A topless reading club has celebrated the beginning of summer in New York by hosting a weekend of outdoor bare-breasted book events.
The Outdoor Co-ed Topless Pulp Fiction Appreciation Society (catchy, let’s just call them OCETPFAS) has been in action for several years, promoting the pleasures of reading and the reminder that baring your breasts in public in New York City is very much your legal right.
The group’s website – which features the slogan ‘Burn Bras, Not Books’ - encourages readers to attend future events while posing the question: “Wouldn’t you like to feel the warm sun and cool breeze on your breasts rather than an underwire or too-tight sports bra…?”
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The most recent occasions saw women hanging out and reading in Central Park on Friday – and then again on the rooftop sundeck of a boutique hotel - on Saturday.
Entries on the reading list so far include Blood on the Mink by Robert Silverberg, The Cocktail Waitress by James M Cain and The Twenty Year Death, by Ariel S Winter.
Huffington Post UK asked the group if they had ever faced any dissent or protest.
A spokesperson told us: “Once in a while a woman (it's always a woman) will give us a dirty look as she passes or mutter ‘Really?’ under her breath - but only once in a very long while, and those instances are far outnumbered by the times a woman (or man) tells us how inspiring we are or how happy they are to see us doing what we're doing.
“It means a lot to have had so many people join us - more than 100 and counting.
“These are all people who might have been too nervous to do something like this on their own, but every one of them has enjoyed it when she's done it with us, and that's very gratifying.
“There's nothing shameful or sinful or about women's bodies - they're just bodies, like men's, and women need to be as free as men are to relax in comfort in a public space. Having the opportunity to demonstrate this is a privilege.”
It is legal to bare your breasts in public in New York City, thanks to a 1992 court decision to reverse laws punishing it because they violated the city’s equal protection clauses.
Laws vary across the States.