. . . if only in the right to bare their breasts in public:
A court has ruled that women’s nipples do not enjoy freedom of expression under the US Constitution.
The case was brought by a 16 year old girl, who was one of three women accused of exposing their breasts to passing traffic on an Indianapolis street last year.
She would have faced a misdemeanour charge of public nudity if she had been 18 or over.
She took issue with the fact that exposure of male nips would not have been covered by the law, as Indiana law specifically prohibits exposure of female nipples.
She decided to take the issue, and presumably the breasts in question, to the State Appeals Court. Her argument was that the equal protection afforded by the 14th Amendment meant her breasts should be treated the same as male breasts. The amendment holds that States may not “deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” It has been a feature of civil rights cases since the 19th century — not always in the ways you’d expect.
Of course, having established that right several years ago, very few Canadian women actually exercised that right . . .
