Brisbane 'free the nipple' picnic sparks wider debate about equality

[Danee]

Organisers of the Free the Nipple Picnic, Amanda Haworth and Zoe Buckley Lennox. Photo: Heath Missen

A picnic to free women's nipples has gained interest and sparked a wider debate about equality, surprising the two Brisbane women who started the event earlier in the week.
Zoe Buckley Lennox, 22 and Amanda Haworth, 21, were sitting on their bed on Tuesday evening, "talking about nipples", when the idea struck them to create a picnic for their female friends, sans tops.
The plan was to get together and create a space where women don't feel sexualised or shamed for baring their nipples. Amanda and Zoe have asked those interested to bring a plate of food, some "crafty fun" or a friend to the picnic. Photo: Heath Missen
  Within 20 minutes they had created the Free the Nipple Picnic event, to be held at West End on Sunday January 17. Advertisement  "We just said to each other, 'Hey, why not put a picnic on this weekend let our girlfriends come and take their shirts off and feel safe and you know, work towards fighting the patriarchy at the same time," Ms Haworth said.
"We want to share a space where women NB and trans people are comfortable to take their shirts off, leave their shirts on or just leave their bra's at home," the women wrote on the event page.
 
 "Bring a plate, some crafty fun or a friend and we can chill out on the grass with our sisters."

What started out as a small event on Facebook has turned more than a few heads, with over a thousand people interested in attending the picnic at Orleigh Park, West End on Sunday.
"The whole point was just to sit down and eat some cupcakes and do some craft, it was never supposed to be some sort of rally thing, it was never a huge statement, it was just 2016, it is like 30 degrees and I don't want to wear a shirt," Ms Buckley Lennox said.
"It is just a way for us to sit around in an open public area and feel that we can have our nipples free and have great discussions," Ms Haworth said.
With an issue as topical as this, a few have taken to the page to vent their frustrations over the "inequality" of the event, which barred men from attending.
"So why are men not allowed to come to this event? Why do you insist that men can't be a part of an open safe space?" wrote one male commenter.

Others hit back and told the guys to "grow up".
"What I really don't understand more than anything else, is the reason why so many people feel the need to lash out with such malice and vitriol at a bunch of women that want to hang out and defy a ridiculous social convention," wrote one commenter.
"I get it, you don't have a safe space for issues specific to men. So make one without being an abrasive d*ckhole (sic) to people who are trying to level the playing field," wrote another commenter.
Ms Buckley Lennox said she understood men also suffered "at the hands of the patriarchy" and that it was important to challenge these issues, but this picnic was only "for the nipples" of women/non-binary people and transgender people.
"Woman need to feel comfortable to bare their chests and free their nipples together before they can feel comfortable enough to do it in the broad spectrum of society with males present," Ms Haworth said.
Ms Buckley Lennox informed attendees of the potential legal ramifications of going topless in a public place, such as willful exposure or public nuisance, however she hoped this didn't deter women from coming along and challenging the laws.
"It really highlights how backwards some people's minds are when it comes to this," Ms Buckley Lennox said.
"It is 2016, it is completely unequal when we are unable to be topless in public when men have that privilege.
"The laws are really reflective of that patriarchal society that we live in."
Ms Haworth hoped the event would be the first of many.
"Now that we see the popularity of it, we really hope we can continue the tradition and integrate males into that," Ms Haworth said.
"We hope to grow to eventually make it so that men and women can live equally with each other, baring their chests and not suffering for it."

Read more: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/brisbane-free-the-nipple-picnic-sparks-wider-debate-about-equality-20160116-gm7amm.html#ixzz3xSsaNQjO
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[Leah]

Shows the disinformation around local women's rights - a quirk in Queensland law has that only men can be arrested for nudity.

Not that being topless is nudity to start with - that right was won back in the 1970s.

BTW there were about 50 women at the event and as per the law the police walked through and kept walking.

[Danee]

Shows the disinformation around local women's rights - a quirk in Queensland law has that only men can be arrested for nudity.

Not that being topless is nudity to start with - that right was won back in the 1970s.

BTW there were about 50 women at the event and as per the law the police walked through and kept walking.

Thanks, Leah.  Here is the report of that. 

[Dario Western]

I am one of the few guys who supported Zoe and Amanda's wishes to keep it female-only for the first one.  Brisbane is a very conservative town where nudity and female toplessness is concerned.  As I also do nude model photography, I have lost count of how many women (especially young women) are very self-conscious about exposing their breasts due to a number of dickhead guys who just leer, ogle, mock and revile them.

The organisers are hoping to make the event more egalitarian for future events, which is good.  They've now got Kira Alexander from Vita Nuda Brisbane on board their FB group, and Kira is a strong believer in co-ed nude and topless events so hopefully she'll be able to provide some credence for them.