Sunny side up in Portland

Well, the topless march we posted about earlier definitely went down today as planned, and attracted a lot of spectators (no surprise there), in spite of some who thought it was just an April Fool's Day joke.

You can read the original post here:
http://strangemaine.blogspot.com/2010/03/half-nude-in-portland.html

Overall, the crowd was happy and ebullient, and there was a lot of cheering as the small group of shirtless men and women marched from Longfellow Square down Congress Street, heading for Monument Square.  It also attracted a LOT of men with cameras.

The most obvious response?  The guys with cameras were not NEARLY as interested in the half-naked men.

But I think everyone had fun, and it definitely made folks really think about what the heck makes barebreasted females unacceptable.  Think it's illegal in Portland?  Guess again!  Here's an interesting article by the ever-well-spoken Bill Nemitz, over at the Portland Press Herald:
http://www.pressherald.com/news/full-exposure-of-their-___-principles_2010-03-28.html

To quote:

Calls last week to Portland City Hall and the Cumberland County District Attorney's office confirmed that while it is illegal for men and women to expose their genitals in public, local and state laws contain no such prohibition on uncovered breasts – male or female. (Although, considering some of the men who insist on parading around topless, one could argue that there should be.)

Maine, in fact, is one of a handful of "top-free" states that have no laws banning breast exposure, according to the national organization gotopless.org. The group lists the others as Hawaii, New York, Ohio, Texas and the "coast of California."
[Source]

Half-nude in Portland?

Well, it's going to be an interesting weekend on Congress Street, according to an announcement that appeared in the latest issue of the West End News...

Topless March Planned for Congress Street
What is being billed as 'Portland's First Ever Female-Bodied and Allied Topless Adventure' is being planned for Congress Street on Saturday, April 3rd. The event will include both men and women marching topless from Longfellow Square to Tommy's Park.

The event is scheduled from 1:00pm - 3:00pm, and is meant to point out the inequality in the social acceptance of male toplessness as compared to female toplessness. Full topless nudity is strongly encouraged, but for the more modest, pretty electrical tape will be in supply.

[Source]

Personally, I can think of a number of more pressing issues that could use this kind of attention and effort, but maybe they just want to lighten things up a bit (not many things out there are lighter than skin after a Maine winter!!!). Or perhaps someone just wants an opportunity to see lots of happy skin out in the open? Who knows...

Illustration is from an edition of Lysistrata translated from the Greek of Aristophanes with illustrations by Norman Lindsay.