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A woman wearing traditional clothing in Southern Ethiopia. Many societies have no cultural proscriptions on females going bare-breasted.

This article deals only with female toplessness. For male toplessness, see barechestedness.

The noun toplessness refers to the state of partial female nudity in which a woman or postpubescent girl has her breasts uncovered, with her areolae and nipples visible. The adjective topless can refer to a woman who appears, poses, or performs with her breasts so exposed (a "topless model"); to an activity or performance that involves exposing the breasts (a "topless dance"); to a graphic, photographic, or filmic depiction of a woman with her breasts uncovered (a "topless portrait"); to a place where female toplessness is tolerated or expected (a "topless beach"); or to a garment designed to reveal the breasts (a "topless swimsuit").

Many indigenous, non-Western cultures, such as those found in parts of Africa and the South Pacific, consider it normal and natural for both males and females to go without clothing on their torsos. Because going "topless" can imply sexual licentiousness or deliberate defiance of cultural taboos, the term should not be applied to women in societies where breast exposure is normative. The adjective "topfree" may be preferred to avoid unwanted sexual connotations.

Toplessness as a form of political protest in Washington, D.C., September 24, 2005. See Breasts Not Bombs.

Although it is fashionable and culturally acceptable for Western women to display cleavage, particularly when wearing swimsuits or dressing for social occasions, concealment of the lower portion of the breasts, including the nipples and areolae, is a sociocultural norm of postpubescent female modesty in the Western world. Although prohibitions on breast exposure are often relaxed in appropriate female-only areas such as women's locker rooms, changing rooms, or communal showers, or in specific zones such as a topless beach or sauna (see below), most Western women will conceal their breasts at other times. Public toplessness in the Western world is mostly confined to occasional acts of exhibitionism, sometimes in the service of political protest.

In the interest of public morality, many Western juristictions have enacted legal statues defining the act of publicly displaying the female breast as indecent exposure. The topfree equality movement opposes such legislation, arguing that since men may expose their anatomically analogous chests and nipples with impunity, prohibiting female toplessness constitutes a form of sexual discrimination. Heated debates have taken place on this issue, particularly when nursing mothers have been arrested and prosecuted for breastfeeding their babies in public. In response to campaigns promoting the health benefits of breast milk, many jurisdictions now permit public breastfeeding while retaining indecent exposure laws, essentially differentiating the lactational from the sexual functions of the female breast.

Women sunbathing topless on a beach in Barcelona, Spain.

Either through legal statute or through established cultural precedent, many societies exempt some public zones from general prohibitions on female toplessness. One notable example is the topless beach, which may also be called a top-optional beach (to clarify that women are free to choose whether or not to expose their breasts) or a topfree beach (to disassociate the act of bare-breasted sunbathing or swimming from sexual connotation). Although they are found in many liberal parts of the world, topless beaches are especially common in Europe and Australia, where they are mostly uncontroversial. For example, a mid-1990s survey of male and female Australian university students found that 88 percent of respondents considered it socially acceptable for women to go topless on public beaches, although the vast majority disapproved of female toplessness in other contexts (Herold, Corbesi, & Collins, 1994; 1995). A topless beach differs from a nude beach or naturist beach in that beachgoers of both sexes will keep their genitalia strictly covered. Women who sunbathe topless do not necessarily consider themselves to be nudists.

Other zones where female toplessness is tolerated or expected may include the Finnish sauna and carnivals such as New Orleans Mardi Gras.

Given widespread Western prohibitions on female toplessness, specific adult-only venues often employ women to perform topless as a form of commercial erotic entertainment; these can range from downmarket strip clubs to upmarket cabarets such as the Moulin Rouge. In many cultures, depictions of female toplessness are also regularly featured in magazines, calendars, film, television, and other media.

Following a tradition established by The Sun in 1970, several mainstream British tabloid newspapers feature topless female models on their third page, known as Page Three girls. The tradition has sometimes caused controversy, as when feminist Member of Parliament Clare Short campaigned vigorously but unsuccessfully to have Page Three girls banned, but is generally accepted as inoffensive and even amusing.

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Toplessness

• Barechested
• Handbra
• Sociology of clothing
• Topfreedom
• Skin Cancer
• Breasts