance”. You are, whether intentionally or not, inviting attention.
If you consider the attention you are receiving offensive, remember that the gawkers are exercising their rights, just as you are exercising yours. I’m sure there are many people who find your public toplessness offensive. If they told you they found you to be “creepy” or “rude”, I’m sure you would tell them it’s your right to bare your breasts in public, and that they need to get over it. And you would be correct. Perhaps if you “get over” being offended by being stare at/photographed, your outings will be even more fun and carefree than they already.
Just something to think about. Keep up the good work ladies.
It is possible to look at us in a way that is not creepy or rude. It is also possible to stare in a way that is creepy and rude. We complain about the latter, not the former.
It is possible to take more than one or two photos in a way that is not creepy or rude. It is also possible to take a dozen and to do so in a very obnoxious, intrusive, unpleasant way. We complain about the latter, not the former.
It is simply not true that “if someone has a camera handy, they’re gonna use it. A lot.” These days, everyone has a camera handy — it’s in everyone’s phone. And most people who see us don’t use it at all, never mind “a lot.”
All we’re saying is don’t be rude, don’t be obnoxious, don’t be creepy. Don’t transparently gratify your sexual urges at our expense. You’re welcome to notice us — we’re in public, after all, as you say. You’re welcome to pay attention, if you want. You’re free to take photos. But don’t be an asshole about it.
You’d be free to take photos of a group of fully dressed women sitting in the park reading books too — but you wouldn’t walk up to them and snap photo after photo after photo from 2 feet away, would you? Even if you were legally free to do it? (As you are.) There comes a point where your behavior crosses a line. And I think all people who don’t have some sort of cognitive or emotional deficit can recognize the difference.
Well spoken. Alan
It’s just respect and common courtesy. You don’t take pictures of people in public without their consent regardless of what they’re wearing. People do it all the time; the internet is littered with them, but that doesn’t make it any less rude. But with many guys, common sense seems to go out the window when boobs (or attractive women in general) become involved. To quote the late, great Robin Williams, “God gave men both a penis and a brain, but unfortunately not enough blood supply to run both at the same time.” If there were muscular dudes running around naked, I doubt there would be many women hiding in the bushes taking pictures of their junk. Ogling, perhaps, but super-creeper/borderline stalker? No. It’s called self control.
Yes, as has been pointed out, boobs are, for whatever reason, taboo in this country (and many other places). Even for mature, respectful guys, the eyes become more difficult to police when they’re out there before God and all witnesses. That doesn’t mean you can’t still be respectful. There’s nothing wrong with people-watching. The human body is a beautiful thing (when it’s taken care of) and it’s a shame our culture doesn’t embrace that. These women do, which is wonderful. Just don’t be a creep, that’s all.
The hope is that one day, a woman’s bare chest won’t get any more attention than the dog chasing a frisbee.
I must say though, I doubt I’d have the stones to approach these women if I saw them, no matter how respectfully, even though I admire the heck out of them. I’m from the south, and at least down here, talking to strangers in public isn’t a big deal. Happens all the time. That’s not necessarily true in other parts of the country, particularly big cities like New York. Most of the time, you need a good reason to talk to somebody other than just being friendly.
I’m also a guy, and that carries a certain perception with it. When guys talk to girls, it’s generally assumed that they want something other than friendly conversation, because that’s often the case. These women deal with enough creeps and overconfident wannabe studs fishing for phone numbers (ask any attractive female bartender, they know the type). You’re just another one of those until proven otherwise. They’re friends hanging out with friends, they’re not there to talk to you. So I’d just leave them in peace.
Dear O.C.T.P.F.A.S. members,
This will be my last comment on this site. You probably don’t want to keep hearing from a retired old former flower child anyhow. I just want to comment on this latest controversy.
It has been said, “In Europe sex is a fact of life. In America it is an obsession.” Men and women in our society are constantly bombarded by carefully designed sexual images. These images are created to draw in our attention and hold us, while we are sold cars, clothes, etc. The images are carefully designed to arouse us and frustrate, by keeping breasts, butts and genitals barely hidden, while everything in the image is designed to give a mild sexual arousal. Subconsciously, the arousal becomes attached to the items being sold. It is this hiding of specific body parts that make them titillating. In some societies and even in ours a century or more ago, to view an uncovered ankle would have the same effect.
It has been said that men are more easily aroused by visual images than women. This makes men (already driven to distraction by an evolutionary, testosterone driven urge engage in sex) especially vulnerable to such manipulation. I have discussed the differences between men’s hormonally driven urges and women’s with my wife many times. Now we both understand that understanding each other’s responses to sexual images can only be in the abstract.
This testosterone stuff is a powerful drug that hits boys hard in their early teen. Having, in my youth, tried many different drugs, I can assure you that none compares to testosterone in its ability to shut down the logic circuits and make an otherwise decent thoughtful guy do stupid things. As they say, “been there; done that.”
Now, at 67 years of age, the level of testosterone in my body has dropped to where, I still feel sexual urges, when viewing a naked woman, but they are no longer strong enough drive me to do stupid things and/or embarrass myself.
