Having been raised on the island of Kauai, Hawaii, in an area unspoiled by tourists, I grew up taking it for granted that I could go topless with the same freedom as a man.

When I went to college on the mainland that I found that I could not take this for granted anymore. Fortunately I found in Sam a boyfriend, (now husband) who feels as I do on this subject and most others too.

The episode about which I am writing concerns a trip that we took to Cancun, Mexico. Besides Sam and myself, our party consisted of Sam's sister, Megan, whom I was meeting for the first time, Katie, my housemate, and Katie's boyfriend, Armand. Katie enjoyed being topless as much as I did, and at home we always went topless in warm weather. Sam had told me that Megan was not used to the idea of women going topless. He suggested that I might want to give her a little time to get accustomed to the idea, but when I broached the subject with her she seemed more open than either of us expected. She said that she had often thought that women deserved the same freedom to be topless as men, but she didn't have the nerve to try it. She said that if she had a good friend or two to try it with, she would be much more comfortable than if she tried it alone. She decided that Cancun would a good place for her to give it a try.

Our vacation turned out to be an unqualified success. In the first place, the weather was sunny and warm, without any rain to spoil our stay. In the second place, it happened at Playa Norte, on Isla Mujeres, a very topless-friendly place, which we discovered one afternoon.

That morning Megan and I were among the early beach goers hitting Playa Norte. Sam, Katie and Armand would join us later. Megan and I had decided that this would be a good place for her initiation into topfreedom, so we had nothing on beneath our tank tops but thong bottoms.

We got off of the ferry and headed to the beach, where we spread our blanket, took off our tops and lay in the sun for a while. Then, as it was very hot, we got up and went for a swim. At least 30% of women were topless. While we were swimming Katie, Armand and Sam arrived. Katie shed her top and joined us in the water. Soon Megan began to relax.

We all decided to explore the rest of the beach and soon we came to the Playa Norte hotel with its famous beach bar. By then we were all very hungry because we had not had breakfast, so we decided to stop there for lunch. Two couples were also eating lunch. Nobody seemed to care that Megan, Katie and I were eating there and not wearing any tops.

We spent the day there, swimming, sunbathing, and even playing volleyball, while hitting the bar every time we needed refreshment. We were not alone; about half a dozen topless girls patronized the bar at any time.

Later, we watched the sunset, and had dinner. At dinner we were invited by a couple of the other diners join an evening beach party. The party consisted of about ten women who went topless all the time and their boyfriends. The weather is so warm at that time of year that you can go topless even at night; it so reminded me of my childhood home on Kauai! When we had to go back to Cancun; Megan, Katie and I didn't put our tops on until the ferry got to mainland.

The next day we checked out of our hotel on the mainland and lodged at this hotel in Isla for the next six days. Megan, Katie and I left our room each morning wearing only thong bottoms. Megan later said that she does not know how she can ever stand wearing a top at the beach again.

--Sloan