Some two dozen topless women protested in a New York City park on a hot, sweaty Sunday as part of what they called "National Go-Topless Day" to draw attention to inequality in topless rights between men and women.
There were topless men in the park, too, but nobody paid them much attention, a disparity, organizers said, that demonstrated the need for the event.
The topless women drew crowds of onlookers who took pictures and video with their cell phones.
"We say there is nothing wrong with the female nipple," Karen Heaven, an organizer of the event, told the crowd that quickly formed around her in Manhattan's Bryant Park. She was wearing white pants and not much else besides a purse over her shoulder. "My dog has six, I have two, but I can be put in jail for showing my nipples. It's 2012 -- what are we thinking?"
It is legal for women to go topless in public in New York City but laws vary widely across the United States. Heaven and her colleagues say discrimination is unconstitutional and they want full equality.
Similar protests were scheduled in about 30 US cities and 10 around the world, organizers said.
The annual Go-Topless Day was established in 2007 by a former sports car journalist called Rael, who founded a religion called the Raelian Movement after he said he was visited by a space alien in a French volcano park who told him life on Earth was created by extraterrestrial scientists, according to an account on his website.
Occasional references to alien creators did not seem to register with the crowd, which focused mostly on the breasts.
"I'll show these to a few friends and then delete them after a few days," Rudy Sison, a New Yorker who happened to visit the park on Sunday, said as he thumbed through photographs and video he had just taken on his phone. "They're topless."
Several women waved signs saying: "Equal Topless Rights For All."
After the speeches, a guitarist led the crowd in a reworking of The Beatles' song "Let It Be."
"Let 'em breathe," people sang. "Let 'em breathe."
在热得让人直冒汗的周日这天，四十多个裸露胸部的女性在纽约的一个公园宣传“全国裸胸日”，抗议裸胸权利方面的男女不平等。
组织者称，在公园里也有裸露上身的男性，但几乎没人注意他们，这种不平等表明有必要开展这一抗议活动。
这些裸胸女吸引了一大群围观者，他们用手机给这些裸胸女拍照、拍视频。
在曼哈顿的布赖恩特公园，该活动的一位组织者凯伦?海芬告诉她身边迅速聚集起来的人群说：“我们觉得女人的乳头并没有错。”她全身只穿着一条白色的裤子，上身一丝不挂，除了肩上背着的手提包。她告诉大家：“我的狗有六个乳头，我有两个，但是我展示自己的乳头却要被关进监狱。现在已经是2012年了——人们都在想些什么呀？”
在纽约市，女性在公共场合裸胸是合法的，但是在全美各地，关于裸胸的法规却有很大差异。海芬和她的同事说，这种歧视是违反宪法的，她们想要完全的平等。
组织者称，同样的抗议计划在30个美国城市及世界各地的10个城市进行。
一年一度的裸胸日是2007年由一个名叫雷尔的人设立的。雷尔曾经是一名赛车记者，他创建了一个名为“雷尔运动”的宗教组织。根据他网站上的描述，他在一个法国火山公园遭遇过外星人，那个外星人告诉他地球上的生命是由外星球的科学家创造的。在那之后他就创办了这一宗教。
活动过程中会不时提到外星人造物主，但是围观人群似乎并没听进去，他们的注意力主要都集中在乳房上了。
一位碰巧周日到这个公园游玩的纽约人鲁迪?希森一边浏览自己手机拍下的照片和视频，一边说：“我会把这些照片和视频给几个朋友看看，然后过几天把它们删掉。她们都袒胸露乳耶！”
几名挥舞告示牌的女性说道：“所有人都应享有平等的裸胸权。”
在演讲结束后，一名吉他手带领众人即兴改编演唱甲壳虫乐队的歌曲《顺其自然》。
“让它们呼吸，”人们唱道，“让它们呼吸。”
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