Women shed shirts in protest

About two dozen women drew a crowd of onlookers when they shed their shirts and marched downtown in Maine's largest city to promote what they call equal-opportunity public toplessness.

Organiser Ty MacDowell said the point of Saturday's march in Portland was that a topless woman out in public shouldn't attract any more attention than a man who walks around without a shirt.

The Portland Press Herald reports that by the end of the march, more than 500 people had amassed – a mix of marchers, young men snapping photos, oglers and people just out enjoying a sunny, warm day. It's not illegal for a woman to be topless in public in Maine.