White woman who wants right to go topless compares herself to Rosa Parks as she plans bare-breasted protest
A woman leading a campaign for the right to be topless has compared her activism to that of Rosa Parks during the Civil Rights movement.
Katrina Brees, an activist for the group Equalititty, is organizing a rally of bare-breasted women in Boston on Saturday in a bid to challenge gender norms.
The protest, which is a collaboration with the group GoTopless, will begin at 'The Embrace' Martin Luther King Jr. statue in Boston and proceed to the State House.
Brees, who has previously described the porn star Stormy Daniels as a 'real life hero', said she is seeking to highlight the double standard where men in Massachusetts are permitted to be topless in public while women are not.
'This is not necessarily about the desire to take our tops off. It's about the desire to have equal rights under the law,' Brees told the Boston Globe.
Katrina Brees, a women's rights activist who campaigns with Equalititty, compared the movement she's leading to the tactics used by Rosa Parks during the Civil Rights Movement
When sharing a picture of herself (left) with Stormy Daniels (right), Brees wrote: 'She is a courageous American patriot that has risked her life to bring truth to light ... She’s a real life hero. Thank you @stormydaniels'
Rosa Parks famously refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white person during the time of segregation. Drawing a comparison between that historic stand and her own tactics, Brees said: 'Rosa Parks on the bus wasn't about the bus, but about discrimination and oppression, and so is this.'
Equalititty and GoTopless, who are collaborating for the first time, are pushing to change legislation so that 'all genders' can go shirtless without repercussions in Massachusetts.
The event is timed ahead of Women's Equality Day on August 26, which celebrates the passage of the 19th Amendment, granting women the right to vote.
In 2022, Nantucket made history by becoming the first place in Massachusetts to allow anyone, regardless of gender, to go topless on its beaches. The change, championed by resident Dorothy Stover, was a victory for body positivity and equality.
'Now I may not choose to go topless . . . but I think other people should have that choice,' Dorothy Stover, who proposed the bylaw amendment, said at the Town Meeting.
Back when Brees' mother was advocating for women's rights in 1970, it was still illegal to breast feed in public.
The protest, organized by Equalititty and GoTopless, will begin at 'The Embrace' Martin Luther King Jr. statue in Boston on Saturday and proceed to the State House
The event is timed ahead of Women's Equality Day on August 26, which celebrates the passage of the 19th Amendment, granting women the right to vote
However, activists argue that the law still unfairly discriminates as Massachusetts women who go topless in public can face six months in jail, a $200 fine, or both.
Similar protests have been held in other cities, including in New York in 2015, that drew dozens of protestors. where the groups plan told hold GoTopless Day in New York on August 24.
Organizers expect about two dozen participants in Boston and have no plans for additional security.
DailyMail.com has reached out to Brees for comment.