There is nothing we can do about the hormonal thing, but he sexual tension and obsession with naked bodies could be greatly reduced by more, rather than less nudity. I experienced this about 20 years ago, wile attending the Vancouver (BC) International Music Festival. A large group of women had taken the opportunity to go topless. I quickly noticed them sitting together on the grass. Of course, a warm feeling swept trough my body and I found myself moving closer to enjoy the view (testosterone at work). After about 15 minutes of sitting among the women, I noticed a shift in my feelings from sexual tension to a more warm and fuzzy feeling of being among friendly attractive women. I was still enjoying the view but relaxation replaced tension.
The guys obsessively taking pictures of you are either doing so for commercial purposes or they are caught in a fugue of hormonal overdrive, driven by the continued sexual frustration intentionally created by the advertising industry and a greatly misunderstood and underestimated powerful drug flooding their bodies (testosterone).
The solution is desensitization. That is to say, more nudity by both sexes, until it no longer arouses with such overpowering force and no one is embarrassed by being seen naked.. Of course there are commercial interests that would resist such a change, not to mention Bronze Age mythologies that teach the display of a naked body is a cause for embarrassment and shame. It isn’t a shame that someone posted naked pictures of movie stars on the net. It is a shame that the movie stars felt embarrassed when the beauty of their bodies was displayed for all to see.
Excellent response to my comments! It says a lot (all good, by the way :-)) about you and the spirit of your project/organization. I hope you continue to expand your group and promote the “cause”.
I love your rooftop terrace (NYC?).
I’m new to this blog. I’ve no experience with social nudity whatsoever. Anyway, I like the well-read, pleasant and relaxed atmosphere of the club. And yes, reading is sexy.
Thank you! And yes, all our events are in NYC.
And a Merry and Happy Christmas to all of you at OCTPFAS, and a Good and Gloriously clothes-free New Year in 2015. X
MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR…Wonder where you will hang the Mistletoe????
Thank you for your wonderful Best of the Year compilations – two lovely reminders of your various activities throughout the year.
Now, I have three questions I have been wanting to ask but they might be too intrusive, so if they are, just tell me to mind my own business. They are:
1. What is the (given) name of the beautiful tattooed girl who features in nearly all of your reports, and who is in pics 9 and 12 of BotY Part Deux?
2. What is the (given) name of the author of your blog?
3. Can you tell me which recent pics feature your blogwriter?
I ask because I have been following your wonderful website for some years now and feel I have got to know your regulars quite well through your reports, and I would just like to be able to identify one or two of you by name. As I say, if this is asking too much just tell me to mind my own business and I will respect your response. And as a quid pro quo, my name is Douglas and I follow you from London, England. Thank you, and seasons greetings!
Pleasure to meet you, Douglas, and thank you for your comments. But we deliberately don’t use our names on the blog, for a variety of reasons.
Full names would obviously be foolish in this sad world we live in, where so many men for some reason seem incapable of acting like civilized human beings. Some of us were actually raised to respect people.
However, I do recall you using first names before. At least one of your members seems to be a rather well known fitness model who hasn’t been shy about sharing either her identity or her views on the issues you guys confront, something I greatly admire and respect.
Peace to all of you,
Eric
Cheyenne (our fitness model member) is one of only two exceptions. Other than those two, we have never used anyone’s first or last name.
No problem at all, I completely understand. Have a great New Year, and I look forward to following you through 2015.
I’ve been wondering–does one person write all of your blog posts, or is there a rotation of writers?
We’ve had a couple different people write entries over the years, but it’s mostly one person.
HAPPY NEW YEAR ALL! I guess I can still say that! It’s still early in the year. I was born with cerebral palsy. I have been in and out of wheelchairs most of my life. I noticed in several blog post that one of your members is in a chair. I live in Savannah, GA. Savannah was founded in 1733. The older parts of the city aren’t very wheelchair accessible. I know that NYC is much older. Is NYC very wheelchair accessible? Just curious. Thanks!
Ron
Some parts of the city are better, some are worse. The rooftop sundeck we love so much is a five-floor walk-up, so completely inaccessible for anyone in a chair. But you can get around in most city parks very well, and on sidewalks. Could be worse.
Welcome back, Octpfasians – when you appear, spring can’t be far behind!
Its so nice to see you ladies enjoying yourselves even in the Winter, but damn girls its too cold out there to go topless…brrrr!!! Here’s hoping that none of you catches a cold while baring yourself in during these cold NYC Winter days.
I think what you are doing is fantastic, promoting literacy and nudity.
If I were younger and my stomach wasn’t hanging on my knees, I would have joined a nudist group and attended nudist resorts.
Did you know that since the 1880’s, when YMCA’s started having swimming pools and running swimming classes, until about mid 1960’s/1970’s, all men and boys were forced to swim totally nude, even at competitions where parents and siblings (sisters) could attend. This only changed when YMCA rules changed and females were allowed into YMCA swimming pools.
Mandatory nude swimming during physical education classes for boys at almost all American junior high and senior high schools with pools in all US States also happened from about 1900 until mid 1970’s, swimming trunks were strictly verboten for boys. The boys had to line up first in the altogether for roll call and only then could they jump into the pool. The girls could wear bathing suits during their swimming classes which was separate from the boys. It sometimes happened that the male swimming coaches were not available for some reason and the female coaches had to run the boys classes. In some schools in the UK and Australia boys and girls ages 8 to 11 had combined swimming classes where both groups were nude. If you don’t believe me, Google it.
