A "topless picnic" at a Helena park on Friday drew a few complaints, but no police officers.
The event was held to object to the different social standard that allows only men to go shirtless in public.
Kelley Rose, one of the event organizers, posted on the Facebook event page: "We’ve decided to call this a ‘picnic’as opposed to a ‘rally’ just so it doesn’t have a protest-vibe to it. We just want to be around like-minded people, share stories, spread awareness and love!"
The Facebook post for the event – titled "Picnic to Normalize the Human Body" – explained:
Peaceful gathering to advocate for gender equality and the normalization and anti-objectification of women’s bodies.
By Montana law, women can go shirtless anywhere a man can.
Some are empowered by nudity and others by modesty; the option for both should be respected.
Please don’t treat this as a protest; this is a peaceful gathering to support, educate and celebrate the life of our natural bodies!
The Helena Police Department released a statement Friday afternoon saying it had received calls about the topless protesters at Womens’ Park.
"After speaking with the City Attorney’s Office, officers will not be responding to complaints about the women being topless," according to the statement. "The protesters are expressing their 1st Amendment Rights and not violating any laws."
On the Facebook page, Sierra Eury, a co-organizer, said, "The fact that reporters came and the police were notified just goes to show how abnormal women’s breasts are to our society and how much work we have left to do."
We will update you if we get more information.
