I Finally Saw One! (Well, actually two.)

After years of anticipation and patient waiting, I have finally seen a woman topless in Ontario. It was in downtown London, at the corner of Dundas and Clarence. Across the road from the Canada Trust building.

And I tell you, what a body, too. This woman could easily get a job in Vegas as a bronzed long-legged showgirl. Didn't smile much tho. And had a kinda bored look on her face as she went thru the motions of working at that particular piece of downtown real estate. And her face had a kind of a cold and hard look to it. Like her body, I thought. The kinda dame you could crack an egg on her breast.

Just the same, it being my first sighting, I can't complain. For many of you out-of-staters, you probably don't know this (because apparently even most of the women in this province are still unaware of it,) but in Ontario, a woman has the legal right to go topless in public if she wants. That may be at the beach, at the pool, washing her Mustang in her drive-way, or even on a public street as the raison d'etre for this law, Gwen Jacobs did as she walked down the street in Guelph one hot sweltering day a few summers back and decided, 'Aw what the hell, it's too damn hot out, I'm taking my shirt off.' And was promptly arrested and charged with public indecency.

It's true. And evidence to the contrary, after Gwen was charged, she fought the matter in court with the financial backing of the feminist movement and Playboy magazine and the Supreme court came to the conclusion that the naked female breast was not a sexual part of the anatomy and indeed, if Gwen or any other woman wanted to go topless in public, then the court was behind her.

The sad fact is that after winning the court case, Ontario wasn't suddenly overrun by women now strolling the streets topless. I had just assumed that once Gwen had done it and gotten the approval of society, then all women would have started going topless. You know what women are like - one starts wearing high heels and then they all are. But it just didn't happen.

However, after taking up this cause, the womens movement then abandoned Gwen. Just tossed her aside. Never even elected her head of the 'Real Now Women of Canada' or anything like that. They never even called once the whole thing was over. Can you imagine how used she must have felt? Geez, even a man wouldn't treat a broad like that.

After the women's rights movement made this court case such a focal point in the media, you would think that women in Ontario would have embraced this new emancipation. Instead, by ignoring the hotly-contested new legislation, they have made Gwen's victory a hollow one. It's like a padded or a falsie-fied win - empty of meaning. The great step forward for women that Gwen had made that hot day on that Guelph sidewalk has become irrelevant and pointless.

The support which Gwen once had from her sisters - which was once proud, pert and standing strong and firm - is now sagging and looking tired. Today, it is time for all women out there (in Ontario,) to heed the call. If it is hot outside - and if you want to - it is your legal right to take off your top. But don't do it for me - or for any man - do it for Gwen.

And remember - when you see men staring, they do not look with lust - but with admiration for your solidarity with the sisterhood. We are applauding your committment to equal rights. We are not gawking at your knockers.