PHOTOS: BOOK CLUB or BOOB CLUB?...group of friends form a topless book club so women can enjoy relaxing, reading and tanning in public bare-chested

A group of friends decided to form a topless book club so women can enjoy relaxing and tanning in public, just like men.

Using New York law, which says women can go bare chested anywhere men can, the social group formed so women could meet and safely sunbathe together.





The women said they take the literature part of the book club very seriously


Topless Pulp Fiction members said they have received overwhelmingly positive reaction from other women

The women, who withheld their names to protect themselves online, take photographs of themselves sunbathing around New York in just shorts and bikini bottoms.

Among the locations favoured by the book club are Central Park, hotel rooftops, riverside walkways and even the steps of the Metropolitan Museum.

One of the group's founders said the response to their meetings, which are always formed of six or more women, has been overwhelmingly positive.

She said: 'For every woman who glares when we pass and mutters: "There are children around", there are a dozen who come over and thank us for what we're doing.

'The best was an elderly woman who came over with her miniature poodle earlier this summer and spent an hour sitting with us.

'She was just so delighted. It felt wonderful to make her day.'



The group (pictured in Central Park) said if a man can show his chest then a woman should be allowed to






The group meet outside the Metropolitan Museum of Art (right) and Central Park and in roof gardens (left)

The founders knew the law allowed a woman to be topless anywhere a man could be, but had never seen it in practice.

Hesitant to test the law as individuals, the women found the confidence to remove their bikini tops in the company of friends.

The founder said: 'There's no rational reason a woman's breasts should be forbidden if a man's chest is not.

'The more we show people that seeing a woman's nipples won't cause the sky to fall, the more freedom and equality women will enjoy.'

As well as making a feminist statement, the group takes the literary aspect of the book club quite seriously.

The founder said: 'That probably makes it pretty boring for someone who isn't interesting in the books and discussions.

'People's significant others sometimes wonder if there's something sexual about the group.




They say they want people to realise there is nothing shocking about a woman's breasts

'But when they come, they discover it's just a batch of friends sitting around in the sun, reading and discussing books, laughing and eating cupcakes.'

Although the book club occasionally receive inappropriate stares, it has not deterred them having fun.

The founder said: 'I think we get fewer catcalls and less harassment when we're out topless in a group than when any one of us is just walking down the street fully clothed.

'We've been approached by the police a couple of times, but every time the police have confirmed that what we're doing is completely legal and they've been very polite about it.'

As well as having fun and enjoying reading in the sun, the club hopes to inspire other women.

The founder said: 'Our hope would be that we set an example for other women, and that a few years from now a woman going bare-chested in the park or even on the street would attract no more attention than a bare-chested man.'

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