Imagine this happening today, grown men and women with naked kids, they would be arrested as sex offenders. Sex crimes, although they occurred, were mostly unheard of during those days and few and far between.
I was at an all-boys’ prep school (9-13) in South-East England in the early 1960s and, indeed, all swimming was done in the nude. But I’m afraid I can’t agree that sex crimes in those days were few and far between; I was (very mildly) sexually assaulted by a teacher at that school and at my public school (13-18), and practising paedophiles on the staff were well known to the boys. It’s just that we had far too much respect for authority then and would never have dreamed of reporting such incidents. If anything, things are better these days, because paedophiles are more likely to be reported.
I recall the days Louis speaks of as well. When I tried to relate these facts to the young people that are running the YMCA that I currently attend, they flat out accused me of lying. Things were very different not so very long ago. Attitudes have frozen and solidified, often in unhealthy veins. An old fart like me very much appreciates the beauty that you ladies possess, but the open minds you possess far outshine your lovely bodies. Please maintain your belief, maintain your faith in humanity and don’t let the hidebound small people that want to restrict you and your activities drag you down. I agree with Louis. I am too old and ugly to appear with you. My belly would have the cops shutting you down in no time. But I will in my small way continue to support you and the ideals you profess. Thank you for standing tall.
Spring is sprung, the grass is riz* –
I wonder where the OCTPFAS ladies is!
* In London, anyway
In NYC it’s still quite cold —
We’re eager, but we’re not that bold.
Till freezing weather cedes its place
To warmer days and summer’s grace,
We’ll wait and meet in indoor nooks
And bide our time, and read our books.
Haha, excellent! Literary, liberated AND poetic – your cups truly runneth over.😉 Stay cosy in your nooks with your books until summer graces you with its presence – and vice versa.
Nice poetry! Even here in Savanah, GA It’s still too cool in an outdoor pool. Away with the snows and off come the clothes! Take care.
Naturally!
While I truly appreciate your courage and beauty, the pictures of you out in the snow and cold made me shiver and run for a cup of hot chocolate. For crying out loud, are you mad. Here in the NW, we seem to have skipped winter this year, while I have read you all got hit pretty hard.
If I did not live in such a repressive part of the country, I would expect to see a chapter of your society here. Don’t let the recent legalization of pot here confuse you. That was all about tax revenue. The blue noses would have you all arrested here. Many years ago, my wife was stopped by a cop on the street in the U District in Seattle because the cop could see too much skin through her thin dress. You are very lucky to live where you do.
Looking forward to Spring Springing out of your tops
Cherry Blossoms are blooming in the south
Lovely poetic phrasing.
Hallelujah indeed, and welcome back, Easter Bunnies!
You have a great site. Some of your photos are art quality. Ever think of publishing a book of your best photos?
Thanks. We worked with the artist Richard Prince to produce a limited-edition chapbook of some of our photos a little while back, but that was the only thing we’ve done along those lines. We might do something else someday. We’ll see.
Hope you do design a book and make it available to us. This weekend might me a good time for another outing. Alan
Happy fourth anniversary! Do you know the exact date?
Could look it up, but it was sometime in the late summer of 2011. So not quite here yet. But soon!
Re: Washington, Not So Square: What a wonderful city New York is, to have such diversity in it. And London’s not so bad, either. And if my Dutch girlfriend and I ever visit (which I hope we will, one day), we’ll be sure to come and visit you. If you don’t mind a bare male chest, that is.
I think you should contact Lena Esco and see if she would include you in a Free the Nipple part 2 movie. You should have been included in the original.
We’ve been in touch with Lena over the years, and support her work; not sure she needs us in her movies, though. (We have different approaches — no balaclavas for us, and we’re not going out of our way to provoke; we don’t seek fights, and maybe because of that we’ve never found ourselves in any.)
Love it! I wonder what WI’s laws are.
[…] Wanna join? Right this way. […]
The story about the police officer checking to see that you all had your pants on (so to speak) was nearly unbelievable. Especially when he then just walked away. That and the Supreme Court decision on marriage equality gives this old man hope for the future of our country.
By the way, I realize you have not created this site specifically to show off your beauty but I must say it is nice to visit once in a while to see women’s bodies that look like women’s bodies, rather than little boys bodies.
Better yet, he didn’t walk away, he rode noisily away on his motorcycle. It added a little je ne sais quoi to the whole encounter.
If only more people could be as awesome about it as that.
OMG! How is this possible?
I’m a long-time naturist living in FL. I’ve been to most all of the usual spots on the Eastern side of the state. Haulover in Miami Bch where I lived a good while, Playa Linda on the Space-Coast where I live now & Sunsport Gardens of course, to mention a few.
My “OMG” is because I’ve got a stack, I mean A STACK, of read Hard Case Crime! Could this be a wild coincidence or are we a new breed of twisted naturist. Nonetheless, it’s very validating to know I’m not alone reading L. Block bare-arsed.
Anyway, keep running around necked with pulp in hand & if any of your group makes it down here to FL & needs some “inside scoop” on the naturist spots, feel free to hit me up………Craig
4th of July and where are the fireworks? Hope you enjoyed the weekend.
Just discovered this. What a great thing! I swim at Haulover beach in South Florida every weekend, and it’s so much more enjoyable in the nude. I imagine public reading would be, also – most of all because you’d be surrounded by kindred souls who shared those interests.
