With the long August bank holiday ushering in cooler weather and a return to warmer wardrobes, summer is officially drawing to a close. Which means - thank God - no more men baring their hairy chests in really inappropriate places.

Along with ice buckets, boobs have become a hot topic of conversation this summer, as female celebrities flash their assets and don graphic T-shirts in support of the #FreeTheNipple campaign.

Last month, model Cara Delevingne posed topless for a picture alongside a male friend to point out the inequality at play on social networking sites. Photo-sharing site Instagram, for instance, forbids pictures of women breastfeeding their babies if nipples are exposed, but considers shots of half-naked men to be fine.

“ There's nothing indecent about feeding a hungry baby"

In May, Scout Willis, daughter of Bruce and Demi Moore, walked through New York topless in protest over the Instagram policy.

In the latest of a spate of celebs posing while breastfeeding, Olivia Wilde appeared in a shoot for Glamour magazine’s September issue seated at a restaurant booth while holding her naked son Otis to her breast. Afterwards she tweeted: “Thanks @glamourmag for knowing there's nothing indecent about feeding a hungry baby.”

It looks like their efforts are finally turning the tide too.

Firstly, in June, Facebook changed its policy to allow breastfeeding photos. And now, new research for myvouchercodes.co.uk reveals the British public are embracing breastfeeding mothers, with 80% of people saying they’re comfortable with women baring their boobs in a restaurant or bar to feed a hungry baby, and 67% saying they were comfortable with a woman breastfeeding anywhere in public, including on trains and buses.

Under the Equality Act 2010, it’s illegal to discriminate against a woman because she is breastfeeding.

“ I was actually proud to do breastfeed my son in public"

Yet women like me are still stared at in public when we’re trying to feed our babies, and there’s definitely some tutting that goes on. My son would not feed if I draped a blanket over him, so I had little choice but to bare all – but more than that, I was actually proud to do so.

The pride I don’t understand, however, is that of the men merrily wandering around town centres with their own chests on display. The beach is one thing, but I’d rather not come face-to-nipple with a sweaty man-boob in the booze section of Marks & Spencer, thank you very much.

So I believe we women need to start a new campaign – #CageTheMoob – to redress the balance a little.

If it’s for a purpose – like not getting your clothes wet in the sea or giving sustenance to a developing child – flashing flesh in the chest area for both sexes is fine. If not, ladies and gentlemen, please put them away…

Kate Whiting is the Deputy Features Editor at the Press Association. She’s spearheading the #cagethemoob campaign.

This article is the opinion of Kate Whiting and not necessarily that of BT.