Tilli Buchanan was arrested for taking her top off in front of her husband's children who were aged 13, 10 and nine in their home

A Utah woman has spoken out after being arrested for taking her top off in front of her stepchildren in her own home.

Tilli Buchanan, 27, was in her home with her husband Jared and his three children when she removed her top.

She says she and Jared had both been installing insulation in their garage in West Valley City and that they stripped down to their underwear to rinse itchy materials off their bodies when his kids - two boys aged 13 and nine and a 10-year-old girl - appeared, 'embarrassed'.

Buchanan claimed that she told them not to be embarrassed and that there was no difference between her being topless and their father.

Police however say she was drunk and had stripped off to prove a point to the children.

They also claim, after being informed about the incident by the children's mother, that Buchanan said she would only put her shirt back on if her husband exposed his penis.

Buchanan with her husband and his children at a Star Wars themed event. She was arrested after the children's mother told Child Protective Services about the incident

The family was already being looked at by Child Protective Services for another, unknown matter, when the topless incident came up.

Now, Buchanan and her attorney are fighting three counts of lewdness involving a child and say that is constitutionally unfair, arguing sexism on the grounds that her husband would not have faced the same charges because he is a man.

Buchanan and her husband. She said they had been installing insulation in their garage when they stripped down to their underwear to get out of itchy clothes and that is when the kids appeared

Buchanan claims the incident occurred in the fall of 2016.

Police say it happened later, between November 2017 and January 2018.

How exactly the police found out about the incident is murky.

The children were the focus of another investigation, according to The Salt Lake Tribune, and as part of that investigation, their mother told authorities about it after hearing it from them.

She said she was 'alarmed' by what they had told them.

Buchanan however insists she did nothing wrong and that she should not be punished.

She says she was trying to teach them a lesson on sexism.

'I was devastated. Because the moment I took to teach the kids, it was kind of smashed. Like you can’t teach kids this.

In fact, you’re going to be charged for even bringing this up,' she said.

Buchanan with her husband and his children in costume. She said she was trying to teach them a valuable lesson and had done nothing wrong

She said she had never been activist on the subject but thought it was 'cool'.

'It’s not like at the forefront of my brain. I’m not going to go sign up for the "Free the Nipple" cause. I just thought, "This is cool, this is really awesome and natural." It’s not a thing to me. It’s never been a thing,' she said.

Now, she said, she is paranoid about her behavior around the children and never wants to dress inappropriately.

Her argument is that if it is not considered inappropriate for a man to be topless, it should not be inappropriate for a woman to be.

'Because Tilli Buchanan is a woman — and only because she is a woman — the state now seeks to condemn her as a child sex offender for engaging in the exact same non-sexual conduct as her lawfully faultless husband.

'Tilli Buchanan is being singled out for prosecution solely on the basis of sex,' her attorney Randy Richards said in a filing.

He is basing much of his argument on a recent court decision in Fort Collins, Colorado, which prohibits the city from enforcing a nudity ban on women.

Prosecutors in Buchanan's case have pushed back, saying that by making no distinction between male and female's chests, it would not be illegal for someone to grope women or young girls' breasts.

The case is due to return to court in November.