Is there a South Florida chapter?
There isn’t…but if it’s legal there, no reason you couldn’t start one…
I really have to applaud you ladies for what you’re doing. Most web-site having to do with a woman’s right to go topless only deal with equal rights and the law. It’s all they ever talk about. The only reason they give a woman to go topless is that it is or should be her right to do so. You ladies have shown them that it can be fun and relaxing to be topless. This gives more women the idea that there is something other than the law to go topless. I’m sure you’ve heard a lot of women say “OK the law says I can go topless, why should I, what’s in it for me?” You’ve shown them what’s in it for them. After seeing your site, and reading the stories, and looking at the pictures I think I can honestly say that was the first time I ever felt left out because I not a woman. You ladies look to be having so much fun I can’t help feeling a little jealous. Keep doing what your doing and you’ll do more for freeing the nipple than any other site just yelling “equal rights.”
Hey! I’ve been a member here for quite some time, but I’m not receiving your notices! Did something happen to the system? I miss your refreshing selves!!
Below is my name and address, but my name here has been “old kahuna.”
No idea. We haven’t changed anything.
Any idea when we can expect coedbottomlesspulpfiction?
Just scan through our blog, you’ll see we go bottomless whenever we can.🙂
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2015/08/18/topless-times-square-women/
I hope I’m not the only one who realizes the significant threat this issue poses to topfreedom in NYC. All it takes is one group to push it too far to ruin it for everybody. A reinstatement of the topless ban could very well result from this. They’ve already been cracking down on nudist and topless beaches on Long Island.
Perhaps this is time for OCTPFAS to seriously rethink the intentional distancing from similarly-minded organizations like AANR, The Naturist Society, and GoTopless.org? These groups have years (or decades) of experience in proactively fending off the sabre rattling of those who want to suppress freedom. While, understandably, these groups are not in complete alignment with OCTPFAS, there is, at least, an overlap which constitutes a common cause. Both AANR and TNS have legal resources that would probably be willing to lend a hand. Just food for thought.
Appreciate the thought, Todd. But we want to have as much to do with the Raelians, the group that runs GoTopless.org as we do with the Moonies or the Church of Scientology. The Pure naturist groups we have nothing but positive feelings about (some of us are members), but really, we prefer to find our own way. We have had no legal problems over the past five years and don’t expect to have any in the future. If there is an attempt to ban female toplessness in New York in the future, we’ll of course be glad to have allies in the fight to resist such a change. But for now, we’re content.
Personally I support the freedom for women to go topless. As a man I enjoy looking at women topless. That may be a little sexiest, but I do enjoy the female form and I think that over-weigh women should be allowed the same rights. The freedom to go topless is not just for New York Models. However, in my opinion, the reason this law was passed was just for the freedom to be allowed to lay out in the sun without a top. Not to take advantage of the freedom. I have not been to Time Square since the change in the law. If what I read is true that women can paint their bodies and “SELL” pictures of them on the street like “hookers”..I do not support that. Also, as a man, I am personally offended when men think that a little paint makes their penises attractive. Also, if I was walking my 3 year old granddaughter through the park and there were men “flopping their PAINTED PRICKS about”…that is PERVERSION and they should be sharing a cell with Jarod Fogel. Because they are as perverted as a child molester.
I am sure I will receive many negative comments. TOUGH..it is my right as a citizen to speak. Alan
Well, hookers did not sell photographs of themselves on the street — they sold sex, which is against the law. (Whether it should be is another story, but it is.) It is not against the law to be topless, or to sell photographs. And in fact the women in Times Square aren’t even topless — they’re covered with body paint. Male performers have gone fully topless (no paint) in Times Square for years — the Naked Cowboy being the most famous example — and no one ever tried to invoke to law to prevent it. If they now invoke the law only to prevent women from doing the same thing the Naked Cowboy got famous doing, that’s discrimination, plain and simple. As for painted penises, that’s something you rarely see in New York — really only one day each year, in one place, during the annual body-painting festival — but it’s not perverted at all. It’s art, just like it’s art when you and your granddaughter see the penises in paintings and sculptures at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. If you find the sight of a penis inherently horrifying, I feel bad for you. But there is a world of difference between the mere sight of a penis and a sex act performed by an adult upon a minor.
Well I’m glad to hear that, but this hard-earned and unfortunately rare freedom feels so fragile to me. I get nervous whenever there’s any sort of incident, fearing it may turn the public against the freedom and start a movement for a ban. Even your jaunts in the Washington Square Park fountain make me nervous just because of the negativity they’ve generated in the past. American society just refuses to accept the reality that a barechested woman is completely harmless and many advocate very loudly for bans. Once topless advocates such as yourselves enter areas where even shirtless men are uncommon, I feel like that has a negative affect on public perception. Groups like the Times Square paint girls annoy the heck out of me because IMO they’re abusing the hard-earned freedom and give a bad name to all women exercising topfreedom in NYC without bothering anybody or exploiting the law for attention and money. People like that endanger these freedoms, IMO.
