AMBER LOVE 17-AUG-2012 Last year I heard about GoTopless.org and their campaign to get equal body rights for women in the United States to be allowed to go bare-chested in public wherever men are allowed to do so.

At GoTopless, they have an interesting point in their FAQ about using the word “femininity” rather than “feminism:”

“In the past, women often had to act like men when fighting for their rights, so they repressed their femininity. Today, GoTopless women see their femininity as a powerful asset as they struggle for equal rights in male-dominated society.”

In our beloved America, there is shaming of women being natural and doing bodily functions like breastfeeding babies in public. The shame makes me feel like we are living in the 19th century. Honestly, I have friends who have had images reported to Facebook and hence blocked for breastfeeding images; I’ve been through it with my modeling pictures as have many cosplayers and models on Facebook. One was a bodypainted pregnant belly banned for a barely visible but painted nipple. This puritanical shame of breasts cannot possibly exist when other breast imagery is shoved in our faces for sexual arousal (every single bit of advertising and television). It’s a paradox to revere the marketing for sexual arousal purposes but shun all natural activities where breast exposure is acceptable in other cultures.

Topless beaches evoke giggles here in the US. At one time, even men were modesty covered but fashion has evolved. Can you imagine how different our beaches would be if men had to wear shirts?

Comic books with giant gravity-defying boobs are equally defended as they are criticized for showing unrealistic body images. Girls as young as 15 are getting breast augmentation and other plastic surgery for purely cosmetic and self-esteem reasons. BUT WE’RE TOLD THEY MUST BE COVERED. As much as I have dislike for parts of my body (because I have memories of what it was a mere three years ago), I still celebrate the human form in my work every week.

I don’t have anywhere 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. Nonetheless, I occasionally defy the laws and will risk being topless on our family estate when I’m in a frolicking mood like when I did the HELL & GONE photoshoot.

Founder and Editor-in-Chief of AmberUnmasked.com and Vodka O'Clock Podcast. Author of The Farrah Wethers Mysteries, comic book short stories, prose, and non-fiction. Cosplayer and figure model.