Jerry Large / Times staff columnist
Bare truth on politics of gender difference

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I suppose I really hadn't spent enough time thinking about breasts before I read an article about 10 Florida women who've filed a federal lawsuit for the right to take their shirts off, just like men.

The women bill themselves as ordinary folk united by a desire for equal treatment before the law.

One of them is a 14-year-old who was distressed a few years ago when she lost the right to walk around without a shirt. There's a 74-year-old who says she has no intention of taking her top off but doesn't think it's right that she doesn't have a legal choice.

One of the women said she ought to be able to be as comfortable as any shirtless guy when she mows her lawn on a hot day.

While I imagine topless yardwork could present safety issues, I was initially quite certain that the Florida women made sense.

Equality before the law is a fundamental right, and anyway, what's the big deal about bare breasts?

People have worn clothes for only a fraction of human history. When some of us migrated out of Africa, the weather got chilly, so it made sense to replace the hair we'd evolved out of with something warm. That development was not too good for other species, but it helped humans take advantage of habitats that otherwise would have gone unexploited.

Of course, human beings never stop at the merely utilitarian. Clothing, like everything else we touch, got loaded with meaning beyond its useful function. Clothing signals class, gender, age, function, morality. It is decoration, even in places where it is too hot for more than a little of it.

But none of those secondary functions ought to prevent a person from getting comfortable in her own yard or on the beach.

Yes, you say, but aren't guys going to go nuts?

Well, maybe at first, but you get used to nearly anything. I've been to villages where women were just as topless as men, and after the initial moment of adjustment, I could see how familiarity would douse some of the attraction that mystery stirs.

Also, women who have spent a lifetime free of bras appear different from the Playboy image conjured in Western minds.

In fact, some clothing is designed to make women look sexier than they would if they were not clothed.

If unfettered female breasts became a common sight, we might even get free of those annoying commercials for college-girls-gone-wild videos.

But it would take a lot to counter our current sense of sexuality.

Some women have argued that breasts are not really about sex and should be considered in relation to their primary role, which is to feed children. Nothing more wholesome than that.

Of course, women don't get breast implants for the benefit of suckling babies. Would women want to lose the allure of wearing a Marilyn Monroe sweater? Some would, but not all.

There is power in sexuality, and there is politics in gender difference.

Women once burned their bras to declare themselves free of gender restrictions. We've heard from American women soldiers about the restrictions they face in Islamic countries. Making women cover up seems nearly Neandertal to Westerners, but it's common enough where religion is concerned, even among Christians.

It's always hard to know where the line is between protection and restriction. Maybe there isn't a line; they always seem to travel together.

Is the answer, women's bodies, women's choice? (That's the philosophy behind the struggle to make abortion legal.)

Yes, but I can't imagine most women would choose to bare their tops out in the front yard. Nudist groups have way more men than women, and there are reasons for that.

There are too many Arnold Schwarzenneggers around for most women to feel comfortable baring their breasts.

Men and women are different, partly owing to biology and partly owing to the society we've structured.

I saw a story recently about female athletes being harassed by stalking fans. A basketball player talked about the horrible feeling it evoked.

Male basketball players have often seen that kind of reaction from female fans as a bonus.

The sexual power equation is not in balance in our society, and it'll take more than bare breasts to change that.

Those Florida women might want to keep their shirts on until we have a more mature view of gender differences.

Jerry Large: 206-464-3346 or jlarge@seattletimes.com. More columns at www.seattletimes.com/columnists.

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