I believe that no woman should ever suffer legal consequences simply for being topless in public, but I do believe that women should be held to the same standards of decorum as men and there are some places where I believe it is and should be inappropriate for anyone, man or woman, to be topless. That’s one of the reasons why I like your group, because you generally aren’t the ones hopping on the subway topless or strutting topless in Times Square. I consider stuff like that to be counterproductive. I believe the message is most powerful when women such as yourselves are topless in a park or on a beach surrounded by shirtless men and women in bikinis.
Sorry for the rant, it’s just something I feel strongly about.
Shirtless men are very common in the fountain in Washington Square Park on any hot summer day. It’s absurd to suggest that men can cool down shirtless in the fountain’s spray but women should not, for fear of sparking some sort of retribution. Either we have the same legal rights as men or we don’t. If we do, we have to be free to use those rights. If we don’t exercise our rights out of timid fear of the possible consequences, then we don’t have the right at all.
In Times Square, the “Naked Cowboy” has been strumming his guitar topless (truly topless — no paint) for years, and while some people thought it tacky, no one threatened to kick him out of the place. On the contrary, he got famous and made a lot of money doing it. Now some women try to do something similar — with less nudity, thanks to the paint — and they’re threatened with expulsion or worse. Now, part of the reason this happened is that there was only one Naked Cowboy and there are numerous women. But aside from that issue of numbers, we don’t see why female toplessness should cause such a stir when male toplessness of exactly the same sort — posing for photos, asking for tips, looking tacky — never did.
The problem is not so much their toplessness but the fact that they aggressively panhandle tourists. They’ve reportedly grabbed people who are clearly uncomfortable and don’t want anything to do with them. I don’t care what you’re wearing, that’s not okay. The Naked Cowboy poses for pictures with very willing people and doesn’t harass anybody. If they want to be like him, they should walk around and let people who are interested come up to them. But no, they push it too far and harass people. I think if, for example, an artist group set up at a corner of Times Square and a model posed topless while the artist painted her or something, people wouldn’t be as bothered by it.
Also, the Naked Cowboy doesn’t sexualize his shirtlessness. His schtick is a goofy guy playing music on the street. These women are selling sexual interest in their boobs. I always thought the message of the topfreedom movement was that boobs aren’t inherently sexual (which they aren’t and are thus not obscene). These women are playing directly into the stereotype, giving people (men) an eyeful in exchange for cash and harassing people while they’re doing it. It gives the topfreedom movement a bad rep, IMO.
My belief has always been that female toplessness by itself should never be a legal issue on public property. I also believe that it should be socially acceptable for women to be topless anywhere that it’s socially acceptable for men to be topless. However, if it’s not appropriate for men to be topless, then I don’t think it should be for women to be topless either. There are rules of decorum that should apply to both genders.
You and I probably agree on prostitution, but that is indeed an entirely separate issue.
I’m very uncomfortable with “rules of decorum” ever being the basis for law enforcement. Laws should be the basis for law enforcement. “Rules of decorum” have a bad habit of creeping toward prohibition when the most offendable of the population seem to be the loudest voices and are the most listened to. The only problem with the women who are selling the pictures, in my opinion, is if they are in fact pushing their services on anyone.
I don’t believe decorum should dictate legislation, but I do believe it should dictate what we find socially acceptable. Legal and socially acceptable are two different things. It’s legal for me, as a man, to be shirtless anywhere in public. That doesn’t mean it’s necessarily socially acceptable or appropriate in every case.
I agree with you. Being aggressive and making people feel uncomfortable in a public place is never acceptable. Thank you for your eloquence.
Who is the girl with pink bikini bottom? She always hides her face😉
She’s one of our members; don’t really know what else to say, since we never identify any of our members by name (or in any other way). Some of our members are happy to have their faces appear on our blog, some prefer not to. We try to accommodate everyone’s level of comfort.
Fantastic!
I loved the pictures!
Hi – you might find this article on the BBC News website interesting.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-34047144
Its nice and good for humanity . . .
I like it its power. . .
Having the right to go topless is great and all, and I’m certainly not offended by them, but are all of your members 20-to-30 somethings? Is there a hidden exhibitionist in all of you? I’m just guessing, but I haven’t seen any pictures of women that appear to be older than 30 or so.
A) You only think you haven’t. I suppose we should feel flattered. B) Isn’t “hidden exhibitionist” an oxymoron? C) Do you assume a man is an exhibitionist if he takes his shirt off in the park when it’s 90 degrees out? Or do you just assume he’s feeling hot?
Women of all ages should be free to choose.
Women of all ages are.
How come anyone who is confident in his or her body is accused of being an exhibitionist?
As to the question of age, perhaps it is because there is a new movement among younger women to move to the next step in equality, that older women have not yet joined. Each generation brings its own ideas to the table. That’s a good thing. That is how progress occurs.
Trust an aging former Haight Ashbury hippie, much behavior that was considered radical when I was young, 40 years ago is now normal. Much behavior that now is considered radical will seem normal 40 years from now. That is as long as we keep pushing against the forces of repression. Most of you were not even born when the women’s liberation movement got going in the early 60s, just as none of my generation were born when women were fighting for the right to vote.
Hopefully the next generations will carry on the fight against racism, sexism, all of the other repressive “isms”.
.
I have a small private nudist club here in the valley. We promote both topless and nude freedom and I just realized it can also be the foundation for a reading club in addition to that. We have 5 members, 3 women and 2 men. Maybe I can make it grow?
