Toples
It is called toples (from the English topless –«without the upper part»–) or more properly make toples to the fact that a women go in public naked from the waist up, mainly on beaches and swimming pools, in which case they only wear bikini bottoms. This is also the name given to establishments, generally bars, where waitresses work in this way.
Regarding its relationship with the geographical area in which it is produced, it should be noted that there are non-Westernized populations or ethnic groups in which women show their breasts quite naturally. There has also been the custom – or fashion – of wearing them, one or both, uncovered in ancient times or cultures. In neither case is it considered toples, as the term refers specifically to a modern Western practice.
First moments and evolution
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When Joséphine Baker danced with just a little banana skirt, Gala Éluard sunbathed with her breasts exposed in Torremolinos in the summer of 1930 or Brigitte Bardot showed herself half-naked on the beaches of Saint-Tropez in the early 1930s. In the 1960s, she would simply put nothing else on, lowering her bathing suit or taking off her bra in front of a cloud of photographers.
- Monokini
As a specific garment for her practice, the topless monokini was designed by stylist Rudi Gernreich, who launched it in 1964, consisting of a black panty that covered the navel, with two straps from the waist that, for the first time time, leaving the breasts exposed (in Japan, they are used to cover the nipples). The first model to show it was the American Peggy Moffitt, although she was Brigitte Bardot the maximum diffuser of it in Europe.
Today, the lower half of a bikini is called a monokini or monobikini when it is worn without the top.
Finally, around the 70s, you begin to see women who, despite never having worn it, begin to remove their bikini tops (manufacturers and retailers will quickly adapt to selling both pieces separately), as a way to advocate for equality between men and women.
Practice and legislation
Argentina
- The "trick"
On February 7, 2017, hundreds of bare-chested women demonstrated in Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Mar del Plata and Rosario, among other cities in the country, against the "objectification" of the female body and in rejection of the action of twenty policemen, who, days ago, expelled three women for showing their breasts on a beach in Necochea.
Asian
Except in very specific areas, it is prohibited throughout the continent, including the enclaves of Isla Boayan, Borácay and Palawan (Philippines); some beaches in the Thai provinces of Chiang Mai and Hua Hin, and Neve Midvar (Israel), next to the Dead Sea.
Brazil
On the beaches of Rio de Janeiro and others in Brazil (except those officially considered nudist), it is strictly forbidden to remove your bra (at the end of 2013, actress Cristina Flores showed her breasts during a photo shoot on a beach little crowded; she was warned by the Police that, if she did not put on her bra immediately, they would have to arrest her; the norm dates from 1940 and considers toples as "an obscene act", punishable by between three months and a year in prison or an economic penalty). During Carnival, however, the presence of "naked dancers barely covered by a "sex cover"" is frequent. The same thing happens on the beaches of Argentina and Colombia, although the use of the thong is very frequent.
- Topless in Rio
On January 20, 2015, a group of seven women showed their breasts for a few minutes on the iconic Ipanema beach to demand their right to topless. Journalist Ana Paula Nogueira, founder of the movement in 2013, highlighted that the legislation that currently prohibits women from wearing only their bikini bottoms on the beaches of Brazil – “in addition to a comparative offense with men, who are not obliged to respect said norm»– contrasts with the local customs of wearing reduced microkinis that practically leave the whole body exposed.
Canada
On August 1, 2015, hundreds of people, mostly women (many of them topless), organized a demonstration in the city of Waterloo, located in the province of Ontario, in favor of women's rights. women to walk the streets of Ontario topless, a few days after police in Kitchener (a neighboring city also located in Ontario) ordered three women to cover their breasts while they were cycling through the city topless, although the toples has been legal throughout the Ontario region –since 1996–.
Chile
In Chile, showing one's breasts in public does not constitute a crime, although it is an offense applicable according to article 373 of its Penal Code to those who “in any way offend modesty or good customs”. In the same way, article 495 says: "Anyone who violates the rules that the authority dictates to preserve public order or prevent it from being altered, will be punished with a fine of one monthly tax unit, unless the act constitutes a crime or simple offense.".
