In the Year 2040

In the year 2022, the exact day that the T.I.T.T.I.E.S bill had been passed. The single photo published a week later had started society on the slow path to where it is now. The T.I.T.T.I.E.S. program had spread like wildfire, within one year, similar schemes were running throughout Canada, Australia, all of Scandinavia, Switzerland, and even America. And the popularity grew exponentially from there. The cultural shift had sent a generation of sociologists, psychologist and researchers into a frenzy. Countless experiments, surveys, censuses all pointed to one conclusion; breasts just made people happy. Male, female, or somewhere in between, people of all sexual orientations were happier when there was nice topless woman about.

Once this became clear, topless duty was only the beginning. In 2029 a law was proposed and passed in record time, that it be legal for all women to be topless in public spaces and government buildings. In 2030 a court case came to national news, an eighteen year old girl attending a religious school had been suspended for insisting on coming to school topless. The school was funded by the government, so it was technically government property, the trial was a humiliating defeat for the school board and they had to cancel the suspension and pay thousands in compensation.

After the trial made national headlines, there was a sudden change in the national attitude towards breasts. Nudity was still taboo, but every now and then a topless woman could be seen in a park or, on even rarer occasions, shopping in the high-street. The weather in the UK was still cold, so there was no incentive for more people to try, but it was still legal, if not widely practiced. Coincidentally, bra sales fell by forty percent that year too, women just didn't seem to wear them that much anymore.

By 2035, a films and TV shows could feature multiple topless women and long scenes with lingering shots of only their chest and it would barely give them a PG-13 rating. The heavy amount of boobs in Hollywood was just brushed off as one of those typical Hollywood things, like characters going to investigate the strange noise alone in a horror flick, or young couples falling in love after meeting each other once.

In the Spring of 2040, a public statement given by the head of the T.I.T.T.I.E.S department sent a wave of excitement through the members of the public.

"This Summer, will mark the eighteenth anniversary of the introduction of topless duty to British law."

The head of the department was Alexa Smith, she was giving the press conference topless, not that there was anything unusual about that for her, she hadn't ever given a press conference with her top on. There was a rumour that she hadn't worn a top at all since earning her position as head of T.I.T.T.I.E.S two years ago. Many doubted such statements, but it wasn't entirely ridiculous.

"And of course, the seventeenth anniversary of my own service of topless duty in this historic publication. The good that this program has done for the country and the wellbeing of its citizens, both men and women alike, has been immeasurable to say the least."

She read carefully from her flashcards. Her every word seemed calculated but genuine, every speech she had ever given seemed to capture the audience in some way. It was not necessarily that she could make anyone agree with her, but she could make herself such a presence that almost anyone would at least be compelled to listen. It was this quality, among many others, that must have allowed her to rise so high in the program despite her young age.

"In recognition of this, we have plans for a special issue to be released on the eighteenth anniversary of the first issue of a topless duty photograph. This will of course be produced separately to the regular issue which will be published in accordance with our regular weekly schedule. The special issue will still qualify as topless duty service for all women involved."

The next few minutes was a frenzy of questions and pleas for more information by the reporters and journalists in the room; however, every question was met with a polite but firm,

"I am not at liberty to discuss further details at this time."

Jill turned off the TV as the broadcaster went back to the same story for the third time. She was as excited about the special issue as anyone else, but every news channel had been talking almost exclusively about it for three days, surely there were other important things in the world. The women wouldn't even be summoned for topless duty for weeks, so getting this excited already seemed to be jumping the gun a bit too much for her.