mixedmedia

Well, I meant to acknowledge it on a personal level - I tried to. I guess I'm just reacting to the idea that a group of people sitting around chatting topless is some sort of revolutionary act.

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wooÐs

lol

Daniel_

I think that it's actually about getting off on knowing that other people are getting off.

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Overhead, the Albatross hangs motionless upon the air,
And deep beneath the rolling waves,
In labyrinths of Coral Caves,
The Echo of a distant time
Comes willowing across the sand;
And everthing is Green and Submarine
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Halx

Well it is definitely about the individual. There are other places where people go specifically to get naked on cam. This isn't one of those places.

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mixedmedia

True that. I've been very reticent to pursue a line of prohibition on this thread - meaning, I don't want to come off that way. I certainly don't want to discourage people from having innocent fun. But I also think it's important that those coming into chat who may be shy or have qualms about disrobing publicly, that it's not necessarily because they are not open-minded or resistant to evolving (ie, not up to TFP snuff). Largely, it's for fun and nothing more significant in the greater sense - philosophically. If it makes a person feel better about their bodies or themselves, then the experiment is a success on that level.

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Most people go through life dreading they'll have a traumatic experience. Freaks were born with their trauma. They've already passed their test in life. They're aristocrats. - Diane Arbus
PESSIMISM, n. A philosophy forced upon the convictions of the observer by the disheartening prevalence of the optimist with his scarecrow hope and his unsightly smile. - Ambrose Bierce

Nimetic

Depends very much on context. (Beach? CBD? Suburban street? Park?)

I'd probably take a second discrete and quick look. Then leave it at that. I appreciate the view... but staring seems unfair and um uncool... A quick glance, then I can savour the memory for a minute before going about my business.

And realistically... the curiosity thing dies down after you've seen a few. They're nice to view... but not so nice that I'd want to offend the owner.

little_tippler

I am not one to usually go topless in a very public, crowded area. For me to go topless it would take me being somewhere like a nudist beach, with a sparse amount of people, none of them too close by, and wanting to feel the sun, sand, and water on my naked breasts. I wouldn't need other people around me to be topless, but at least expecting it to some degree. I would definitely check for pervs.

I live in Portugal as many of you know and topless women on the beach is very common. It's allowed, not sure if it's allowed off the beach. Nobody really cares, though I'm sure the nicer specimens get ogled at.

Now, to address nudity in chat. I have taken my top off in chat and I can't honestly say exactly why I did it, but I enjoyed it a lot and would probably do it again. For me, that was the first time I exposed myself that way in front of several people who were watching.
I felt very confortable. Everyone else was doing it and it felt very natural. I was enjoying watching others and thought I'd return the pleasure. It also felt very friendly and sexy too. Which seems contradictory but I'm sure others who have been topless in chat know what I mean. It takes a special situation and group of people to make me really want to show my body like that.

From my experience, I'd say it's a good thing.

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Whether we write or speak or do but look
We are ever unapparent. What we are
Cannot be transfused into word or book.
Our soul from us is infinitely far.
However much we give our thoughts the will
To be our soul and gesture it abroad,
Our hearts are incommunicable still.
In what we show ourselves we are ignored.
The abyss from soul to soul cannot be bridged
By any skill of thought or trick of seeming.
Unto our very selves we are abridged
When we would utter to our thought our being.
We are our dreams of ourselves, souls by gleams,
And each to each other dreams of others' dreams.

Fernando Pessoa, 1918

CinnamonGirl

I've never gone topless in chat, for the record. Sure, there's some CinnaCleavage, but the top doesn't come off. It's not ALL about the nudity

Public places... well, I don't know. My breasts look much better in a bra (or a corset ) than not. Maybe if I was on the beach, or out in a boat, but I kinda doubt it. Going without a bra is just uncomfortable sometimes-- physically, not mentally.

I DID go to Mardi Gras a few years back (well, we were there a week after, but it was still very much a Mardi Gras atmosphere.) Flashing's a bit different than walking around topless, though.

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Charlatan

There's a big difference between topless online and topless on a beach. Online there is stronger element of exhibition/voyeurism. The beach is just a bit more natural (for lack of a better word).

The beaches in France can be rife with topless women (of various shapes and sizes). The first time I was at the beach it was titillating (ha!) but it quickly grew to be the norm. Sure, if I see a particularly attractive woman it might be arousing, but I would suggest I'd have the same reaction if she was in a bikini. Ultimately, this is about the inherent prudishness of the culture in which most of us have been raised. Nudity carries certain taboos. Combine this with the objectification of women in general (or specific if you want) and you end up with guys that can't deal with a topless woman without getting a aroused (or worse).

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ring

Part of Hal's OP asks,"Would you check to make sure there were no pervs around?"

If Hal tells me how to recognize a perv,
I might consider answering his question.