Faced with so much inconvenience, a group of women together with the photographer and pioneer of naturism in Chile, René Rojas, managed to create the first nudist beach in the country in 2001, the so-called "Playa Luna", as well as to Restricted areas will be set up at “Playa Luna Norte” (Tarapacá), “Playa Luna Sur” (Coliumo), “Playa Escondida” (Antofagasta), “Playa Blanca” (Tongoy) and Pichilemu, where you can even undress completely as normal.
El Salvador
Except in very specific areas, it is prohibited throughout the country, including the enclaves of nudist beaches and private clubs.
United States
In New York City – since 1992 – it is completely legal for a woman to remain nude from the waist up in any public space.
In the rest of the country, removing your bra in public is only allowed on some California beaches (Negro Beach, San Diego; Black's Beach, La Jolla; Baker Beach, San Francisco; Venice Beach, Los Angeles), North Carolina, Florida (South Beach, Miami Beach; Key West –only during Fantasy Fest–), Hawaii (Little Beach, Maui), Maine, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Texas, Louisiana (only during Mardi Gras in New Orleans) and Wisconsin, as well as in the inland states of Colorado and New Mexico.
Europe and Oceania
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Legal provisions aside, toplessing in public doesn't seem to attract much attention these days, even in particularly crowded urban areas in much of Europe and Oceania, mainly New Zealand and Australia. Thus, in Copenhagen (Denmark) -since 2008- and Malmö (Sweden), where you can be naked in the middle of the street, always making sure that others do not feel disturbed -since 2009-, it is also allowed to practice it in municipal swimming pools.
- France and Spain
According to the sociologist Claude Kaufmann (The End of Bare Breasts; 2010), the number of women who go topless on French beaches is less and less (20% of respondents consider that showing one's breasts in public goes "against morality or religion"; 39% think it is "impudent").
The same is not the case in Spain, where 42% of those consulted claim to have practiced it at some time, when the world average is 20%. According to the aforementioned study, what most encourages Spanish women to take the sun without the bikini top is that it facilitates a more homogeneous tan. He ends by saying that "the strange thing" would be to find a woman in a full bathing suit or bikini on a beach in the Balearic Islands, Cádiz or Cabo de Gata (Almería). In swimming pools, however, its practice is still quite limited.
According to a new study, carried out this time by the French demoscopic institute Ifop in 2017, 49% of Spanish women over the age of 18 declare that they have done toples on the beach, at least once, followed by the Germans (41%) and the Dutch (35%), which makes them the women of the eight countries consulted that are most inclined to this practice.
With regard to municipal swimming pools, it is worth mentioning the cases of the Galdácano (Vizcaya) Town Halls, which, in March 2016, withdrew the express prohibition, «more regulatory than de facto", that they could bathe and/or sunbathe naked from the waist up and L'Ametlla del Vallès (Barcelona), where 60.9% of the women consulted (over 16 years of age) voted in June 2018 in favor of this option.
- Italy
On Italian beaches –and even in public swimming pools–, making toples has been a habit rooted in practice for some decades and legally authorized since March 20, 2000. At that time, a well-known Supreme Court ruling of Cassation stressed the notable difference between topless and nudism (this is not the case in Malta, where even today toplessing in public spaces is considered a form of nudism and, therefore, as a punishable conduct), thus ending a certain legal battle begun almost thirty years ago in favor of women being able to be in them with their breasts exposed.
Indeed, it was at the beginning of the 70s when the custom of wearing only the bottom part of the bikini began to spread along its beaches and, with it, the first complaints for “insulting public decorum”. In 1977, two girls from Voltri (about 15 km from Genoa) received the first acquittal in this sense, which established jurisprudence. In 1982, the mayors of several coastal enclaves such as Tropea (Calabria) or Pantelleria (Sicily) published as many ordinances in which it was decided that the only women who could do toples were those with "nice tits". More recently, a woman who sued a young woman for applying suntan lotion to her breasts in full view of her children (which, to her, was "obscene acts in a public place") was convicted of "slander."
