Opinion, observations and photos from Asheville blogger John Haldane (Grand Memories), who describes himself as "a photographer and nature lover who is retired from the Christian ministry, government budgets, radiation research, and other fascinating fields." Excerpts below:
[Last sunday] there were demonstrations in several US Cities for the right of women to go topless in public. In the city where I live, some 50-60 women bared their breasts in downtown and walked in a peaceful parade with signs to make their point.

Just a couple hundred yards away from the demonstration, children and parents frolicked in an outdoor fountain. Young girls under 8 years old were topless as were their fathers, brothers, and other men. Women of puberty age and older were covered on top.

The women in the demonstration wanted to make the point that they, too, should be able to go topless in public. And so this group of women bared their breasts in front of several hundred people, many with cameras, and spent almost 2 hours in downtown naked from the waist up. ...

Attitudes towards topless men and women have varied greatly over time and within different cultures. In many indigenous cultures it is completely acceptable for both men's and women's torsos to be unclothed. ...

As for men in the United States, they were not allowed to bare their top in public, even swimming, until the 20th century! But once laws were passed allowing men to have bare tops, women were denied the same privilege. ...

In many European societies between the Renaissance and the 19th century, exposed breasts were more acceptable than they are today, with a woman's bared legs, ankles or shoulders being considered to be more risqué than her exposed breasts! ...

In Christianity, the issue is much more complicated. Bare breasts at Mardi Gras before Ash Wednesday are common in New Orleans and Rio de Janeiro, as well as other places. In some cultures where the female breast was already accepted, conversion to Christianity did not change that. And in Gay and Lesbian Christian churches, the female breast is not considered non grata. ...

Because it is hidden, the revealing of the breast is exciting to men, just as the ankle, calf, and thigh were in earlier centuries. Business and advertising thrives on the titillation factor of the breast to sell products. ...

I traveled with Patch Adams and one thing he told me has stayed with me and has become a part of me. He said, (I paraphrase here), "Human Beings are all the same at skin level. We love, we fear, we enjoy laughter and music, we like touch, we desire, we hope, we dream. Our cultures and religions and societies and politics are just clothing we CHOOSE to put on over our inner selves. That clothing, like the cloth we wear, separates us from each other, creates a divide, leads to prejudice and hate, and demeans our own humanity." ...

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