Barechested
Going
bare chested refers to a man wearing no
clothes above the
waist, exposing the entire torso. It is also known as "stripped to the waist", or "being shirtless". The term
topless is usually only applied to women, since it is much more common for men to be bare chested than women, and the male chest is usually considered less erogenic than the female breasts. Local decency laws outside
Muslim countries rarely consider male
barechestedness to be problematic, whereas female
toplessness in public is often proscribed.
 |
Many sports, such as rock climbing, can be or are done barechested |
Throughout history, many men, especially labourers such as
farmers and
miners, have worked bare chested. This was, and is, particularly normal in warmer climates, with the exception of very hot climates where protection from sunlight becomes more important than ventilation. But various times and places have been more strict and uneasy about the practice. During the
Victorian period, polite society in Western cultures deplored nudity of any degree, even bare-chestedness, and people took great pains to cover themselves up. In societies so affected, attitudes began to relax in the
20th century. Going bare chested in public was again acceptable. At first, the rules relaxed only for men on
beaches and swimming pools â€" in
New York City, a man could be fined for removing his shirt in
Central Park as late as
1960 â€" but permissiveness gradually grew and crossed gender lines. Most recently, it has become quite common for women on beaches in
Europe, the
Caribbean, and
Australia to go bare breasted, though it is by no means universal. It is still unusual on most beaches in
North America.
Throughout much of Asia, bare-chestedness in either men or women is generally disapproved of, and may be highly offensive, even at the beach. In many of these regions, for example
South Korea, most adults still swim almost fully clothed. Some countries, such as
Thailand, though they disapprove of toplessness among women, condone it in order to keep attracting European tourists. In
Muslim countries, women are religiously encouraged (or required, as in the case of
Iran) to cover nearly all of the body. In
Europe and
North America, people remain who take offense at bare-chested men, and many shops will refuse to serve bare chested people, having policies of "
no shirt, no shoes, no service".
In informal sporting matches, such as a game of football in the park or playing cricket on the beach, players will often be ill equipped regarding separate shirts or bibs for the two teams. In these situations, a common option, at least for male teams, is to play
Shirts versus Skins: one team goes bare chest and are hence said to be 'Skins', whereas for reaons of identification the other team keep their tops on and are called 'Shirts'.
In some sports, the male standard-attire is bare-chested, especially in most aquatic disciplines such as
swimming,
diving,
surfing or
water polo, and in the beach version of other sports, such as
beach volleyball.
This is also true of various combat sports, such as most
boxing disciplines and
oil wrestling.
Famous bare chesters include:
Musicians
Many male artists perform bare chested. This may add to the visual attractiveness of the musicians and their performance, and is also practical because of the intense heat from the studio/arena lights.
Tattoos and
body art such as nipple piercings are often displayed by bare chested rock musicians.
* Every band member in the rock group
Red Hot Chili Peppers is somewhat known for playing bare chested in music videos/concerts.
*
Brandon Boyd, lead singer in rock group
Incubus*
Kenny Chesney usually appears without a shirt in his music videos.
*
Phil Collen, lead guitarist of the British band
Def Leppard*
Phil Collins prefers to drum topless
*
David Gilmour,
Pink Floyd guitarist, performs topless in their concert film
Live at Pompeii*
Ian Grushka, bassist in punk group
New Found Glory*
Keziah Jones, Nigerian guitarist and singer, he states "You have to be free, you have to be loose. I want nothing to restrict my body when I'm playin' music."
*
Maynard James Keenan, lead singer of rock band
Tool, performs topless covered in blue body paint
*
Fela Kuti, Nigerian musician and outspoken rebel figure
*
Marilyn Manson, performed shirtless in most live performances until 2003, where he wore shirts more often.
*
Freddie Mercury, lead singer of
Queen*
Jim Morrison, singer of
The Doors. While he did not perform bare chested often, his shirtless appearance in publicity photos accompanying the Doors'
1967 debut album cover was extremely influential in male fashion
*
Ted Nugent, was shirtless while performing in concert and on his album covers.
*
Shavo Odadjian, bassist of rock group
System of a Down*
Nick Oliveri, ex-bassist in rock group
Queens of the Stone Age*
Robert Plant, lead singer in legendary rock band
Led Zeppelin*
Iggy Pop, punk rock singer
*
Gavin Rossdale, lead singer of
Bush removes his shirt halfway through most live sets
*
Bon Scott, late singer of
AC/DC*
Lars Ulrich, drummer from
Metallica, is frequently seen shirtless while performing.
*
Morrissey, during
The Smiths years, he was known to remove his shirt during a set.
*
Grace Slick performed
topfree as lead singer of the Jefferson Airplane at outdoor concerts in the late 1960s.
Other Performers
Other performers, such as
actors and models, and sportsmen, such as
wrestlers, also often appear bare chested.
*
Alec Baldwin in most of his films can be seen barechested for one reason or another.
*
Clark Gable, actor
*
Salman Khan, Indian
Bollywood actor
* Flávio and Gustavo Mendonça, stars of Brazilian
soap operas
Some characters in TV shows or films are well known for their shirtlessness.
*
Tarzan is usually featured shirtless.
* Bonehead (
Keith Allen) and Foyle (
Peter Richardson) from
The Bullshitters: Roll Out The Gunbarrel worked shirtless all the time.
* Randy (Patrick Roach) in
Trailer Park Boys is always shirtless.
*
Obelix in the
Asterix series is always shirtless, although his trousers come up to half way up his chest, so he is not entirely bare chested.
*
John Rambo (
Sylvester Stallone), often fought shirtless.
*
Johnny Bravo loves to show his muscled chest at
Cartoon Network.
*
Angel (played by
David Boreanaz) appeared without a shirt throughout the third season of
Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
*
Samurai Jack has the top of (and indeed usually the whole) of his clothes ripped off in almost every episode.
* Male
Smurfs never wore shirts.
*
Ned Flanders, while usually wearing a green
sweater, is often show shirtless in various situtations, exposing an uncharacteristically muscular body.
*
Groundskeeper Willie likewise has a very muscular physique, and is often without a shirt, in numerous occasions his shirt having been torn off.
*
Namor the Sub-Mariner is always shirtless in his comic strips.
* The character Deadwood in
Little Dracula never usually wore a shirt.
* None of the male
Gargoyles usually wore shirts.
*
Sociology of clothingFor a group which discusses the shirt-free lifestyle among men, and encourages men to lose their inhibitions on appearing shirtless in public, see http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/shirtless_lifestyle
