NANTUCKET FREES THE NIPPLE: 'Love guru' Dorothy Stover's push to allow topless women on beaches
NANTUCKET, MASSACHUSETTS: Nantucket, a small isolated island in Massachusetts, has taken the first step towards allowing women to go topless on beaches as the citizens approved a measure in its favor. Residents of Nantucket passed the Gender Equality on Beaches bylaw amendment on Tuesday, May 3, after a debate at the annual town meeting.
However, the amendment, which states, “In order to promote equality for all persons, any person shall be allowed to be topless on any public or private beach within the Town of Nantucket,” still needs the state attorney general's office approval. According to reports, a woman named Dorothy Stover is behind this measure.
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Who is Dorothy Stover?
Stover is a 40-year-old love and sex educator, who wants “to support the love of the body”. She is reportedly a seventh-generation Nantucketer, who got inspired to take such a bold step after reading a comic strip some years ago. She told WBUR, “I saw this comic strip that had a male and a woman that had the same exact body and they were both topless. The man said to the woman, 'Look at you, you're so indecent, how dare you?' And she replied back, 'Look at me? look at you!' They had the same body, yet only one is allowed to be topless.”
Stover also spoke with the Cape Cod Times before the article was approved by the citizens and had said, “This past summer, I was at the beach and I wanted to lay out topless. And I thought, 'why can't I do that?’” Calling out a state law that only lets men go topless at beaches, she remarked, “This is really antiquated and this is inequality. Some men have bigger breasts than I do.”
The founder of Nantucket Love School had added in February, “Nantucket has a history of fighting for equality,” before noting, “I'm not saying that everybody has to be topless. I want to support the love of the body.” On the other hand, Town Clerk Nancy Holmes said that the approval from the state attorney general might take time. She added, “I can't see it being approved before September.”
It has also been said that there are chances that the measure wouldn’t be approved at all. The present state law mentions, “The defendant is charged with open and gross lewdness and lascivious behavior” if “the defendant exposed his (her) (genitals) (buttocks) (or) (female breasts) to one or more persons; the defendant did so intentionally; the defendant did so ‘openly,’ that is, either he (she) intended public exposure, or he (she) recklessly disregarded a substantial risk of public exposure, to others who might be offended by such conduct; the defendant’s act was done in such a way as would alarm or shock a reasonable person; and at least one person was alarmed or shocked.”
However, Stover has celebrated the first win and expressed her happiness on Instagram. She said in the video, “Top Freedom passed! It's very surreal, it's very exciting,” while captioning it, “Nantucket had voted yes on top freedom on all island beaches! What a ride. And the discussion was amazing 🥰. You all thought of things I didn't. So thank you! Thank you thank you thank you for choosing equality. Sending love out ♥️.”