I don't wear a bra in public. That's really pushing the limit, in this very small,
puritanical USA town.

Plan9

Close?

How to spot a pedophile...

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bazkitcase5

like others have said, it would not change the way I looked at the person

the glances I would make at a girl with a nice set would be no different than the glances I would make to a very pretty girl

I would admire, be sure not to stare, and go on my merry way =)

---------- Post added at 08:25 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:22 PM ----------

haha, I like the reference to the best page in the universe - funny stuff

ring

I dunno Crompsin,
that first dude looks like he might be a victim of fetal alcohol syndrome.

Ted Bundy comes to mind when attempting to do the book-cover-judging bit.

Back to OP.

I would have no qualms going topless, except perhaps in a store where my generous boobs
might knocker fine china off the shelves if I turned around too quickly.

Many a time when I'd been mowing the lawn or digging ditches,
it would have been a such relief to shed that last skin.

StellaLuna

You know... I think I'd look. But on some level, they've been desexualized for me. I work around children and babies and breastfeeding women. There are naked breasts everywhere at work, usually with a child attached to them. I guess I do see them in public and have developed a little switch in my head that I can flip from "Oh, those are NICE!" to "Boob = Happy baby."
Of course, I'm proud of mine. I know the effect they have on people who don't have or use that switch.

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Screw tradition!

cellophanedeity

I've been topless at a couple of beaches. Swimming with free floating breasts feels wonderful, and I didn't feel like putting my top back on immediately after. I don't think any other women around were topless, but it didn't really seem to matter at the time.

I like my breasts, and I've noticed other people seem to as well. I see no reason to hide my boobs from the love they're offered.

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orionnebula

I was about to post something similar. I go to a lot of car racing where there is a lot of lady in Spandex.

At first you look at all of them, then after a few hundreds you think it's all the same and then once in a while there is a girl that catches the attention, and that girl who have drawn my attention dressed any other way I guess

So the same would be for boobs, at first I will look but then you would only notice some of them

FuglyStick

I'll be honest--I was expecting more boobs in this thread

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Chumley

Yea, that would be me too. I like tits! To quote... a number of sources....

curiousbear

If I see topless women in public, I will get excited
I will take casual look as often as possible, without staring or causing embarrassment

thirdsun

Exactly. If a woman is going topless purely for shock value or attention and is the only woman topless--it's basically just a freak show, no matter how nice her set of boobs happen to be. I'd have no qualms looking, maybe even staring, in that situation, but it'd be more out of curiosity than titillation.

In a situation where many women are topless (e.g., beach) I'd glance at a nice set in appreciation, but I certainly wouldn't stare or ogle. In that context, there are given societal and/or cultural expectations: staring is offensive and rude.

FuglyStick

I'll say this, too--I get a little uncomfortable with a woman breast feeding in public, but will readily admit that is my problem, and a woman has every right in the world to tend to her child, my level of discomfort be damned.

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Cimarron29414

My parents told a story of how they were at a nude beach in the Virgin Islands. They would have been in their mid 60's at the time. After several hundred yards of strolling, they realized they were the ONLY people on the beach clothed. They turned to one another, shrugged, and popped off their suits for the rest of their walk. The thought still gives me nightmares.

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m0rpheus

Pretty much this.
I can remember when it first became legal thinking how awesome it's going to be because there will be boobs everywhere (give me a break I was a kid who wanted to see girls breasts). Yeah not so much.

The few times I've encountered it did I look? Of course but yeah I try not to stare too.

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Cimarron29414

Seinfeld says, there's good naked and there's bad naked.

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wooÐs

...and don't ever cough while naked in front of someone else.

fresnelly

Hot!

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bazkitcase5

maybe I'm just missing out on something, but I gotta ask... why?

wooÐs

lol

It's an old Seinfeld episode. He was ttly into his gf and her walking around the apartment naked all the time until she finally coughed in front of him. From that point on, his image of her was scarred pretty much. She also did stuff like try to open hard-to-open jars and stuff. It was funny lol.

Vigilante

rofl.

I'm indifferent. Sure I love boobs, but I won't pop a boner just because some chick is strutting with her top off. Too many strip clubs and porn. Boobs is boobs. Sure I'll glance over and check the goods, but I won't get all crazy from the experience.

Now if some chick had some tight boy shorts on and her fine ass was hanging out, I might feel that surge of blood. I'm an ass man.

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raptor9k

deleted

lostgirl

I am very fair skinned, if I were to go topless I would blind everyone with these headlights.

I am not bothered by other women going topless, more power to them.

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jaymoney

i'll definitly look and enjoy the view but keep it moving cant stare or you look like a pervert. keep it cool like you've seen tits before

Poppinjay

Hmmmmm.



I knew it. From that sad day in 1994 when he abducted funny.

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