Miley Cyrus Goes Topless In The Desert Because, Why Not

What a view.

Miley Cyrus found an interesting way to stay cool in the desert on July 21, as the 21-year-old stripped down to nothing but a pair of jean shorts. Considering she looks like she's in the middle of nowhere, this bold move easily could've gone unnoticed. But it wouldn't be Miley if she didn't share the topless photo with the world:

See photo, and a great slideshow of 76 celebrities who go topless

Ladies, Ditch the Bra

I realize it may feel some combination of uncomfortable, unprofessional, or unnecessarily provocative. Societal convention has most of us trussing up before going out.

If you are reading this at home, do me a favor and unhook. Then keep reading.
There's Some Evidence of a Relationship Between Bras and Breast Cancer.

Yes, seriously.

Dressed To Kill: The Link Between Breast Cancer and Bras

Sydney Ross Singer and Soma Grismaijer authored a book called Dressed To Kill. They interviewed 4,000+ women in five major U.S. cities over two years. Half the women had been diagnosed with breast cancer. They found:

75% of women who slept in their bras developed breast cancer
1 in 7 who wore their bras 12+ hours per day developed breast cancer
1 in 168 who did not wear a bra developed breast cancer
Within one month of ditching their bras, women with cysts, breast pain, or tenderness found their symptoms disappeared.

Breast Size, Handedness, and Breast Cancer Risk

A 1991 article in the European Journal of Cancer found that premenopausal women who do not wear bras had half the risk of breast cancer compared with bra users. The data also suggest that bra cup size (and breast size) may be a risk factor for breast cancer.

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What does it mean if you wear nothing between the sheets?

There was thought-provoking news for lovers this month. It was reported that people who sleep naked have happier relationships. In a survey of 1,000 Britons, 57% of naked sleepers reported feeling “happy” in love, the most in any group. The cotton-promoting body that commissioned the study explained its findings with all the creepy gravitas of Peter Stringfellow giving a physics lecture: “Bedding can feel extremely soft against the skin, encouraging openness and intimacy between couples and ultimately increasing happiness.”

If this is true, not only does it mean that nocturnal nudists are happier in love, it also means that’s because they’re the kind of insatiate bonobos who become aroused at the mere caress of a flat sheet from Debenhams. I can’t help having my doubts. Perhaps there is some other key to contentment. You know, one that isn’t mad and from a made-up-sounding survey.

I don’t want to sound too down on nudity. Full disclosure: sometimes I think boobs look like scary eyes. But generally, technically, theoretically, I’m in favour. Some of history’s most inspiring people were also nudists. William Blake, Walt Whitman, even Benjamin Franklin, who apparently used to call letting it all hang out an “air bath”.

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Nudists on cruises - The right to bare arms, legs and other body parts

AMERICANS are, on the whole, much more squeamish about public nudity than Europeans. Even a toddler frolicking naked on a sunny beach attracts disapproving frowns. No federal law bars public nudity, but plenty of state and local rules do. Last summer, for example, New York began enforcing a state law banning public nudity, nixing the state’s last remaining nudist haunt on Fire Island. Only a handful of beaches in America officially allow folks to bob away in the buff.

Yet as National Nude Recreation Week begins on July 7th, American naturists are grinning and baring it. Tourism by the tan-line-averse generates more than $440m a year, according to the American Association for Nude Recreation (AANR). Early nudists may have been happy gathering at campsites, but today they like to be pampered. Of the more than 250 nudist and clothing-optional resorts and clubs sprinkled around the country, the small mom-and-pop operations are folding, while the survivors are going upmarket, says Susan Weaver of AANR. The Cypress Cove Nudist Resort & Spa in Florida, for example, began in the 1960s as “basically a lakefront with a windscreen,” says Ted Hadley, its owner. Now it is a 300-acre resort, with hot tubs, restaurants, and a spa.

More at the Economist