[…] Wanna join? Right this way. […]
Hope all you lovely ladies are safe and warm and tucked up away from the blizzard. Roll on spring!
Douglas/Sweetsong, London
AWAY from the blizzard? Bite your tongue! Photos to come.🙂
Wow – can’t wait!🙂
I think you are having too much snow for and afternoon outing. I was in New York for the 2000 New Year’s Eve festivities. The snow was as bad or worse. We had a party at the Waldorf and had to walk from the Marriott Marquis because there were no cabs running. Stay warm.
Awesome site… and a great fight. Love the snow shots…
We’re working at the Buffalo end of the state now too…
Woodlawn Beach Hamburg being our first battleground…
Google topfree woodlawn beach…
We’ll certainly welcome anyone who would like to join the effort at this end of the state…
What IS the battle there? Being topfree is the law anywhere in NY.
Going top free is not something that’s been very common at this end of the state… I’ve been body painting women in public at the Infringement Festival and other events.., but otherwise in normal situations it just wasn’t done… I brought two top free women to the beach on Go Topless Day.., because it was the day to do it… A lark you know..? But the park boss didn’t like it and got on them ‘nicely’… But it was still harassment… Driving up to our canopy and talking to them like there was a reason too.. Giving the other beach goers ideas that they were being ‘dealt’ with for being top free… He was super polite and all, asking for their ‘cooperation’ and to cover up whenever they walked across the beach to the john or wherever… But it was still something he should not have done… We were really to leave anyway so we just did…
But because of that I brought two more women back there the next weekend but the beach was empty, so then another two the third weekend, Labor Day, and the beach was very crowded… The park boss cracked then and called the cops… He didn’t go after the women but started making accusations that we were taking sexually explicit photos and other BS and called me a ‘trouble maker’… He had the cops charge me with trespassing which was total BS… I was never told to leave or to not be there… But they said I was trespassing on a public NYS beach in the middle of the day and in the middle of other public… So I’ve been to court four times now.., and nothing’s happened… The lawyer keeps adjourning it after talking with the prosecutor… I know he’s got to play ball too.. They wanted me to take an ACD but I refused. I want a full trial instead… They’ve been putting me off… Theyknow they have nothing on me.., and I have witnesses, photographs, and more on my side… My next date is Feb 5th and I expect the case to be dismissed… Last year’s judge and prosecutor put the case off until it was too late for them to get into… A new judge and prosecutor took over the first of the year. I don’t think they’ll want to deal with such a dumb situation and lose it….
The whole story is online… More or less… Google ‘topfree topless woodlawn beach hamburg ny’… There are among other things a couple of videos from the muckraking local tv station. And DJ Rankan started a great post that went viral…
I’ve contacted a lot of the pro top free women who supported us in that thread.., and many of them will be on the beach this coming summer… 🙂 The park boss tried to scare me off but all he accomplished was to let thousands of women in this area become aware of their right to go without a top… That it’s legal… Anywhere a man can they can too… You’d be surprized at how many women didn’t know that… Now they do…🙂
Great to see some places in the US are catching up with the rest of the (western) world.
Thank you for your honesty, integrity and openness. It reminds me of what it is to be human.
I love the artists rendering of your members.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3485811/New-Hampshire-strikes-bill-banned-women-going-topless.html
Now that you’ve mentioned it, I would very much like to see an “Aunt Sam” image on this site🙂.
Regarding the guy taking pictures from a hiding place. Rather than shame him for his behavior, I suggest you might have invited him to join you. A few minutes among you could have changed his view and his life. The obsession that most men have over breasts is due entirely to the fact that society has overly-sexualized them and make a boy or man feel guilt, if he is caught sneaking a peek.
In another reply on this site, I told the story of a time (many years ago) when a group of topless women invited me to sit with them at the Vancouver Folk Festival. After very few minutes, my fascination with their breasts faded and I relaxed to enjoy the feeling of acceptance and the music.
I thought about that a lot and came to the conclusion that it is only the forbidden fruit factor that makes naked breasts ( and genitals) such an obsession in our society. If we lived in a clothing optional society where both men and women regularly exposed their bodies, it would not take long before we would all relax.
Believe it or not, we are no where near the most body obsessed society that ever existed. It was not that long ago that a women in the USA could be arrested for wearing a tight fitting bathing suit at the beach. At times western society has seen a naked ankle as overly suggestive.
It is a never ending fight against those who believe the human body is evil and try to enforce their twisted beliefs with laws. There was a recent news item about a woman in ISIS controlled territory who was stopped on the street and told her daughter’s naked legs were sexually suggestive. When she pointed out that her daughter was three months old, she was arrested.
We don’t disagree with most of what you say — but sometimes, when you’re out in the park to relax and enjoy the company of your friends, you don’t feel like taking on the project of re-educating some guy who, sure, may one day be a more enlightened soul, but right now is just acting like an asshole.
I totally agree. Have fun and enjoy a beautiful spring !
I understand the desire to be left alone. I just seldom pass up an opportunity to educate. I can be a challenge to overcome thousands of years of ignorance and misplaced blame. If we don’t do it, who will?
One last note to the member to whom I sent a couple of my art pictures of my wife: I rescind my restriction on publishing either picture. Feel free to publish either of them. While it is easy to have a beautiful body when you are in your 20s or 30s, having a beautiful body after 50 is more of a statement on how you respect what you have and how you take care of it. My wife, Kristin, was well over 50 when those pictures were taken.
