The topless protest returns to downtown Boston next week

The concept that humanity began among a species of extraterrestrials known as the Elohim is one of the many reasons why the Ralian organization, which is co-organizer of next week’s Top Freedom topless rally in Boston, has drawn criticism over the years.They were also likely not helped by their emblem, which at one point combined pictures of a Star of David and a Swastika.

However, it appears that the Ralians have suddenly discovered a cause that is gaining traction: opposing laws that they claim discriminate against the female breast. In an effort to persuade state legislators to stop the government’s repression of women’s bodies, organizers of the demonstration, which is being organized in collaboration with the RaliansGoTopless movement and the organization Equalititty, claim they will go topless on Tuesday.

In a statement, Katrina Brees, the founder of Equalititty and one of the protest’s co-organizers, stated that the issue is not one of sexuality but rather oppression. Rosa Parks’s forced bus seat or the tyranny of the female breast are just two examples of the injustice that Americans must never give up on. Most significantly, our government’s unconstitutional subjugation of its own people.

This year, the Massachusetts Legislature has received several legislation that would let women to go topless in public. Nantucket successfully pushed for a bylaw amendment in the winter of 2022 to permit anyone, regardless of gender, to go topless on the island’s beaches, even though it is now illegal statewide.

In the announcement, Rael, the unnamed founder of GoTopless.org and the spiritual head of the Ralian movement, stated that women ought to have the same constitutional right to be topless in public as males do. If not, men ought to be required to cover their chests with clothing.

Boston.com readers mostly male ones said women should be allowed to go topless just like men
Nantucket topless beaches bylaw approved by AG Healey
Boston.com readers react to Nantucket s topless beach proposal

Many readers of Boston.com concur on both points: 69% of respondents to a survey taken in conjunction with the demonstration last year agreed that women should be permitted to go topless wherever males are. (However, as we pointed out, 85% of those who responded called themselves men.) Furthermore, 61% of readers who identified as women felt that men should be required to cover up, compared to just 9% who said that women should. According to Randy Sue of Canton at the time, men’s chests aren’t sexualized in the same manner, but they look terrible in public when they’re not wearing a top.

Participants of all genders are being urged by organizers to wear bare chests on Tuesday. (Although it is already illegal for women to show their breasts when they are not nursing, police have generally not followed the law at such occasions.) According to the organizers, participants are also welcome to wear their tops.

At noon on Tuesday, August 26, the demonstration will begin on Boston Common. After congregating at The Embrace statue, participants will travel to the State House via portions of the Freedom Trail.

“All Americans should not tolerate the grotesquely out of proportion punishment a woman can expect if she tries to do exactly as a man, child, dog, or public statue [does],” Brees stated. Women are subject to abuse, fines, and jail time. No American should have to endure such injustice and inequity while being threatened by the government with losing all of their liberties.

Peter Chianca, a prominent news editor, columnist, and music writer in the Greater Boston area, has been the general assignment editor of Boston.com since 2019.