I was going to open this post by complaining about the derogation of real human rights or the continuing absurdity of Canada’s “human rights” complaints, but that line is starting to get a little repetitive (see some of the recent stories below). Basically, this lady thinks she has a government enforceable human right to walk wherever she pleases without wearing the appropriate clothing.

A few things to note in the story starring a Ms. Rebecca Anne Clark:

First, Ms. Clark was obviously able to walk around on a beach topless. She was simply stopped when she got to the main area where the young families were located. However, the periphery beach was not good enough for this exhibitionist.

Second, Ms. Clark also obviously believes the government can and should expend limited resources (time, money, human capital – that is, your and my tax dollars) in enforcing her right to flash her more intimate body parts around to everyone (including children) on the more populated area of municipal beaches. Parents of little ones can go fly a kite. Also, it should be noted that the lifeguard was NOT insisting that Ms. Clark walk around in an old-style getup like that in the picture to the left. But I digress…

Third, there is no apparent limit to Ms. Clark’s position: if there is a right to be topless in a family friendly beach area, then is there a right to be topless in restaurants, movie theatres, at a mosque, or in court? Maybe those stores that say “no shirt, no service” are discriminatory too!

I don’t really want to go too deeply into the whole equality of the sexes discussion, but my final point is this: I do find it curious that Ms. Clark thinks that in order for a woman to be equal to a man, she must become more like a man (i.e. walk around without a top on). This strikes me as being a very unfeminine, almost anti-woman, position. It seems she is denying that there might be some things that make women unique from men. If every difference between the sexes is viewed by women like Ms. Clark as a detrimental hindrance instead of a uniqueness that is worth celebrating and cherishing, I’m afraid this homogeneous approach to equality is and will be more destructive than I feared.