I will admit it, I am a man and I like breasts and I love the female form, and I think this blog is great! I found out about this after reading about the recent Nude Shakespeare in the Park!
I don’t want to objectify anybody by admitting that I do find many of the lovely ladies on this site to be quite sexy. In fact I think it’s important that we men find and celebrate the sexiness of average sized and average shaped women (since, by definition that is most women and most women ought to be considered lovely). The average woman does not have the body of a Playboy model, a pornstar or a victoria’s secret mannequin. Those body shapes are unrealistic and overly perfect. Photoshopped perfection is boring and boring is not sexy. In fact I think it’s the imperfections that are most sexy. Real women have a little bit of tummy, have curves, have breasts that aren’t perfectly symmetrical or sized differently and have unique shapes when they’re resting naturally without a bra, and also, women are a little soft and chubby and squishy in some areas which make them more fun to hold and hug and snuggle up with.
It makes me frustrated when I tell my wife I think she’s incredibly sexy and then she questions why I would think that. I feel like I could show her blogs like these, all the different body types and how they’re all sexy for all different reasons. As a man, I can say it’s quite a privilege that most of us men don’t overly judge our own bodies and I hope that some day, if we can adopt a more realistic concept of what is actually sexy, most women don’t have to overly judge their own bodies either (but I blame my fellow men-folk, the ones who use unrealistic supermodel as a standard for beauty, for that injustice!)
This gentleman has put into elequent words what I have been trying to say ever since I discovered yur blog years ago. It seems to me that women are as much the victims of Madison Avenue as are the men. I love the variety of the “average” woman and applaud the strength of character that your members exhibit when they stand up for their rights.
BTW, I am one of those men that should NEVER go topless in public. Knowing that, I don’t.
While I, as any red-blooded male am going to be appreciative of the physical beauty of your membership, the beauty they exhibit ABOVE their shoulders is just as attractive as the beauty they exhibit BELOW their shoulders.
Thank you for being you.
Your recent visit to the street fair was an pleasant awakening for everyone there, you and everyone that you encountered. Those few negative encounters were a drop in the bucket the ones that were made happy. I reccomend attending as many of these events as possible, you will spread the word faster there than at any park gathering.
I would agree with that… Massive groups of people being enlightened at once is a much easier way to go than might be imagined… We’ll be visiting crowded beaches ourselves here in Buffalo this summer with as many top free women as I can gather… And I have quite a number already…
Last years incursion onto Woodlawy Beach on Labor Day caused quite a stir but a TV station’s poll came out to be 2 to 1 in favor… And more so, now thousands of women know of their right to go top free., from the viral threads that came from it… One of which is a few posts down in this thread…
This is going to be a major year for it … We’re also holding our second Naked Bike Run through its streets of Buffalo.. Times are a changing… Help make it happen faster..
You might have some sympathetic women (and men) in the libertarian movement:
http://www.libertyviral.com/babes-for-liberty-respond-to-trump-girls-with-sexy-comeback/#
Just wanted to voice my support for the Outdoor Topless Pulp Fiction group. I am a nudist living in a non-nudist society, I live in Jamaica and I know first hand the challenges that you may face in negotiating body freedom. Keep strong
I guess its been a while since I opened your site. The 4th of July story would be a hoot, if it wasn’t a bit disturbing. Still, you certainly handled the situation well. I have a history of not getting arrested in different situations for the same reason you were not handcuffed and taken to the pokey. You remained calm, explained your rights and waited to be proven correct. Bravo!
Your walk on the High Line is an interesting coincidence: Just last month, this young woman and her photographer used the High Line to strike a blow for liberty. She wrote a blog about her experience and you might find it interesting to read. http://twentyfivehundred.com/topless-in-new-york/
If you want to see the entire photo set it is at this site:
http://www.diverxity.com/content/27889?referral=ToplessNewYork
Possible correction.
From your description at top: “Happily, in New York City, the law allows toplessness by both men and women.”
Shouldn’t that be: “Happily, in New York state, the law allows toplessness by both men and women” and then later, work in that you gals usually meet up in New York City?
Both statements are true. The law allows toplessness in New York City; the law allows toplessness in New York State. And we don’t “usually” meet in New York City, we always meet in New York City.
Right, but you may want to state clearly that NY state law allows toplessness. As it is, a visitor to your site gets the impression that NYC law allows it, thus may infer it is only allowed in NYC. Not all visitors know/care much about law/civics/federalism….
FWIW, there’s just 3 weeks until GoToplessDay: http://gotopless.org/gotopless-day
You may want to give them a plug soon. Their events might be a way for kindred spirits to meet around the nation to form their own “chapters” (pun intended) of your group.😉
Last thought for the day: you/others might consider forming another group/s since not all gals are literature enthusiasts (shock!). Maybe CoedTopless Volleyball (or hiking, skating, whatever). Whatever expands the movement is “a good thing.”
1) We’ve made it clear in any number of our other posts. And you have now made it clear here.
2) We have mixed feelings about the GoToplessDay folks. We appreciate the shared goals of the event itself, but not so much the insane space-alien cult behind the event.
3) We invite anyone else who wants to start their own topless groups of other varieties to do so. We’re book lovers, so we started a book club. If someone else wants to start a sports-oriented group, they can do so.
