Via GVA.BE, a Belgian newspaper:
Sunday August 25th it was the sixth ‘Go Topless Day’. On that day women all over the world – with the help of some men – protest for the right to go topless in public:
In our country there is no manifestation, but a delegation of Belgian women will take part in the one in Amsterdam.
“I want to make people aware that there still are different rules for men and women,” says participant Natalie Drochmans (39) from Leuven. “Men can walk around with a nude upper body, while often they have larger breasts than many women. That’s insane.”
Natalie and her fellow protesters demand to walk the streets bare-chested, but isn’t that forbidden? “Exhibitionism and public indecency are forbidden by law, but what that encompasses is hard to define,” explains professor Gunther Maes from the University in Hasselt. “It’s a difficult balance that is always depending on current social views. And today those are different from 100 years ago,” says the law professor. “Public indecency also depends on the context. When a woman goes bare-chested by a kindgarten is different from when she’s enjoying the sunshine in a remote park. Men and women are equal for the law, but when a man goes through town bare-chested, people might find that unsuitable, but that’s all. When a woman does that, it will probably have consequences.”
