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Nantucket woman who sponsored topless beach article says it encouraged people to question assumptions

Dorothy Stover proposed the warrant article, "Gender Equality on Beaches" at Nantucket Town Meeting.
Courtesy of Dorothy Stover
Dorothy Stover proposed the warrant article, "Gender Equality on Beaches" at Nantucket Town Meeting.

Nantucket made headlines this week due to a Town Meeting article that, on the surface, may seem a little salacious. The warrant item called for women to be allowed to go topless on local beaches. Voters passed the proposal Tuesday night, generating some surprise.

But some who spoke in support of the article said it addresses outdated norms about privacy, sexuality, and gender rights.

CAI's Kathryn Eident talked with Nantucket resident and sex educator Dorothy Stoverabout why she was inspired to get the measure on the town meeting warrant.

Eident Talk about how you see something like women being able to go topless as a step toward gender equality.

Stover So, yes, this is another step towards gender equality. And I think a lot is also the miseducation as far as the tops of men and women. We have the same makeup when it comes to the chest area. We all can develop breast tissue. We all have mammary glands, nipples, and we can lactate. Men and women can both lactate.

So, when I started to really think about this and like the discrepancy over how men are viewed versus how women are viewed, I realized it was a sexualization right there. That's an inequality. And as I went into the research as well, at one point, we all had to wear tops at the beach.

Eident So, not only is there a kind of sexualization piece to this, there's a cultural piece to this.

Stover That's the wild part. Men didn't actually gain their top freedom until 1937, so less than 100 years ago. And at that point, looking at the comments, there was one group of women in 1937 that staged a protest that no one wanted to see men's hairy chests and that men should be waxed. So, it's kind of wild, right?

At that point, it was shocking to see men topless. And there was 42 men in New York that went topless on the beach, and they were arrested and fined. But now we don't bat an eye, right?

Eident What made you decide to make it a public campaign and go for a policy change on Nantucket?

Stover Well, one of the beautiful parts of Nantucket community is we do have this annual town meeting. And, so I knew I could take an article forward to make a bylaw change, because right now, legally, in the state of Massachusetts, any female over the age of five has to have their nipples covered. Otherwise, it's an arrestable and fineable offense and you could be put on the sex offender list.

Eident Did you do any campaigning to garner support for this proposal leading up to town meeting?

Stover I did not. I am trying to keep, and continue to keep, my mind open and my heart open to change. My main focus was sharing facts. People actually really took to this and had conversations.

So, for instance, I had someone that the second I put this out and, this a small community, so it took fire, I had someone right away who was like, "I do not support this. Not at all." And then a week ago, they reached out to be like, "I'm voting yes. I've changed my mind."

And that's not from me. That is from talking with other people in the community. I think whenever you're bringing something forward, a town meeting, it's wonderful to have the idea. But really and truly it has to be something that the community backs. Then it's magic. That's what democracy is, can be really magical.

Eident So what is it, do you think, that really resonated with people to get them not only to talk about it, but to actually vote in favor of it?

Stover I think people are like me and we have so many things ingrained in us, especially when it comes to our bodies, and especially when it comes to women and what becomes just the “normal.” And, you know, this article helped people to think differently and to open eyes and to go, "Okay, now I'm starting to see something I didn't see before."

Eident What do you say to opponents who say women's breasts are sexual and that they should be covered?

Stover So, sexualization for sure. Breasts have been sexualized and a lot of people associate breast with sex. Really what that means is that someone endowed sexual characteristics to the breasts. Anywhere in the body can be sexualized and have that function, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it's sexual.

So, for instance, like the ears, right? There are plenty of people that love ears and find them very sexy. But that doesn't necessarily mean they're sexual. They're for hearing, that's their main function. It's the same with breasts.

The hope is that they'll become de-sexualized because if we see something, then it's no longer has its novelty. Where you hide it away, it becomes novel.

Eident And, I think there were people who spoke at town meeting this week along those same lines, kind of building on what you said, that if we mystify and only see, "perfect bodies," we may not actually have a great relationship with our own bodies or understand that there are tons of variations with everyone's body.

Stover 100%, you know, because it is natural, say, for one breast to be larger than the other. But if you're always seeing a certain type of chest makeup, then you start to think, "I'm abnormal." So, I do think some people are saying that this is a body positivity, and it very well could be. I think it's more body normalizing.

Eident This now needs to go to the state attorney general's office for approval. Do you think that she'll agree with Nantucket Town Meeting?

Stover I think she would agree. Part of the attorney general's job is to uphold the Constitution and to be there for the citizens. And the citizens of Nantucket have voted for this. And not only that, but other states that have passed top freedom for all genders, such as the state of Utah, Colorado, Wyoming. They have found the law is currently unconstitutional.

Eident And, if the state attorney general does approve it, will you then be topless on the beach this summer?

Stover I thought about that. It has to be a full body "yes." [laughs] So if I get to the beach and I'm just like, “I want to feel connected to the sun in a different way”, I 100% will. But if I'm not feeling it in the moment, then I won't. It's about choice.

Eident Dorothy Stover, thank you so much for taking a few minutes to talk with me. I appreciate it.

Stover Thank you so much.

This conversation was lightly edited for grammar and clarity.

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Local News Heard on CAI's Morning EditionLocal NewsNantuckettown
Kathryn Eident was the Morning Edition Host and Senior Producer of News until November 2022.