That is a problem I have seen in many otherwise forward thinking political and social movements. There is a tendency for people to mix silly stuff among the real stuff. Some of you may have heard about the “Age of Aquarius” nonsense that watered down the serious alternate economy/equal rights for all message my generation tried to spread. Unfortunately the press tends to focus on the crazies and the real message gets lost. Our movement wasn’t all sex,drugs, new age nonsense and rock and roll but you would not have known that from the picture you got in the news.
I see your book club as simply a group of people standing up for your rights in the most direct and non-threatening way possible. You do not need a “Go topless day”. You just go topless when you feel like going topless.
You have appeared on Spanish press:
http://www.elmundo.es/yodona/2016/08/12/56b0f4b822601de86c8b45e2.html
The article is nice written, and I assume you will get more admirers from that. Who knows, maybe in Spain the idea catch up.
The last post is…uhm… different… Please try to be who you are… There are already a lot of semi-porn websites… the posing lady in the water?? Really? She looks gorgeous, don’t get me wrong, but… it’s just not Co-ed…
The “posing lady in the water” is one of our oldest members and dearest friends, and she’s just sending photos back from her vacation, as I’m sure you do when you go on a trip. There’s no reason it should be okay to photograph ourselves relaxing in Central Park or on a New York rooftop but not a beach in Spain (on those rare occasions that one of happens to be on a beach in Spain). There’s certainly nothing pornographic about her photos.
Anyone who sees those pictures as pornographic in any sense, needs a bit of therapy. The healthy human body is not pornographic. The healthy human body is not dirty. The healthy human body is not something that needs to be hidden away. It is a sign of the sickness of our society that anyone could see such beauty as pornographic. But considering how many Americans are offended by the sight of a mother breast feeding a baby, it is obvious that many Americans need therapy.
Hi there!
Here in Ontario, women being unclothed above the waist the same places as men is a fought-for-and-won right also and I’m curious if there is an organised group local to me.
Because despite this right, I have never seen anyone taking the opportunity to enjoy it (even at the beaches). Well……. aside from one very isolated moment of course during an afternoon here at Burlington Beach when the Pan-Am Games were in town. Go figure. Took the arrival of overseas visitors with their healthy and should-be-normal view of a woman ‘s body to step up.
Anyway, I do personally take advantage of such freedoms at EVERY opportunity when away on holidays at beaches where top-free women are the norm or expected, but because I surely wouldn’t describe myself as being comfortable trail-blazing, was super delighted that these ladies might receive a healthy following of copy-catters😉 .
No dice unfortunately😦 .
It didn’t last too too long once the ladies realised they were far from being in common company. I don’t believe they were hassled at all (by police or other), but simply became uncomfortable on a foreign beach being the only ones. Likely quietly questioned themselves on the legality of it here altogether.
So to make a long message short…….. any chance you have a group that gets together here in Burlington, Ontario that I’m not aware of? Toronto maybe?
I can’t say we know of a group like ours that’s currently meeting in Canada. Perhaps you could start one…?
You have fully asserted the ruling allowing women to be topless in New York in circumstances that men can. Sometimes, you have exceeded the envelope. For example, nude gathering in an eatery is even more innovative than the ruling. So, do you see limits to this? Will top-freedom eventually become part of normal fashion for women? Will we see topless high fashion gowns at the Oscars or something? Will it extend to full nudity in shopping areas? What are the bounds, and why those? Personally I see nothing particularly wrong with what you do, but it seems quite a stretch for our laboring old society. Is there an underlying idea, or is it just social improvisation?
If at some point men are allowed to go fully nude in public in New York “shopping areas,” then yes, we would expect women to be allowed to do so as well. Not until. If we started seeing bare-chested men on the red carpet at the Oscars, we would expect women to be allowed this option as well. Both of these seem to be unlikely developments, but who knows? We do think nudity (partial or full) is harmless at worst and healthy, liberating and fun at best, so we would like to see opportunities for it — for all genders — expanded, but it’s not obvious that “shopping areas” or a fancy awards show are the natural places to expand into. Let’s start by letting people take off their swimsuits at the beach or in the park or wherever they’re currently allowed to be outdoors in nothing but a few square inches of fabric anyway. Let people be naked in the sauna or steam room at the spa even if the opposite gender is present, rather than requiring swimsuits or disposable underwear like most American spas currently do. Once those battles have been fought and won we can think about where else might be suitable. The underlying ideas are: nudity hurts no one, so permit it where it might be comfortable and pleasant to engage in; and genders must be treated equally, so no allowing a degree of freedom to men that you forbid to women.
Okay if I quote part of your September 1, 2016 reply and link to https://toplesspulp.com/2016/09/10/last-chance-to-see/ on another website? Kudos to this group for doing the nude performance of The Tempest and things you are.doing to normalize non-sexual nudity and equality. It is commendable and courageous. I wish I could have attended the performance, but I live too far away in Texas. Will there be a documentary or video available online? Maybe you should change your group’s name to something like The Outdoor Topless or Nude Activities Society. Keep up the good work. Thank you.
It’s fine to quote us and fine to link to us. We have no current plans to put video from the show online, but several media outlets did shoot some video, and if any of them post some we’ll probably link to their coverage.