[jacksonhole]

Another time a bunch of us were hanging out in one of our friends tiny backyards playing hackey sack and drinking beers. It was right after school started and we were experiencing a heat wave in the Midwest. There were around 7 or 8 of us, both guys and girls and we were all dressed in thin t-shirts, shorts and flip flops because of the heat. At some point, one of the guys said he needed to get something from the apartment, but instead he snuck around to the side of the house and got the hose.

Suddenly he rushed into the yard and started spraying everyone with ice cold water. On one hand it felt very refreshing because of the heat, but let’s face it being soaking wet in clothes is not fun. He focused extra attention on the girls and started saying that it was time for a wet t-shirt contest. The girls shirts had become somewhat transparent from the water, but they were all wearing bras so all we could see was what color bra each of them was wearing.

The girls danced and played along for a few minutes, but nobody was willing to take off their bra and really do it right. When he realized that they weren’t going to play along, the guy shut off the hose and put it back at the side of the house.

After a bit, everyone was complaining about their wet clothes and how uncomfortable they were and the guys all took their shirts off and hung them on the fence to dry. The girls huddled for a moment and then they all took their shirts off at the same time, but kept their bras on saying it was the same as a bikini top anyway. None of them were wearing lacy or sexy bras, so they really were showing even less than when we went to the beach together even though it felt sexier knowing it was their underwear.

We kept drinking beer, shooting the shit and kicking the sack and then Karen exclaimed that her wet bra was driving her crazy and was chafing her skin a lot. She looked at the other girls and they all agreed it was pretty uncomfortable, but “what are you going to do...”

Karen shrugged, popped the clasp on her front-locking bra and took it off. She said that feels so much better as she walked to the fence and hung it with the rest of their t-shirts. She walked back to the circle and resumed playing hackey sack, making no effort to cover her exposed tits. At first her nipples were rock hard and stood out on her chest, but then as she warmed up in the sun, they went back to normal.

The guys made some comments about her tan lines and how nice her tits looked and immediately started encouraging the other girls to follow Karen’s lead and said they would be so much more comfortable if they took off those wet bras. They also never took their eyes off Karen’s chest. I also noticed that all the girls were preoccupied with stealing glances at Karen’s exposed boobs and were probably comparing their tits to hers since that’s pretty common thing for women to do.

Karen ended up staying topless for at least an hour. Everyone was cool, there was no boob grabbing or overt sexual advances made, although there was near constant encouragement for the other girls to also get topless. Eventually two of the girls agreed to flash the boys just to get them to stop pestering them to take off their bras. They stood side by side and lifted their bras for around 5 seconds and the boys cheered. Then they turned around and briefly mooned the guys, showing some very pronounced tan lines on their bare cheeks. (It would be decades before thong bathing suits became a thing)

Eventually Karen decided that her shirt was dry enough so she put it back on. Her bra was still wet so she left it hanging on the fence and was braless for the rest of the afternoon. The guys all took turns trying to convince Karen to stay topless, but the more they pushed the less Karen wanted to do it. Later Karen explained to me that she takes off her clothes when she wants to, not because someone else wants her to. It was really simple for her.

As we hung out more, Karen shared stories about her growing up, and how she was naked around her brothers all the time, and she didn’t care then either. But it was always her decision. Pushing her to do something just made it less likely she would do it.

It would not surprise me at all if Karen is part of the Free the Nipple movement these days. And whenever I see pictures from those rallies, I check closely to see if I recognize Karen in any of the pics. Nothing yet, but if I find her posted online somewhere I will definitely post the pic.