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Battle over topless beaches in Australia coming to Chicago's North Avenue Beach
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Coming soon to Chicago's beaches: No tan lines? Women soak up the sun at Chicago's Oak Street Beach. An organization promoting the right of women to go topless at beaches is organizing a Go Topless Day at Chicago's North Avenue Beach in August. PHOTO: Dennis D. Jacobs.
An organization fighting to keep women’s rights to go topless on Australia’s beaches is bringing its argument to Chicago’s North Avenue Beach with a Go Topless Day Sunday, August 23.
GoTopless.org is organizing the event, scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. in front of the North Avenue Beach House. The group’s website says “topless women and men will peacefully rally” at that time in Chicago and seven other cities across the United States.
“Top-free performances will be given by various artists to honor women's right to be top free [and] body painting will be available,” the website notes. “The aim is to convey that the sight of a top free women [sic] in public is as natural as the sight of top free men.”
The organization has been in the news recently for its efforts to keep topless sunbathing legal on Australia’s beaches. In January, it organized a topless protest at Sydney’s Bondi Beach. Topless sunbathing has been tolerated at the beach since the 1980s, but legislation was introduced this year in the parliament of New South Wales that would prohibit women from baring their breasts at Bondi and all other beaches in Australia’s most-populous state, with the exception of those beaches already designated as nude beaches.
The legislation was introduced by MP Rev. Fred Nile, a member of the Christian Democratic Party. He recently told Reuters that a woman “demeans herself” by going topless.
“I believe that she’s taking away her own self-respect,” he added. “And I’d say any of the men around that area would not have any respect for that girl and would probably think she’s cheap.”
Although Nile has won the backing of other conservative members of parliament, the legislation has yet to advance. Most Australians interviewed by local media seemed unconcerned about the proposal, suggesting there were more important matters for parliament to consider.
Earlier this month, GoTopless also waded into a controversy in Darwin, dubbed “Watergape” by the local press. It involves the allegation that topless female backpackers from Europe were slowing construction on the Darwin Waterfront project by distracting workers.
“Both men and women have nipples and both are natural, beautiful parts of the human anatomy," Australia GoTopless spokeswoman Veronique Chachay told the Northern Territory News.
In addition to Chicago, GoTopless is planning protests on August 23 in Columbus, Ohio, New York City, Portland, Ore., Miami Beach, Venice Beach, Calif., San Francisco, Austin, Texas, and on the Hawaiian island of Maui.
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