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NSFW: East Village Topless Activist Considered Carrying Mace, But Most People Are "Fairly Respectful"
By
Jen Chung
Published Jul 29, 2012
Modified Jul 29, 2012
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By
Jen Chung
Published Jul 29, 2012
Modified Jul 29, 2012
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Moira Johnston, the East Village woman whose topless crusade has people turning their heads all over, from subway passengers to Michael Lohan, is now the subject of a feature on The Daily Beast. And it turns out an incident at a yoga class sparked her movement.
According to the article, "It all started in January at a yoga studio in Manhattan, when Johnston was banished after she took her top off in class. Some of the other yogis complained to the owners about her bare breasts, but Johnston thought it unfair that men be allowed to go topless in Downward Dog while women are forced to keep their mammaries in their Lululemon tanks... She’s... filed legal complaints against 13 yoga studios, including the one that told her to cover up, which has since made it mandatory for women and men to wear shirts."
Johnston, who has been arrested for going topless in Union Square (even though it's 100% legal), said, "These yoga studios should know it’s a civil rights violation," because private businesses cannot make up rules based on sex or race: "[I]t’s basically as serious as saying black people aren’t allowed to take off their shirts but white people are."
The 29-year-old added that most people are fine with her appearance, though there was a guy who claimed he had just gotten out of prison and wanted to hurt her, "I considered carrying mace [after that encounter], but that’s absolutely not a common occurrence. [But] Most people are fairly respectful, at least in terms of my physical space."
Here's a video of Johnston earlier this month, taken by Joey Boots:
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Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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