Meet the Woman Fighting to Normalize Toplessness

While it’s legal for women to be topless in many parts of the United States (you can find a full map here), people aren’t exactly comfortable with it yet. Chelsea Covington is fighting to change that. Covington, 27, started going bare-chested about three years ago. (She prefers the term “bare-chested” over topless, because “topless [implies] you are lacking something.”) Now, Covington gardens, bicycles, picnics, walks, and sunbathes sans shirt, wherever legal and whenever comfortable. She also keeps a blog, Breasts Are Healthy, where she documents the everyday outings of her nipples. I spoke to Covington about how the police and laypeople react to her bare chest, and what she hopes to achieve by choosing not to wear a shirt.

VICE: How much time per week do you spend bare-chested?

Chelsea Covington: Weather is definitely a factor. In the wintertime, there is definitely less [bare-chested] activity. But really, I will take any opportunity I can. Cooler temperatures don’t bother me so much, but I also am not going to do it just to do it either. I do it because it is how I am comfortable and how I like to be, so if it’s snowing outside and you wouldn’t be without a shirt on, I wouldn’t be without one either.

read more -Source: Vice