Shirtless men - what's the policy and etiquette in your country?

I live in Ontario, Canada and both women and men are legally allowed to be topless. British Columbia, Canada has the same laws.

en.wikipedia.org...

I remember when the law was first changed, I use to see some women, usually younger (in their 20s) go topless. Then I started reading in the newspapers men having fights over this. I rarely see women go topless now, even though they legally can.

You can change the laws, but it's harder to change human nature.

Strangely, a lot of people were complaining about the latest Twilight films, and that the werewolf character is always posing about topless.

Is there such a thing as gratuitous male topless nudity, and a double standard that allows teen girls to swoon over male breasts, but naked female breasts remain officially forbidden to teen males?

I think a central concept is still that male nudity in any form must be functional in some way - you must be swimming, heading to the shower, on holiday, sun-bathing, working manual labor or exercising.

Yet some men clearly do it because they like showing themselves off.

But will they ever admit it (outside the gay scene)?
No.

reply to post by Gazrok

3. Private Homes (if your house, or a guest of someone in their home, when they too, are shirtless)

So the host must go shirtless before you may go shirtless?

Well, technically what I saw in the beer-garden might then have been illegal.

Hilarious


Shirtless male protest at Abercombie & Fitch clothing store in New York.

111 Men removed their shirts in the store to protest the use of shirtless males as models; in photos and as murals, while the official store policy is "no shirt, no service".
I guess it also drew attention to the fact that the fashion industry abuses masculinity for profit, and that "real' men come in all shapes and sizes.

The male model in the store was first angry, but later joined the other men for funny pictures.
improveverywhere.com...

reply to post by Nicolas Flamel


Actually, municipalities started making women out their tops back on. ... and you HAVE to abide, my friend was even arrested for shopping in her sports bra (how that is worse that a bikini top is beyond me!)

Although there are times when we would wish to see more toplessness, but there will be more times on this continent where people will wish them to be put back on just as quickly

reply to post by Gazrok


i have always thought that the american stance on women going topless on the beach was hypocritical concidering that they have the biggest porn industry in the world .
going topless on the beach is the norm in most of european beaches and no one bats an eye or feels offended by it .

reply to post by halfoldman


I guess if you're really good friends, otherwise, kind of poor etiquette.

The fervor over Twilight was mainly that Mr. Laughtner was a minor at the time.

Funny how a bunch of 30-40 something women can scream for a 17 yr old boy, and it's cute...yet if it was reversed, and a bunch of 30-40 something men were drooling over a 17 yr old girl, it'd be considered pedophilia, isn't it?

Moobs (Man boobs) should be illegal but if women were to start the same trend then dudes would be like ewwww PepNips (Pepperoni Nips) or other forms of boob slandering. I say everyone keep em on or everyone take em off

reply to post by ZeroUnlmtd

I've found less problems with women at my age (they usually encourage it), it's the men who sometimes view this as competitive.
Unless they're really drunk or assertive, few men will remove their shirts before the bigger men.

It's also the male bouncers and cops who usually draw the line.
If you're not good looking they're likely to say: "OK buddy, put your shirt on...nobody wants to see it."

I'd go further to say that masculinity is a fascist system for men, where state power runs into capillary policing between citizens very quickly.

Asheville protest for gender equality - all the men wore bras, and all the women went topless (although they did use some tape and body paint...no exposed female nipples).

I'm not sure if I can link to the actual protest footage, but here is some pre-protest coverage.
Can anybody find the sound-system?
Oh dear:

I think the film Meet the Spartans realistically summed things up.



If there's a slight reason for men to go topless, all of them should, and a "real man" doesn't give a stuff what anybody else thinks.
Especially tourists should be able to feel welcome and relax.

However, realistically, usually there are two types of men who take their shirts off in unusual situations.
1. Men with a suitably toned body
2. Men who don't care and do it as a form of dominance, and they know even the bouncers can see they will get their faces slapped if they dare tell them to put their shirts back on.

However, from what I saw this afternoon it was quite encouraging, because it seems like men are increasingly approving of signs of masculinity from other men (as ethnic and gender issues undermine them daily), and ultimately what stronger public assertion of male gender can one get than a shirtless guy?

reply to post by halfoldman


I just had to laugh at the picture definition of the plumber crack, and the ladies getting a full view of it.

Remember kids and especially fat hairy guys... crack kills....So pull those pants up people, plzz.

But to the topic of shirtless dudes, I think there is only certain places and times were it would be acceptable....Such as in your home, I mean I know I just walk around in my boxers most days that I have nothing to do, or no one is around but me...But other then that, I am dressed.

And the only other time and place would be in the summer at a lake or at the beach, or in something of that type of situation. Even at seaside restaurants or beer gardens in the middle of the summer heat, at least wear a tank top. And especially so if you got the hairy man boobs, that is something I don't think most people want to see.

And for all you plumbers out there please people stop with the crack, I know its funny, but its also ewwww.

reply to post by halfoldman


Some people will use any excuse to get topless, as your vid shows. You know those women just wanted to show some boob. Which is not all that different then when some dudes go topless all of a sudden when there are ladies around, they to like to just show there goods.

Personally I don't care all that much especially since I grew up in Europe when young and almost all the ladies there went topless when at the beach, so for me its mehhh. But it is a form of voyeurism for others, and in some places really it will give way to many people, way to many ideas.

And so I say keep the top on ladies, there is a place and time for that as well.

reply to post by galadofwarthethird

Great posts!

But why should women get voyeuristic access to naked male chests, but not the other way around?
Is it also not dangerous to put "ideas" into women's heads?

Perhaps to be consistent, we should all revert back to those old-fashioned bathing suits, with vests for men, and long-sleeves for women.

reply to post by halfoldman


Pandora's box is already open...can't try and stuff it all back in now...
Personally, I never understood our whole hangup with nudity.

Even if you've NEVER done it before, if you went to a nude beach just once, and participated, you'd find the whole stigma about it goes away in about 15min if you let it.
Really makes you see how idiotic our hangups are.

reply to post by Gazrok

Funny how a bunch of 30-40 something women can scream for a 17 yr old boy, and it's cute...yet if it was reversed, and a bunch of 30-40 something men were drooling over a 17 yr old girl, it'd be considered pedophilia, isn't it?

So true....there is a double standard isn't there? Twilight types do nothing for me....I think Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt were way sexier vampires (if there is such a thing:lol and they never took thier shirts off....in fact, the way they DRESSED was what made them sexy IMO.

reply to post by StealthyKat

As far as I saw of the Twilight films, it's the Native American werewolf, rather than the vampire who constantly parades about topless.

The ugly vampire dork remains mercifully clothed.

At least there's no race-mixing, and mixed-race leading couples are still a huge taboo in Hollywood.

The mixture between male exhibitionism, and ethnic "animalism" is very problematic to me, and it repeats very entrenched tropes and stereotypes.