Listen to article \u2022\u00a00:00 min<\/p>\n
Philly bared it all this weekend. <\/p>\n
By sheer happenstance, a twosome of naked demonstrations took place Saturday across the city \u2014 a \u201cfree the nipple\u201d-esque protest midday at Philadelphia City Hall followed by the annual Naked Bike Ride in the late afternoon. <\/p>\n
Beyond the shock and awe of scantily clad or not-at-all clad people, both events were acts of resistance, defiance, and free expression, and went deeper than, well, skin deep, attendees said. <\/p>\n
As hundreds lined up along Martin Luther King Drive for the 17th edition of the Naked Bike Ride<\/a>, their bodies \u2014 with varying degrees exposure \u2014 were like flesh-toned picket signs. People painted themselves with phrases denouncing President Donald Trump<\/a> and his administration\u2019s targeting of immigrants, calling for a freed Palestine, and demanding enhanced bicycle safety measures<\/a>. Mattie L., who was visiting from Savannah, Ga., wrote \u201cVoting is Hot,\u201d across his back. <\/p>\n \u201cBesides the bodies, the messages themselves add another reason for people to lock in what [we\u2019re] saying and to really take it to heart,\u201d said 35-year-old Mattie, who declined to give his last name, citing concern for his privacy. <\/p>\n To riders, the bare-as-you-dare ride, which snakes 12 miles through the city<\/a>, is an annual pro-environment, pro-bicycle safety and advocacy, and pro-self-love intended counterpunch to fuel dependency, car-first American infrastructure, and body shaming.<\/p>\n \u00bb READ MORE: Do bared breasts break Philly laws? How going topless can be a powerful, and legal, form of protest.<\/a><\/p>\n Biking in a car-centric city is itself an act of rebellion, said Emma K., a 28-year-old Temple University<\/a> alum who now lives in New York City. Emma also declined to give her last name because of privacy concerns. <\/p>\n \u201cI cycle as a protest all the time,\u201d she said. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot for Philly to do to be safer to riders<\/a>.\u201d <\/p>\n Dane Jorento, 65, of Drexel Hill<\/a>, was drawn to the Naked Bike Ride because, \u201cnaked,\u201d \u201cbiking,\u201d and \u201cprotest.\u201d Being unabashedly naked, Jorento said, is an act of radical vulnerability and self-acceptance. <\/p>\n For Morningstar Hirst, who was part of the ride\u2019s \u201cstreet team,\u201d the Naked Bike Ride is about showing off their new body post-top surgery, while \u201cprotesting and leaning into body positivity.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cI am all about freedom within one\u2019s body and then mobility with that body \u2014 I think that this ride sums that up really quickly and really easily,\u201d Hirst, 34, of West Philadelphia<\/a>, said. <\/p>\n \u201cEvery body is a wonderful body,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n It was a pure coincidence that the Naked Bike Ride aligned with the inaugural \u201cGo Topless Day\u201d in Philly<\/a> earlier that day. <\/p>\n Go Topless Day had a clear agenda: Roughly a dozen bare-chested picketers gathered in LOVE Park at noon, before marching around City Hall with a police escort, chanting, \u201cfree your breasts, free your mind,\u201d to stir action around what protesters described as the legal hypocrisy that allows men to be shirtless in public but not women.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cIf men can go legally topless in a street, women should have the same right,\u201d organizer Kasyo Perrier said. \u201cOtherwise, we should force men to wear tops.\u201d <\/p>\n Go Topless Day is a cause of the Ra\u00eblian Movement<\/a>, a religious group that believes extraterrestrials created humanity. Core tenants of the Ra\u00eblian Movement are freedom and equality, explained Perrier, who is a Ra\u00eblian priest: \u201cWe\u2019re created beautiful and and there\u2019s no reason to be ashamed of our body.\u201d (Go Topless Day, in its 19th year, is usually held around Aug. 26, Women\u2019s Equality Day<\/a>, marking women\u2019s suffrage, according to Perrier.)<\/p>\n