Would You Join a Topless Book Club?

One New York City book club has something more enticing than wine and cheese to get members excited about coming to meetings (sounds impossible, I know). The OutDoor Co-Ed Topless Pulp Fiction Appreciation Society has boobs, and they were out in all their glory last Friday, when the topless book club reconvened after a winter of nipple-hardening temperatures to celebrate the beginning of spring.

The group, whose tagline is “Burn bras, not books,” formed in 2011, and the Village Voice interviewed a couple members. “The overall purpose of the group is for girls who want to take advantage of the legality of being topless in New York to be able to, while reading books. Along with bare-breasted sunbathing being something that we enjoy, we also have noticed that despite female toplessness being legal, there are very few who take advantage of it. We are hoping to go from this being something taboo to something of social inconsequence,” said the member.

If you’re wondering how they manage to walk around in public spaces topless without being arrested (and how you didn't know you could do the same), it's because a 1992 New York Court of Appeals decision affirmed that women and men have equal rights to be topless in public in New York. While most women don't exercise that right, these ladies are braving the looks, whispers, and maybe photos (eek!) from strangers to let it all hang out.

This type of activity not only bolsters the legality of the 1992 topless ruling, but it is a bold action that serves as a counter point to the unsolicited, male, sexual aggression that many women face when doing something as simple as walking down a sidewalk. Kudos to these ladies for having the confidence to not only walk around topless, but to document it online and share it with the world. Feminism, books, and awesome boobs. That's some revolutionary shit.