# Women going topless may cause society to collapse **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 1, 2016, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-going-topless-may-cause-society-to-collapse/747627 "2016-03-01T13:04:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2016, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-going-topless-may-cause-society-to-collapse/747627/61 "2016-03-03T13:46:16Z")
> [@LouisB](#): > > I’m all for women going topless whenever and wherever they want BUT as a person who has had a zillion skin cancers removed, I sort of think they shouldn’t. Men shouldn’t either. Maybe they can just go topless indoors. Or use lots of high SPF sunblock. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2016, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-going-topless-may-cause-society-to-collapse/747627/62 "2016-03-04T14:28:11Z")
> [@JcWoman](#): > > It’s a complete WTF either way. The ironic thing is that female nudists are modest and well-behaved compared to male nudists. I’ve done the clothing optional thing a few times in locations that allowed it. I’m always amazed (and disgusted) by how many men will stand in front of someone who is sitting down, turn away, and bend over to pick something up, giving a full and clear view of their “dangle”. They seem completely oblivious. > > And there was the time we visited Haulover Beach in Florida. For those who haven’t been, half the beach is nude only, the other half is clothed only, and the two are separated by a very-tiny-obviously-more-marker-than-barrier fence. There was a dude there who laid his blanket about two feet from the fence, on the nude side, and was doing … I don’t know if it has a name but he was on his shoulders like the yoga “plow” pose, alternating his legs between straight up and straight out. Clearly that was a deliberate provocation of the clothing people on the other side of the fence. (No surprise the clothed beachers were well away from the fence that day!) I think you bring up a good point about WHY people are nude or a woman is topless. Its one thing if say you just enjoy an all over tan or dont like swimsuits. Its another if you just want to be an exhibitionist. So a topless woman on a quiet beach getting a no-tanline tan - no problem. Heck most people woudn’t even notice. Ripping her top off and flashing everyone to get a reaction or maybe beads thrown at her - not so good. Finally I’d like to add this is an issue when we’ve tried to take youth groups down to go canoeing and certain people act like its spring break and theirs all kinds of flashing and bad behavior. ---
**Author:** ![Pantastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2016, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-going-topless-may-cause-society-to-collapse/747627/63 "2016-03-04T16:39:10Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > So a topless woman on a quiet beach getting a no-tanline tan - no problem. Heck most people woudn’t even notice. Ripping her top off and flashing everyone to get a reaction or maybe beads thrown at her - not so good. What problem does this cause that a dude doing the same thing doesn’t? We’ve had legal upper body male nudity in the US for decades and it hasn’t seemed to cause any societal collapse, and isn’t all that frequent. There were arrests topless men in NY as recently as 1936, so it certainly hasn’t been forever. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2016, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-going-topless-may-cause-society-to-collapse/747627/64 "2016-03-04T17:56:34Z")
And having been to nude events, I can say that, after about 10 minutes, you get used to it! It ceases to be shocking. People you find attractive continue to be attractive. Other people, not so much. Nothing changes except the probability of sunstroke and/or frostbite, and, for males, the occasional embarrassment upon displaying one’s interest. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2016, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-going-topless-may-cause-society-to-collapse/747627/65 "2016-03-04T17:57:37Z")
Hmm. That suggests a reason for the hatred of nudity… ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2016, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-going-topless-may-cause-society-to-collapse/747627/66 "2016-03-04T18:45:01Z")
…well, now that you’ve pointed it out, yeah… ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2016, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-going-topless-may-cause-society-to-collapse/747627/67 "2016-03-05T15:26:50Z")
During the whole “women going topless” brouhaha, I remember someone remarking “Next thing you know, they’ll want to have sex in public.” When same sex marriage was approved, a protestor told me “Now they’ll be having sex in public.” What do breastfeeding and getting legally married have to do with having sex in public? ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2016, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-going-topless-may-cause-society-to-collapse/747627/68 "2016-03-05T21:03:18Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > What do breastfeeding and getting legally married have to do with having sex in public? “People who want to do things that I think are wrong probably want to do ALL of the things that I think are wrong.” ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2016, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-going-topless-may-cause-society-to-collapse/747627/69 "2016-03-05T21:13:57Z")
Besides, it may lead to dancing. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2016, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-going-topless-may-cause-society-to-collapse/747627/70 "2016-03-06T02:01:05Z")
How big a problem could bare boobs at the beach be in New Hampshire? The state doesn’t have all that much coast line. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2016, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-going-topless-may-cause-society-to-collapse/747627/71 "2016-03-06T02:50:13Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > …What do breastfeeding and getting legally married have to do with having sex in public? Married women will get pregnant while having sex with their husbands in public and then have to breastfeed. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2016, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-going-topless-may-cause-society-to-collapse/747627/72 "2016-03-06T03:12:02Z")
