
PORTLAND – About two dozen women marched topless from Longfellow Square to Tommy’s Park this afternoon in an effort to erase what they see as a double standard on male and female nudity.

PORTLAND – About two dozen women marched topless from Longfellow Square to Tommy’s Park this afternoon in an effort to erase what they see as a double standard on male and female nudity.

“Don’t play with fire!” that’s what we have been told since we were kids. Maybe this is why we could be easily shocked by the performance of the play of fire. We can’t help wondering: does it burn the performers’ mouths or lips? Does it hurt? The combination of the beauty of the scene and the wonders in our head makes the performance.

Because of her vivacious career as an iconic pin-up model and performance artist, many from the current generation are shocked to find out that the fun and flirty Bettie Page spent decades wallowing in obscurity and reclusiveness. A victim of depression and schizophrenia, she retreated into herself following her meteoric ascent as a famous model, actress, and burlesque dancer that ended abruptly in 1957. Some attribute it to her conversion to Christianity, others to the obscenity trials that branded the erotic photography and videos as offensive material (though most of it would of course be considered PG-13 by today’s standards), still others to her failing mental health.

The Park of the Monsters (Parco dei Mostri in Italian), also named Garden of Bomarzo, is a monumental complex located in Bomarzo, Lazio, Italy. The gardens were created during the Italian Renaissance, in the 16th century.