A woman who runs a 'love' school is campaigning for topless beaches in Nantucket

• A woman is campaigning for beaches in Nantucket to become accepting of topless visitors.
• Dorothy Stover, a resident, proposed the bylaw amendment that locals will vote on in May.

A seventh-generation Nantucket woman is campaigning for all beaches in the town to accept toplessness from any person, according to Eric Williams of the Cape Cod Times.

Dorothy Stover, 40, told the publication she wants everyone, regardless of gender, to be able to be topless on the beach.

"This past summer, I was at the beach and I wanted to lay out topless," she recalled. "And I thought, 'why can't I do that?'" she said.

Stover, who did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment, proposed a bylaw amendment, "Gender Equality on Beaches" in November 2021, according to Boston.com. This aims to "promote equality for all persons, any person shall be allowed to be topless on any public or private beach within the Town of Nantucket."

"We have the exact same makeup — men have mammary glands and nipples — and so I started reaching more into it and men can go topless but we can't," Stover told Nantucket Current reporter Jason Graziadei. "It blew my mind that we're still in this space. But it's turned into an equity issue, and I know I'm not the only one who thinks this."

The Cape Cod Times reported that locals will vote on the bylaw amendment during Nantucket's town meeting in May 2022. If it is approved, it will change the current state law, which stipulates only men can be topless on the beach.

Stover, who is a sex educator and runs the Nantucket Love School — a love and sexual pleasure community — spoke to the publication about her decision to move forward with her campaign.

She said the law that only allows male toplessness was "really antiquated" and described it as a form of "inequality." She added: "Some men have bigger breasts than I do."

According to Cape Cod Times, not all locals are as passionate about the cause as Stover. Shantaw Bloise-Murphy, business manager at the Nantucket Chamber of Commerce, told the publication: "I personally haven't heard grumbling about it."

The approval of Stover's proposed bylaw amendment would result in a change to the current state law punishment for "open and gross lewdness and lascivious behavior," which includes the intentional public exposure of female breasts, according to a government document. The penalty for such breaches can result in three years imprisonment and a fine of up to $300 fine.

Nantucket Chamber of Commerce did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.