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The next day, a city councilman will present a bill to make similar displays illegal. However, events specifically on Park Central Squre, like the “Free the Nipple” rallies, will not be affected.
On the heels of this month’s first “Free the Nipple” rally, in which dozens of people shed their shirts to protest unequal laws and the sexualizing of women’s bodies, many others were offended.
City Councilman Justin Burnett expressed his concern at the Aug. 10 council meeting, and on Monday plans to put forward a bill to change the city’s current indecent exposure ordinance.
He posted online that he met with the city’s law department and eventually crafted an ordinance the same as one in Cape Girardeau.
It defines indecent exposure as exposing the “female breast below a point immediately above the top of the areola, for the purpose of sexual arousal or gratification or which is likely to cause affront or alarm.”
The part of the bill that explains the situations in which exposure would be indecent — particularly the part about it being “likely to cause affront or alarm” — is vague.
“There is no easy way to prove (it),” City Attorney Dan Wichmer said. “It is gray.”
While stricter law could take effect in most of the city, the town square is designated as a public gathering space, and thus carries special protections for free speech. Tape would still be required over the areola, but the stricter rules about the bottom half of the breast wouldn’t apply.
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Jennifer Wilken, who has organized the modesty group, said several members of the group have reached out to her because they want to speak at the meeting.
“Even before we talked about speaking at council, I had people coming to me asking, ‘What can I do? What do I need to do?’” she said. “They want to get involved.”
She said she’ll be disappointed if the ordinance gets tabled, but that her group has “other routes” it can go.
“We’re hoping that it doesn’t get tabled, and we’re hoping that they’ll vote on it and pass it,” she said. “But if it does get tabled and they just refuse to talk about it, we can start a petition to get it on the ballot — let the people of Springfield decide.”
She said she and others are mostly concerned about safety when it comes to events like Free the Nipple.
She’s been researching crime rates in cities and comparing it to indecent exposure laws.
“We’re concerned about the safety of rally members too,” she said. “We want to protect them just as much as everyone else. (At the first rally) there were some young girls participating who may not realize the dangers in doing something like that.”
(How is siccing the police on a bunch of half naked women protecting them?)
http://www.news-leader.com/story/new...-law/31909747/
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