America's North Shore Journal

It no longer attracts the attention it once did so the “trend setters” are moving on. Or, it could just be the sight of those 50+ year old women. It was hailed as feminist progress. Women could go topless, “just like men” – even though that was never really so, as it was always more complicated for women, who had to decide first if they would do it at all, and then only “horizontally” (i.e. while sunbathing) or “vertically” (swimming and walking on the beach) too. Still, going topless suited the era, coming, as it did, just a year before another feminist breakthrough, the legalisation of the Pill. Like contraception, toplessness (at both the beach and municipal pools) was seen as a way for women to assert and control their own sexuality. So … Read entire article »