FORT COLLINS, Colo. | A Colorado woman seeking to prevent citations for being topless in public is publicizing her cause by standing on a Fort Collins intersection wearing only a bikini and a placard covering her breasts.
The Fort Collins Coloradoan (https://goo.gl/Ut8CEP ) reports that 24-year-old Brittiany Hoagland has made occasional street demonstrations ahead of a planned protest in the city Aug. 23 to coincide with an international “go topless” day.
Hoagland tells the newspaper that it’s a matter of equality and that if it’s fine for men to be topless in public, the same standard should apply to women. The placard she wears to cover her breasts when she stands on a city intersection reads, “Illegal to Remove.”
Fort Collins police Deputy Chief Jerry Schiager says his department writes a few citations each year for public indecency, a misdemeanor.
Information from: Fort Collins Coloradoan, https://www.coloradoan.com
There is nothing illegal about either females or males going topless. However, nudity in commercial and licensed establishments can be strictly prohibited. It is only when a female or male goes topless “with the intent to arouse or to satisfy the sexual desire of any person” that going topless by men or women is illegal under C.R.S. 18-7-301. Municipal ordinances like Fort Collins’ usually have similar requirements to make going topless illegal. Going Topless Day” works because none of the topless people are presumably doing so with the intent to arouse anyone. While I have only been aroused by the female, not the male naked breast, it is not my reaction, but the intent of the topless person to arouse me that makes going topless illegal.
We all know that beauty is in the eye of the beholder! I believe that if it were a common sight, there would not be arousal by a woman’s breasts. Nude beaches in Europe are common and there does not seem to be a problem. I just want to know if there would be a rating system.
I personally have no problem with topless at beaches, in individuals private bedrooms, or even in their apartments or homes. But not on public transportation or streets.
I do not want to walk into grocery stores, public buildings or down streets following anyone, male or female with others near nakedness, unless they are small children. Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, but there is a reason clothing today is so non-gender, bulky, due to the wide bodies that are not near as tall as they were in their youth, or as firm and athletic. Just as obvious signs of sexual affection is not appropriate in public. As the old saying was ” get married, and all that will stop? Can’t even use that defense any more with so many different versions of what some folks consider marriages? I have no idea what will be claimed next, in name of civil rights, and doubt anyone else does. Judges seem to have imaginative minds and find words in documents I cannot find, or want to.