Riding Topless

Today in my Media Law and Ethics class, we somehow began to discuss what is lawful behavior while one is riding a subway in New York City. It is, by law, acceptable for one to ride topless. Because of equal opportunity statutes, etc. this law technically should apply to people of both the male and female persuasion. On the other hand, I have a vague feeling that when this law was created, it was not intended for the latter gender.
However, I must note that due to the tightly packed nature of New York subways, I would not particularly like to ride next to either gender if they were topless. I can't help but imagine standing at the hairy sweaty armpit of a middle-aged, smelly man (or woman) without the at least vague shield provided by a thin layer of fabric between us. And while the freedom of being topless on a subway would be quite nice, ladies, I can't help but think that the vile nature of male humans would somewhat tarnish that freedom.
But if you're ever in New York, ladies, give it a try once or twice, and see what happens...Keeping some mase on hand might do you good too. Of course utilizing your mace in a closed subway car in an underground tunnel doesn't provide much in the way of fresh air flow. It would much more likely result in the macing of the entire population of the subway car and a teary, angry bunch of passengers. It would also make for a serious opportunity for some Type 3 fun: It's not fun now, but it's fun later - in other words, it would make for a good story.
Maybe there are some rights better left untested.