Mexico
The only public place in Mexico that officially allows female topless is Playa Zipolite (a nudist beach located in the state of Oaxaca), where the practice of naturism was legalized in 2016. However, the practice of sunbathing Topless (as well as naturism in some cases) is commonly tolerated on some beaches in the state of Quintana Roo, more precisely in the Riviera Maya region (especially between the cities of Playa del Carmen and Tulum); In addition, there are some resorts made only for adults whose use of clothing is optional (also located in the Riviera Maya) where all men and women 18 years (or older) can frequent the facilities without the need to wear clothes (if so). they want it).
Uruguay
The practice of female topless is allowed on the official nudist beaches of Chihuahua, located in the resort of the same name, and La Sirena, located in the Aguas Dulces resort.
Cinema and television
- Original title: Mondo Topless. Country: United States.Year: 1966. Director: Russ Meyer. Duration: 60 min.
- Original title: Topless Women. Country: New Zealand.Year: 1997. Director: Harry Sinclair. Duration: 90 min.
The topless in social networks
In May 2014, 22-year-old Scout Willis, one of the daughters of actors Bruce Willis and Demi Moore, decided to walk with only a skirt and a completely bare torso through the New York neighborhood of Lower East Side – in Manhattan –, thus joining the #FreeTheNipple campaign (Free the nipple), so that Instagram users could show topless photographs on the network. The singers Miley Cyrus also joined the initiative, who a few months earlier had already published a well-known image in which the artist partially showed a breast (the nipple was covered by a star), Rihanna, Demi Lovato, Christina Aguilera and Ariana Grande, among many others.
In August 2017, the Argentines Nazarena Vélez and Griselda Siciliani published on their respective Instagram accounts several postcards in which they appeared naked from the waist up, although –in order to avoid their foreseeable suppression by the platform– Nazarena covered her breasts with her hands, while Griselda appeared with her breasts painted with eyes and colored streamers.
The topless in festive settings
Performances and music festivals
The first topless performance for TVE was starred by the Italian actress and singer Pamela Prati in the program Superstar, presented by Iva Zanicchi, on August 31, 1984.
Lady Gaga, the late Wendy O. Williams (singer of the group Plasmatics), the Swedish Tove Lo or the members of the bands The Ladybirds, Rockbitch have also performed nude from the waist up or showed their breasts during some of their performances., Grausame Töchter (especially its leader, the controversial soloist Aranea Peel), the sisters Mille and Mie Debray (The Soap Girls) or Butcher Babies (Carla Harvey and Heidi Shepherd), although the latter used to hide their nipples with pieces of black duct tape, which they stopped using in 2015.
Concert of the Danish band The Ladybirds held in Bergen, Norway, on 29 July 1968.
DJ (photography taken in Helsinki, Finland, in June 2008).
Rockbitch Concert in August 2011.
Lady Gaga Concert at the Centre Bell in Montreal on July 2, 2014.
Nudes-A-Poppin' 2014.
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Photograph taken during the Mardi Gras of New Orleans in 2008.
Woman in the Oregon Country Fair. 2008.
Coney Island Mermaid Parade. June 2012.
Gay Pride Day. Madrid, 4 July 2015.
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Flashing breasts
Flashing breasts, in Spanish, «to show fleetingly the breasts», is a gesture that is performed in events and crowded places, which can be festive, transgressive or as a feminist claim or affirmation.
Photograph taken during a concert in Moline (Illinois) on 5 November 2006.
Photograph taken during the Mardi Gras of New Orleans in 2008.
Topless as transgression
Satire of religion
In 2005, the Colombian magazine SoHo published an extensive article in which the model and presenter Alejandra Azcárate played Jesus of Nazareth, naked from the waist up. The report included a controversial version of Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper, also topless.
Female
Perhaps the most controversial partial nudes of recent times are those carried out by the activists of the Femen group against sex tourism, religious institutions, sexism and other national and international conflicts.
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