Toplessness is the state in which a female has her breasts uncovered, with her areolae and nipples visible, usually in a public space. The adjective topless may refer to a woman who appears in public, poses, or performs with her breasts exposed (a "topless model"); to an activity or performance that involves exposing the breasts ("topless sunbathing"; "topless dancing"); to an artistic, photographic, or filmic representation of a woman with her breasts uncovered (a "topless photograph"); to a place where female toplessness is tolerated or expected (a "topless beach"; a "topless bar"); or to a garment designed to reveal the breasts (a "topless swimsuit").

In many societies today, concealment of the lower portion of the breasts, including the nipples and areolae, is a cultural norm of female modesty from adolescence onward. However, considerable variance has existed in attitudes toward toplessness, both across cultures and through history. Traditional cultures of North America, Africa, Australia and the Pacific Islands considered female toplessness normal and acceptable, at least until the arrival of Christian missionaries, and it continues to be the norm in many indigenous cultures today. Toplessness was also the norm in various Asian cultures before Muslim expansion in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. In most Middle Eastern countries, toplessness has not been socially accepted since at least the early beginning of Islam (7th century), because of Islamic standards for female modesty. However, toplessness was the norm in earlier cultures within Arabia, Egypt, Assyria and Mesopotamia.

History

Breast-baring female fashions have been traced to fifteenth-century courtesan Agnès Sorel, mistress to Charles VII of France, whose gowns in the French court sometimes exposed one or both of her breasts. (Jean Fouquet's portrayal of the Virgin Mary with her left breast uncovered is believed to have taken Sorel as a model.) Similar fashions became popular in England during the seventeenth century when they were worn by Queen Mary II and by Henrietta Maria, wife of Charles I of England, for whom architect Inigo Jones designed a masque costume that fully revealed both of her breasts.

From the Victorian period onward, however, social attitudes shifted to mandate the concealment of women's breasts. Although a degree of liberalization took place in the later twentieth century, contemporary Western societies still generally take a somewhat unfavorable view of toplessness, with the very term "topless" often carrying the connotation of sexual licentiousness or deliberate defiance of cultural taboo.