Toplessness of women in our society would be a moral tragedy. Regardless of
why, the fact is that young men (and old) have learned, by whatever means, to view the breast in a sexual way. Public breastfeeding can help retrain the general public to view the breast for its true primary purpose (nourishment and comfort of babies), but the sex industry has found a way to sexualize women in every way imaginable and that’s not going to be "with public toplessness until society at large has ALREADY learned to view the breast appropriately.
I think it boils down to what message we are trying to get across with such acts. Coincidentally, I JUST wrote an article that gets into this a bit:
What Message are You Sending?
Here’s the more relevant portion of that article to this topic, but I recommend the whole post.
“Understandably, some of us may be in financial situations that preclude us from wearing the kinds of attire we’d like, but I believe that the average person, at least in America, is able to dress modestly enough such that their appearance doesn’t shout “
I want you to objectify me!”. We see it everywhere and hear it from the mouths of adults and children alike: “
I want to look cute [for whomever]”, or “
Does this make me look sexy?”, or “
that’s a really sexy outfit/expression/photo/etc…” as though being overly “sexy” in public were a good thing.”
-Of course, in this case, it’s not so much an effort to look good, but to express a freedom or right. But I think the
intended message in this case would be just as lost because of the fact that the message received will be sexual…until society as a whole has changed.
“…the intended message typically does not match the actual one. Instead of saying, “
look at me, I’m cute as a button, but please focus on my countenance and treat me as a person”, the person says , “
I want others to view me as a sex object…an image-tool for their personal use”. …“
I am easy”, or “
I want you to lust after my body, regardless of whether you respect me as a person”, or “
I don’t mind being treated like an object by you” or “*I don’t value myself enough to expect you to value me”. *These could be unintentional messages, or intentional ones that the person doesn’t realize are wrong to send out.”
-Again, regardless of the intent, those are the messages that would be sent out, I believe.