The topless woman who was filmed hitting a man who groped her at a music festival isn’t letting the experience squash her free spirit.
Madeline Anello-Kitzmiller attended the Rhythm and Vines festival in Gisbourne, New Zealand on Sunday, where she covered her breasts with a sprinkling of glitter rather than a shirt. While she and a friend were walking through the festival grounds, a man groped her from behind and scurried away. The pair quickly followed the man until he sat down, then Anello-Kitzmiller punched him while her friend threw a drink on him.
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Despite the disheartening situation, though, the 20-year-old said she isn’t going to cover up.
In a video posted to Facebook Wednesday, Anello-Kitzmiller hit back at critics who claimed her attire meant she was “asking” to be assaulted.
“My lack of clothing is not the problem, the problem is people thinking they have the right to touch my body without consent,” she said.
“My breasts are not sex toys,” she added. “They are not an invitation.”
Anello-Kitzmiller’s groping incident was filmed by another festival-goer and reached viral status on Facebook before it was removed.
The Rhythm and Vines event manager Dan Turner told New Zealand Herald they were “incredibly disappointed” by the harassment that took place throughout Anello-Kitzmiller’s time at the festival. She said that both men and women hounded her for her glitter-adorned breasts on New Year’s Eve, and she received lewd comments the previous day when she donned a sheer top.
“We want our customers to enjoy themselves in a safe environment and be able to express themselves in a way that is in keeping with other international European festivals,” Turner said.
Anello-Kitzmiller said that while many people called her a “slut” and asked her to cover up, she didn’t give in to their pressures or harassment and continued to party until 6 a.m. on New Year’s Day with friends.
“I had the best time of my life regardless,” she said.
The body positive activist hopes her unwillingness to conform to other’s ideals cultivates a more accepting culture, regardless of an individual’s choices.
“In the end, we are all born naked, and each human is uniquely similar to the next in that we all have a naked body. You don’t look at yourself in the shower and say ‘ew, disgusting’ right?” Anello-Kitzmiller said. “So why should anybody say that to anybody else? A humans body is their own, and nobody has a right to touch you without your consent, regardless of what they’re wearing or the lack thereof.”
And in the future, she assured followers that she’d continue wearing — or not wearing — whatever she wants.
“The glitter t— will be coming back,” she said.
Photo credit: YouTube/ JustViral
