The Free the Nipple movement is trying to remove the stigma on women's breasts by making it culturally acceptable and legal for women to go topless in public. But it turns out, Free the Nipple might be fighting on the wrong front and should be focusing on freeing the nipple in a place you'd never expect. Your own home.
A woman in Utah is facing criminal charges for not wearing a shirt in her house, with prosecutors arguing that women's chests are culturally considered lewd.
Tilli Buchanan was hanging drywall with her husband in their garage, and both of them took their shirts off to get the itchy substances of their skin. Her stepchildren (ages 9, 10, and 13) came downstairs at that moment and got embarrassed by the sight. But Buchanan decided to turn it into a teachable moment, telling the children that a woman's chest wasn't inherently sexual. "This isn't a sexual thing," she recalled telling the children, per the Salt Lake Tribune. "I should be able to wear exactly what my husband wears. You shouldn't be embarrassed about this."
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Buchanan hadn't thought much of the incident until she was contacted by the authorities after the children's mother reported Buchanan because she was "alarmed." "[T]he moment I took to teach the kids, it was kind of smashed. Like you can't teach kids this. In fact, you're going to be charged for even bringing this up," Buchanan told the Salt Lake Tribune.
The thing that makes matters worse is that Buchanan's husband also had his shirt off, and hasn't been charged with a crime. Because Buchanan's husband doesn't have breasts.
Utah's lewdness law forbids exposure of "the female breast below the top of the areola," however Buchanan's attorneys argue that the law unfairly discriminates against and places a burden on women. Buchanan filed a motion asking a judge to find Utah's lewdness law unconstitutional. "Simply because Miss Buchanan is a woman, she is facing this charge," Leah Farrell, an attorney at the ACLU of Utah said, per NPR. "Therefore, women throughout Utah are at higher risk of facing a criminal charge simply because of their gender. There are different ideas around what morality is or is not. But the state's reach to criminalize morality based on gender and gender stereotyping is incredibly problematic."
Utah's lewdness law was upheld by the judge, who agreed with the prosecutor's argument that the lewdness law is based in what American society considers nudity, and that includes women's breasts.
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It's unclear whether or not Buchanan will appeal the judge's decision. If she doesn't, the case will move toward a trial with Buchanan facing three counts of lewdness involving a child. Buchanan could spend 10 years on the sex offender registry, which would prevent her from seeing her own stepchildren.
"Whatever is going to happen is going to happen," Buchanan told the Salt Lake Tribune in September. "And it's either going to go really well or it's going to go really poorly. But, ultimately, I don't think of myself as a criminal and so I'm going to continue as if I wasn't a criminal."
Ketel Marte was brought to tears during an MLB game after facing a shameful fan taunt.
Baseball manager's poignant support for a player brought to tears after shameful fan taunt
Whether they’re expecting perfection from their favorite players or, worse, behaving callously toward opposing teams, sports fans often forget that athletes are human beings. But athletic competition has the ability to unify and uplift, even amid such painful and unpleasant encounters. Take, for example, a major-league baseball game held June 24, 2025 between the home team Chicago White Sox and visiting Arizona Diamondbacks.
A shameful low point occurred when Diamondbacks second baseman Ketel Marte was at bat in the seventh inning. Per ESPN, a fan reportedly yelled out a comment regarding Marte’s late mother, Elpidia Valdez, who died in a 2017 car accident in the Dominican Republic. Team personnel, including manager Torey Lovullo, then requested the 22-year-old fan be ejected. (Though he was remorseful and admitted his actions were inappropriate, according to an ESPN source, he was nonetheless banned indefinitely from all MLB ballparks.) "We commend the White Sox for taking immediate action in removing the fan," the MLB said in a statement. Marte reportedly declined to comment.
- YouTubewww.youtube.com
While the fan’s behavior is inexcusable, it did spark a powerful and inspiring moment. After hearing the comment, Marte was visibly upset, prompting Lovullo to walk on the field, put his arm around him, and offer some words of encouragement. "[I said,] 'I love you, and I’m with you, and we’re all together, and you’re not alone,'" Lovullo said in a post-game interview, as documented by The Rich Eisen Show. "'No matter what happens, no matter what was said or what you’re heard, that guy is an idiot.’"
According to Arizona Republic, Lovullo heard the fan’s comment but didn’t want to repeat it. “I looked right at [Marte] when I heard,” he said. “I looked right at him, and he looked at the person, as well. He put his head down and I could tell it had an immediate impact on him, for sure."
Elsewhere in the post-game interview, the manager called the moment "terrible" and reflected on why he stood up for Marte. "Fans are nasty, and fans go too far sometimes," he said. "I love my players, and I’m gonna protect them…I’ve known Ketel for nine years. He’s had some unbelievably great moments and some hardships as well and some really tough moments in his life. I know those. At the end of the day, we’re human beings, and we have emotions. I saw him hurting, and I wanted to protect him."
- YouTubewww.youtube.com
The following day, the Chicago White Sox X account sent out a message in support of Marte, writing, "We’re with you" and "Baseball is family." On The Rich Eisen Show, the show's host addressed the need to eradicate this kind of toxic athlete-fan interaction: "I was hearing [people saying], 'There’s no place for this in major league baseball.' There isn’t. There’s no place for this in our society. I understand that people are saying the MLB has got to do something about this. Fans have a right to heckle players—this is something that has happened forever…But there is a line."
In another recent, depressing sports moment with a beautiful coda, let’s look to Game 7 of the NBA Finals between the Indiana Pacers and the eventual champions, the Oklahoma City Thunder. During the first quarter, Pacers point guard Tyrese Haliburton tore his right Achilles tendon—a devastating injury that could potentially sideline him for most of the 2025-2026 season. Following the game, in a lovely display of sportsmanship, Thunder point-guard and league MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander went to the Pacers locker room to check on his competitor. In a press conference, he said, "You just hate to see it, in sports in general. But in this moment, my heart dropped for him. I can't imagine playing the biggest game of my life and something like that happening. It’s so unfortunate."
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