Tracee Ellis Ross is a 51-year-old woman with boobs. Don’t think that sounds like a remarkable statement? Neither did we, but after the backlash the Girlfriends actress received for posting a topless photo of herself on Instagram, you’d be forgiven for thinking otherwise.

We say topless, but she was actually covering her upper half with one arm while showing off a pair of lilac and cream trousers during a Paris Fashion Week fitting.

The post has since been deleted, but the comment section would lead you to believe there wasn’t much of importance going on in the world.

One user wrote, ‘Aren’t y’all older women supposed to be setting the example? Put your shirt back on! The hell is this.’ Another echoed, ‘She fine as hell, but at her age, this ain’t it’ and a third cynic wrote, ‘When the attention gets low, the clothes come off.’

By simply existing in her body and showing off her designer outfit, which she probably had a team of people source and style for her, during fashion week, she was accused of ‘thirst trapping at the age of 51’. The same X user even said, ‘If she wasn’t a celebrity, she’d be labelled a failure and a loser’, while heavily implying that this celebrity should be labelled a failure and a loser.

There are many gripes to unpack with these tedious reactions, but where shall we start? Perhaps with the fact that she can post whatever she wants on her own social media page – especially when she isn’t even breaching the nudity guidelines.

A quick scroll on the Black-ish actress’ Instagram and it’s clear that she is comfortable with her own body. A body which happens to look great, regardless of her fame or her age. She shares bikini pictures on holiday, videos at the gym, scenes from shows she’s starred in, photos from glamorous shoots and comedy skits. Like most people’s social media pages, it offers a tiny glimpse into some of the most joyful parts of her life. People who don’t like what they see needn’t worry; it’s not compulsory to follow her.

It is hardly uncommon to share bikini or underwear pictures on social media, in fact, it happens every second of the day. Men share topless pictures – without a modest arm covering their upper half – just as often. What ever happened to Free the Nipple?

The campaign, which started in 2012, highlighted the general convention of allowing men to appear topless in public while considering it sexual or indecent for women to do the same. And it only became legal for women to be topless in England and Wales two years ago. In the US, it’s only legal for women to go topless in six states: Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Kansas and Oklahoma. In other states, it’s still complicated. For example, women are allowed to be topless in public in San Francisco but only with advanced permission from the city for specific events or circumstances.

Basically, boobs are a problem. Even more so if you’re over 50. Then they are an affront. Just ask Gwyneth Paltrow who recently made tabloid headlines for sunbathing topless on a family holiday in Italy, at the age of 50. The actress shared a photo of herself and her husband Brad Falchuk on sun loungers in their private villa where Gwyneth’s arm is covering her chest to hold the camera. It’s the perfect example of the pervasive double standards that got us here in the first place – they are both topless and tanned and enjoying their family holiday. But it’s news because Gwyneth is a woman, and because she’s over 50.

The Daily Mail called it a ‘saucy snap’ and said Gwyneth ‘retained her modesty’ by ‘carefully placing her arm across her chest’. Of course, the comments section was filled with your usual suspects. ‘Looking a bit ragged around the edges these days is Gwen,’ wrote one user. ‘What on earth has she done to herself?’ commented another. ‘Can’t hide from age forever,’ wrote a third.

Heidi Klum, 51, faced a similar fate when she dared to sunbathe without a top on while on holiday with her husband Tom Kaulitz. She shared a topless video of herself, shot from behind, running out of the sea on social media with the caption ‘FREE’ and has smartly disabled the comment section. Probably to avoid being accused of ‘leaving little to the imagination’ or ‘forgetting her age’.

It’s taken us long enough to get to a point where boobs are – on occasion – not automatically sexualised. We’re still a long way from treating male and female toplessness in the same way, let alone women of different ages, skin colours and body types.

Are we now saying all that time and effort and campaigning, and breaking down of pointless, pervasive sexism, is only for the benefit of women under the age of 50? Fortunately, Tracee and Gwyneth don’t think so, and neither do we.