> [@OttoDaFe](#): > > Besides, it may lead to dancing. yeah - _ **Dirty Dancing** _ with loose feet! ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2016, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-going-topless-may-cause-society-to-collapse/747627/73 "2016-03-06T04:53:00Z")
> [@OttoDaFe](#): > > Besides, it may lead to dancing. Bare-breasted women dancing sounds … I guess it depends on how kinetic the dancing is. > [@Senegoid](#): > > How big a problem could bare boobs at the beach be in New Hampshire? The state doesn’t have all that much coast line. Lakes. They have some rather large lakes. And while the distance from Maine to Massachusetts is short, the shoreline of the Bay is quite a bit more. ---
**Author:** ![PlaceboTarget](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/placebotarget/32/1073_2.png) [@PlaceboTarget](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlaceboTarget)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2016, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-going-topless-may-cause-society-to-collapse/747627/74 "2016-03-06T17:36:22Z")
:smack: I finally understand why the society I live in has almost collapsed. My home is in ruins as we speak. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2016, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-going-topless-may-cause-society-to-collapse/747627/75 "2016-03-06T22:22:56Z")
From _It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World_: Terry Thomas: And this positively infantile preoccupation with **bosoms**. In all my time in this wretched, godforsaken country, the one thing that has appalled me most of all is this preposterous preoccupation with bosoms. Don’t you realize they have become the dominant theme in American culture: in literature, advertising and all fields of entertainment and everything. I’ll wager you anything you like: if American women stopped wearing brassieres, your whole national economy would collapse overnight. ---
**Author:** ![WildBlueYonder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ce7236/32.png) [@WildBlueYonder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildBlueYonder)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2016, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-going-topless-may-cause-society-to-collapse/747627/76 "2016-03-07T12:28:46Z")
ummm yeah. Can you see all the traffic accidents while men do their rubbernecking at top speed? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2016, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-going-topless-may-cause-society-to-collapse/747627/77 "2016-03-07T12:41:41Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > How big a problem could bare boobs at the beach be in New Hampshire? The state doesn’t have all that much coast line. As noted, there’s plenty of lakefront beach on NH (such as _Weir’s Beach_ on Winnipesaukee [https://search.yahoo.com/search;\_ylt=A0LEVysG4NlW\_zAAdLdXNyoA;\_ylc=X1MDMjc2NjY3OQRfcgMyBGZyA3lmcC10LTIwMQRncHJpZANvZU54RUlMZVRMYWRKSzZObXlnYWpBBG5fcnNsdAMwBG5fc3VnZwMxMARvcmlnaW4Dc2VhcmNoLnlhaG9vLmNvbQRwb3MDMARwcXN0cgMEcHFzdHJsAwRxc3RybAMxMgRxdWVyeQNXZWlyJ3MgQmVhY2gEdF9zdG1wAzE0NTczNTQyNzg-?p=Weir's+Beach&fr2=sb-top-search&fr=yfp-t-201&fp=1](https://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=A0LEVysG4NlW_zAAdLdXNyoA;_ylc=X1MDMjc2NjY3OQRfcgMyBGZyA3lmcC10LTIwMQRncHJpZANvZU54RUlMZVRMYWRKSzZObXlnYWpBBG5fcnNsdAMwBG5fc3VnZwMxMARvcmlnaW4Dc2VhcmNoLnlhaG9vLmNvbQRwb3MDMARwcXN0cgMEcHFzdHJsAwRxc3RybAMxMgRxdWVyeQNXZWlyJ3MgQmVhY2gEdF9zdG1wAzE0NTczNTQyNzg-?p=Weir%27s+Beach&fr2=sb-top-search&fr=yfp-t-201&fp=1) [https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;\_ylt=AwrBT.Amdt1WIMEAUghXNyoA;\_ylu=X3oDMTEyczhndnJhBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDQjE3NTdfMQRzZWMDc2M-?p=Weir’s+Beach&fr=yfp-t-201#id=18&iurl=http%3A%2F%2Fnaturallyeducated.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2012%2F09%2Fdsc001971.jpg&action=click](https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=AwrBT.Amdt1WIMEAUghXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTEyczhndnJhBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDQjE3NTdfMQRzZWMDc2M-?p=Weir%27s+Beach&fr=yfp-t-201#id=18&iurl=http%3A%2F%2Fnaturallyeducated.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2012%2F09%2Fdsc001971.jpg&action=click) There’s also more coastline than you’d think, including Hampton Beach: [https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;\_ylt=AwrBTzyQdt1WIIQAF4pXNyoA;\_ylu=X3oDMTE0djUyaTg2BGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDQjE3NTdfMQRzZWMDcGl2cw--?p=hampton+beach+NH&fr=yfp-t-201&fr2=piv-web#id=0&iurl=http%3A%2F%2Fnewenglandboating.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2010%2F08%2FHamptonBeach7.jpg&action=click](https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=AwrBTzyQdt1WIIQAF4pXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTE0djUyaTg2BGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDQjE3NTdfMQRzZWMDcGl2cw--?p=hampton+beach+NH&fr=yfp-t-201&fr2=piv-web#id=0&iurl=http%3A%2F%2Fnewenglandboating.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2010%2F08%2FHamptonBeach7.jpg&action=click) However, I speak from experience that the water there is kinda cold (and I’m from New Jersey, where the water isn’t exactly balmy). Cape Cod deflects the Gulf Stream away from the shores of New Hampshire and Maine. But plenty of people still go in. And those who don’t often sunbathe. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2016, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-going-topless-may-cause-society-to-collapse/747627/78 "2016-03-08T12:24:38Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > How big a problem could bare boobs at the beach be in New Hampshire? The state doesn’t have all that much coast line. Old Man of the Mountain might lose face. (…oops… too late…) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-going-topless-may-cause-society-to-collapse/747627.md?page=3)