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"  In the dead of summer, when you&amp;#039;re doing a sweltering morning jog on the track clad in sports bra and tank top, no one can blame you for sending a Voldemort-scale death glare at the shirtless dude who&amp;#039;s lapping you. Of course he&amp;#039;s lapping you. You wish you could just rip your shirt off and breathe without getting arrested. Little known fact: You can. In fact, you&amp;#039;ve been able to for over two decades, when New York&amp;#039;s highest court ruled that public toplessness was fair game for women as well as men back in 1992. O hai, equality. The New York Times reports that back in February, all 34,000 officers of the NYPD\u2014who&amp;#039;d forgotten it was legal themselves\u2014were given a refresher course that women going topless in the city wasn&amp;#039;t a criminal offense. Officers &amp;quot;shall not enforce any section of law, including penal law sections 245.00 (public lewdness) and 245.01 (exposure of a person) against female individuals who are simply exposing their breasts in public.&amp;quot; The memo was read at no less than 10 consecutive roll calls, which means... topless for 2013! Woo! Even if the woman&amp;#039;s bare breasts draws an unruly crowd, the officers are instructed to break it up without punishing the topless woman in question. Groups like the Outdoor Co-Ed Topless Appreciation Society, based in Central Park, have been taking advantage of this for a few warm seasons now, stripping their top halves bare and reading in the grass. So who do we have to thank for this reminder that we&amp;#039;ve got equal rights to go topless in public? The Bronx-based performance artist Holly Van Voast, who just filed a federal lawsuit against the city for 10 episodes from 2011 to 2012 in which the topless Van Voast was arrested, detained, and at one point even send to a psychiatric facility for an evaluation. In the spirit of Van Voast, take advantage of the law this summer! I triple dare you. Follow Anna on Twitter. Image via Getty "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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