Realistically, there’s likely no real chance that they’ll win this case, but I’m definitely in support of equal rights for breasts (and not just because I’m a big fan of breasts in general — there’s definitely an element of sexual discrimination in here).
Athela “Beaner” Frandsen is like many 15-year-old girls — she loves science, computer games and her pet rat, Luna. But just beneath the surface of the quiet-voiced, well-mannered Melbourne teenager exists a passionate women’s rights activist who has been battling the court system since the age of 9.
Her struggle began a few weeks before her 10th birthday, when Athela got bad news from her mother, Jan.
“When I was playing at the park as a young girl, I would get hot, so I would just take my shirt off like the other boys my age did to cool down,” says Athela. “But one day, my mother informed me that once I turned 10, I would no longer be able to take my shirt off to cool down because the law doesn’t allow girls over the age of 10 to do so. I didn’t think this was very fair.”
Her parents, Melbourne naturists Jan and Marvin Frandsen, agreed.
“It broke my heart to have to explain to her that she was considered different than the boys her age,” says Jan. “I didn’t want to tell her because she was just about to turn 10, and that’s an age when a lot of little girls have a drop in self-esteem.”
Frustrated, Jan says she began calling old friends to see if they were interested in joining a lawsuit against Brevard County. Eight other women, ages 38 to 75, said yes, including a school teacher, a co-founder of a Fort Pierce nudist community and an ex-NASA worker who pled guilty to sprinkling white powder in an envelope with her water bill during the nation’s anthrax scare. Together, the women have been nicknamed the Topfree 10.
“I just began calling anyone I could think of to see if they’d be interested in coming together to fight the law,” says Jan, “Two of the women I knew from church, and the rest were from different walks of life.”
Once she garnered support for their cause, Jan approached married Merritt Island attorneys Mark and Lisa Tietig. Mark Tietig emphasizes that the case has less to do with a women wanting to go topless, and more to do with equal rights.
“This case is about changing a law that actually criminalizes and punishes women for doing something men can do,” says Mark Tietig. “It’s essentially one of the last laws on the books that works that way.”
I’m pretty sure that the societal taboos are a little to ingrained in our culture for this to go much of anywhere. Still, the group makes some really good points:
“Basically this type of law labels a woman as being genetically inferior,” she says. “The law then becomes government-sponsored discrimination … . Once you place a woman in an inferior position automatically from birth, it becomes a small step to other unequal treatment.”
[…]
In the lawsuit, the Topfree 10 points out that the only legal means to expose female breasts is for the gratification of others, not for a woman’s comfort.
“Only by baring breasts in a commercially sexual context; e.g., for strip-show spectators, commercial marketers, or others with interests apparently deemed more compelling and/or immediate than the woman’s own interests, heath, or comfort; may women legally bare their breasts in public at times other than those when their breasts are allowed to be exposed for breastfeeding children.”
Jan says people who view breasts in an uncomfortable manner because of their sexual connotation need to “grow up.”
“It’s ridiculous to define women by their gender. It’s like saying that black people by their color or Indian people by their heritage are dangerous [and should be criminalized],” says Jan, “when they should be judging people by who they are and what they do.”
Topfree member Shirley Mason thinks this lawsuit isn’t about exposing breasts; it’s about exposing discriminatory laws. […] “If it’s not the color of skin, the age of skin, the covering and uncovering of skin, then it’s the gender of the person’s skin that people find a reason for irrational prejudice and discrimination,” says Mason.
You go, girls.
“Remember (Mood II Swing)” by BT from the album Remember (1997, 7:36).
