Update news--topless dance workouts, movie nights, topless fashion design livestream!~

Trigger warning for further down: health anxiety and sickness

Hey all, since I haven't been around as much as I'd like lately to keep everyone informed about what's been going on in Topless Topics-land, I thought I'd write a post with an update/summary for those of you who'd like to know more. If any of this is unclear or you want to know more, feel free to comment and I'll answer if/when I can!

First up: as those of you who follow my social media rants know, the interminable distraction of summer "vacation" where my productivity is impacted by being home with my lovable but noisy kids 24/7 was SUPPOSED to end with the return of the school year in the last week of August, but unfortunately thanks to a greedy district unwilling to negotiate with the teacher's union in good faith, school was delayed for almost 3 weeks while the teachers were on strike. They FINALLY worked out something with the district so school actually started just this past Friday (9/12) so at last I'll have at least a few hours per weekday to script, edit, livestream, etc without constant interruption (except for holidays and sick days, like today where my kids immediately got sick from their one day in school and are now home with fevers and stomach aches even as I write this...lol)

Speaking of stomach aches, that's another thing that's been plaguing me since late July: literally days after I partook in Portland's World Naked Bike Ride (which I have a script I've been writing about, I just haven't quite gotten around to filming and editing it yet), I suddenly started having nausea that comes and goes every few days, and despite numerous tests and doctor visits, we haven't figured out the cause yet. It's not too intense, and seems to be getting a little better over time even without the doctors yet prescribing any treatment, so I'm hopeful it'll go away eventually so I can at least get rid of that distraction. However I am prone to a lot of health anxiety anyway (and given that BOTH my parents died of cancer, that anxiety is not unfounded) so I'm looking forward to figuring out a cause to set my own fears to rest. To clarify, there's no big reason to worry yet, but I do want to be transparent about my life both within and outside of Topless Topics, so that if I am quiet for a long while, you all know what's up. :) ) If there is any further news about the stomach aches, either good or bad, I'll let you all know (and I'll put a trigger warning for those of you who would rather not know)

Otherwise, things are mostly on a positive trajectory, as far as Topless Topics goes. Since I started advertising the "topless dance workouts and karaoke videos" as a $9 patreon perk, donations have doubled, getting close to my "$1000 a month or bust" goal which would be the amount I need to hit before I can validate the amount of time that my videos take to create, rather than quit Topless Topics entirely and find a "real job" instead. Up to November when my dad died, he lived with us and put his social security towards the household budget, which is what allowed me to spend what time wasn't spend on caring for him and the kids and the household on making videos. Now that he's gone, that means no more time required to spend on taking care of him (he was completely bedbound with dementia near the end, requiring 24-hour care that only I was able to provide), but it also means a significant loss of income that was hitherto keeping us financially afloat. My husband does not make enough at his "capitalism approved" job to pay for every household expense, and even with a $1000 a month in addition to what he makes, money will be tight. However, despite what the haters claim, I actually really do care about topless equality (as well as "using the clickbait of my tits to trick others into learning about progressive social issues they weren't already aware of") and would love to keep making these videos, even if I'll never be "brand-safe" enough to become financially solvent based on the usual "free-to-the-viewer" options that brand-safe creators have available to them, like in-video ads and sponsorships.

Finally on that note, I've been working through an emotional shift in why I do these videos, even after 10+ years of constant belittlement from haters and punches in the face from algorithmic censorship--I'm trying to care less about "influencer metrics" of success, ie video views and subscriber counts, and focus on the quality of the videos themselves, making them closer to the kinds of well-planned, well-executed video essay/commentary videos I am a big fan of, rather than just "turn the camera and rant about something that's bothering me" that most of my past videos have been. These kinds of videos take a LOT more time and effort to put together, so I hope you'll be patient with me as I work towards the loftier goals. But I hope that the emphasis on videos I can actually feel proud of will give me the motivation to keep trying, even if I'll never reach brand-friendly success.

I could probably go on another page or two, but I think this is enough about the life updates part. I want to emphasize how grateful I am to those of you who signed up for the $9 or higher tier--and to those of you who donate at the $2 tier or who don't donate at all but who help others find out my content exists through the Promo Squad (more information at www.toplesstopics.org/promosquad ) I don't want you to feel like you don't matter, also! I know that a lot of people are struggling financially, and even $2 a month can be a burden, especially if there are other creators you're also donating towards. I mean it when I say that I'd much rather have twenty comments from someone than $2 (as long as those comments aren't demeaning), as if my only motivation for making videos was for making money, I'd have picked something a lot more capitalism-friendly from the get-go. :)

Very briefly, regarding the added perks to the $9+ tiers, here is how I'm planning to go forward:

• topless dance workout videos will be put up every other Friday, immediately visible for $9+ Patreon donors and free Promo squad members (again, more info on how to access the same perks for FREE here: www.toplesstopics.org/promosquad ), and the "patriarchy-approved" version on Youtube (with a certified-male-chest edited in to cover my own heinous female nipples), at least until Youtube starts banning them (even though there are no female nipples in sight, getting banned on mainstream platforms is very arbitrary and I'm especially targeted by censorship algorithms and haters trying to get me deplatformed...visit www.toplesstopics.org/banned for hundreds of screenshots of proof)

• topless karaoke videos will also be released every other Friday, on the weeks that a topless dance workout video is not coming out, also for $9+ donors and/or Promo Squad members. While I've received MANY specific song requests, usually they're for songs I'm not familiar with, or in a singing range I struggle to match, so they're more work than songs I actually already know and like singing. :) As such, I've decided that karaoke songs will be selected from a predetermined list by me, and MAYBE influenced by votes from other people, if enough donors request the same song. :) Most platforms don't make it easy to hold polls, so I'm just going to do my best to monitor songs requested in comments and figure out from there what songs I should do next. I do have a backlog of previously promised songs that I'm trying to get through before I take new requests, and I'll let you know what songs they are as they come out.

• Movie Nights are still TBD--for a while now, I've had the idea of showing a movie in our #streaming Discord that will include my commentary along with the movie, and live comments from other viewers, and after the movie finishes then we'll all discuss and maybe I'll edit together a sort of recap and review of the movie night if I have time and there's enough interesting discussion to make it worth sharing. :) There is a backlog of movies I've heard of or had recommended to me, listed in the #movie-night room on our Discord (join at www.toplesstopics.org/chat ), and if you have a movie you want to recommend, feel free to list it in the comments as well as a sentence or two on why you think it's worth watching (the intent is to have a thoughtful discussion afterward, not just watch the movie for fun). The reason I'm doing the movie nights on Discord is mainly because any of the mainstream websites will ban me for "copyright infringement" if I do, and same thing with uploading the VOD of the movie night after they happen, so I'm afraid if you aren't able to make it to movie night, you won't be able to watch the whole stream in recorded format. However, I am hoping to make recap-and-reviews of the streams, time for editing new projects dependent, so if you're interested in that part, I'll do my best to get those out. :)

• Topless Fashion Design Stream--one of the most steadfast supporters of Topless Topics, known by his moniker "Sir Lord B," is as it happens the mod of a rather popular subreddit called "Alt Boob World" which you can visit at https://www.reddit.com/r/AltBoobWorld/ (note that, naturally as it contains heinous female nipples in any context, the subreddit is marked as "18+"). As their bio states: "AltBoobWorld - A curious world where boobs-out is the norm. It's Fashion, not Flashing. AltBoobWorld is an alternate reality where topless equality meets fashion. It's a great style to wear clothing that exposes one or both boobs. Not topless, Not flashing - it's fashion! The boobs-out style is very popular here - if you've got nipple piercings, why would you cover them up? Titties are tops! Boobs out of dress, tits out of dress are the style here. It's normal to show the boobs. Nipslips aren't a thing here - it's intentional!" During a recent stream where Sir Lord B was present, I had the sudden idea of intersecting my fight for topless equality with this prosaic imagined world where women are allowed to have breasts exposed as part of mainstream fashion exactly like any man can in the real world by devoting one of my Tuesday livestreams on Joystick to illustrating some prospective designs for this pretend world--designs that go beyond the extremely finite list of "ancient Minoan" and "18th century underbust corsets popular with prostitutes." I have no background in fashion design, but I do like drawing, and so I figured it might be fun to try my hand at designing some breast-exposing outfits while chatting with everyone during a stream. I'm still waiting to see if/when my kids go back to school once and for all, and hopefully some abatement of my stomach issues, before I set a solid date, but it will most likely be Tuesday next week (9/23) or the Tuesday after. If you want to take part in this stream, make sure to follow me on social media (all as-yet-unbanned links at www.toplesstopics.org/contact ) and Sir Lord B will also be advertising it on the r/altboobworld subreddit as well, so maybe we'll have some fresh faces in the stream! (hopefully they'll be able to contain their, er, "enthusiastic appreciation of topless fashion" enough to keep their comments respectful).

Okay that was a lot...frankly if you've read this much, I'm truly impressed and grateful beyond words XD I'm going to shut up now and go back to compiling karaoke suggestions, editing music and notes together for dance videos, planning out and scripting more ambitious "video essays," and all the many myriad behind-the-scenes tasks that go into being a standalone capitalism-unapproved content creator--thanks as always for any and all support, financial or community-building-wise!

-Cleo