Go ahead. Take your top off

[Shiranui117]

In the 1999 movie American Beauty, Jane, the daughter of the protagonist develops a happy friendship with a shy boy-next-door, Ricky. One evening Jane, played by Thora Birch, is up in her bedroom where she notices Ricky watching her from his his bedroom. In dead-pan and without so much as a nod of recognition she approaches her window where she slowly takes off her top revealing her bare breasts to Ricky.

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Not a particularly notable scene, but when the scene was filmed Birch was only sixteen years old.

"[Thora Birch was] actually only 16 years old at the time she was filmed nude for a scene in American Beauty (1999). She told TV talk show host Craig Kilborn when she appeared on his show in 2002 that her parents didn't have a problem with her doing a nude scene, despite her being under age, and they encouraged her to go ahead and do it. They agreed that her character's nude scene was so important to the development of her character that they gave their approval."
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My question then is, would you as a parent approve of your 16 year old daughter doing the same?

If she agrees to it and is comfortable with it, sure. As long as it's not porn, I don't much care. In other countries, women going topless on stage during a live theater performance in front of a crowd of hundreds is something that nobody even bats an eye at--90-year old grandmothers, parents with 5-year-old children, or anyone else. I don't see why I should raise any more of a fuss.

 

[metis]

If I remember correctly, in Canada the courts declared laws banning topless with women were negated because they are discriminatory.

Once I was taking the train from Windsor, Ontario, to Toronto, and I saw a woman mowing the lawn on her riding lawnmower while topless, and she was in a subdivision. And in Quebec, it's to be expected and is no big deal.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

If I remember correctly, in Canada the courts declared laws banning topless with women were negated because they are discriminatory.

Once I was taking the train from Windsor, Ontario, to Toronto, and I saw a woman mowing the lawn on her riding lawnmower while topless, and she was in a subdivision. And in Quebec, it's to be expected and is no big deal.

I like pointing out that had no one made a big fuss over it, I would never have known about Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" during the Super Bowl. I didn't even actually see it (and still haven't), but I knew before the night was over the society was going repeatedly and violently implode and explode on itself and we'd be living in a Mad Max type of world just because her nipple was exposed.

 

[metis]

I like pointing out that had no one made a big fuss over it, I would never have known about Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" during the Super Bowl. I didn't even actually see it (and still haven't), but I knew before the night was over the society was going repeatedly and violently implode and explode on itself and we'd be living in a Mad Max type of world just because her nipple was exposed.

Yep, and the fine leveled against the network by the FCC was revoked because of 1st Amendment rights.

 

[Milton Platt]

In the 1999 movie American Beauty, Jane, the daughter of the protagonist develops a happy friendship with a shy boy-next-door, Ricky. One evening Jane, played by Thora Birch, is up in her bedroom where she notices Ricky watching her from his his bedroom. In dead-pan and without so much as a nod of recognition she approaches her window where she slowly takes off her top revealing her bare breasts to Ricky.

​

Not a particularly notable scene, but when the scene was filmed Birch was only sixteen years old.

"[Thora Birch was] actually only 16 years old at the time she was filmed nude for a scene in American Beauty (1999). She told TV talk show host Craig Kilborn when she appeared on his show in 2002 that her parents didn't have a problem with her doing a nude scene, despite her being under age, and they encouraged her to go ahead and do it. They agreed that her character's nude scene was so important to the development of her character that they gave their approval."
source
​

My question then is, would you as a parent approve of your 16 year old daughter doing the same?

My answer would be definitely maybe. Would have to know the circumstances in much more detail.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

My answer would be definitely maybe. Would have to know the circumstances in much more detail.

The details of the scene have been adequately discussed over the course of this thread.