Hola, Morocha! A Black Woman's Adventures In Buenos Aires by Jennifer Poe

The only men allowed into the women’s midst were those prepared to put on a bra to cover themselves up. Some women painted their bodies with messages such as 'I decide.' EFEīut an hour later, hundreds of women had taken over the area around the Obelisk and even some of the surrounding streets, where they danced and sang, painting their bodies with slogans. “It was logical that men were going to come, half of them are peeping Toms, and that is why so few women are prepared to take their tops off,” she said at the beginning of the demonstration, when there were more gawping men than female protesters. “It is incredible that a topless woman on a beach or a mother breastfeeding her baby causes a scandal in this day and age.”

“Society still can’t deal with tits as something natural,” added Carolina. This demand isn’t just about going topless, but about the bigger issue of inequality between men and women,” said Julieta, a university student at the demonstration who had painted “The pleasure of breaking macho ties” across her chest. “We demand our right to decide about our bodies. In Argentina, as in much of Latin America and the United States, half-naked women are a permanent feature of advertising and television, but any kind of female nudity is taboo, even on beaches. Silvina Frydlewskyĭozens of women gathered around the square’s landmark Obelisk and took their tops off, demanding the same rights as men to sunbathe topless. Initially, there were more men gawping than women protesting. Meanwhile, the case had generated huge interest on the social networks as well as in the media, and a so-called tetazo (literally, “big tit”) protest march was arranged for Tuesday at the Plaza de la República in central Buenos Aires.

It shows police initially trying to persuade three women to cover themselves up and eventually calling in reinforcements as more and more people gathered round, with some expressing their support for the women and others calling for them to be arrested for indecency.Įventually, some 20 officers arrived at the scene, and, threatened with arrest and handcuffs, the women left the beach.īut when the three appeared before a magistrate a few days later, the judge not only threw the charges of offending public decency out, he said that the legislation in Buenos Aires province that had been cited dated back to 1973 and was anti-constitutional, and called on legislators to overturn it.

The incident was filmed and later went viral on social networks. Society still can’t deal with tits as something naturalĬarolina, a protester at the demonstration

Hola, Morocha! A Black Woman's Adventures In Buenos Aires by Jennifer Poe