Should Men Stop Exposing Their Nipples, in Solidarity With Women?
I’ve recently woken up to a new issue in the matter of toplessness
“I found it rude,” said my roommate Jana as we walked along the dirt path towards her garden outside of Berlin.
“We were a yoga class full of women,” she went on, “including the teacher. And the one man in the room took off his shirt.”
At first, I didn’t see her point.
“But why was it rude?“ I asked. “Everyone should be able to take off their shirt if they want to. The fact that he takes off his shirt doesn’t mean you can’t take off yours too.”
That is the message that I have been preaching over the last few years: Women should have the right to take off their shirts in all the places men do.
For it to be illegal or against the rules for a woman but not a man to take off their shirt in any given space, is discrimination. Period.
There, in the yoga class, I could imagine it would be totally cool for the man to take off his shirt because every woman could have done the same. I don’t think anyone in that spiritual left-wing space would complain about it.
It wouldn’t be the norm, sure. But nevertheless, it would be allowed.
