Nude Sled Race

In some locations, most particularly within western societies, a woman breastfeeding in public can generate controversy. For example, in June 2007, Brooke Ryan was dining in a booth at the rear of an Applebee's restaurant when she found it necessary to breastfeed her 7-month-old son. While she said she attempted to be discreet, another patron complained to the manager about indecent exposure. Both a waitress and the manager asked her to cover up. She handed him a copy of the Kentucky law that permitted public breastfeeding, but he would not relent. She ended up feeding her son in her car and later organized "nurse-out" protests in front of the restaurant and other public locations. Most U.S. states (40 as of January 2009) have laws clarifying a woman's right to breastfeed in public.
• Toplessness and "topfreedom"
In many western societies and in appropriate settings, such as while suntanning, the exposure of women's breasts is not, of itself, normally regarded as indecent exposure. In the United States, however, exposure of female nipples is a criminal offense in many states and not usually allowed in public, while in the United Kingdom, nudity may not be used to "harass, alarm or distress" according to the Public Order Act of 1986.
Prosecutions of cases has given raise to a movement advocating "topfreedom", promoting equal rights for women to have no clothing above the waist, on the same basis that would apply to men in the same circumstances. The term "topfree" rather than "topless" is advocated to avoid the latter term's perceived sexual connotations.