Court Affirms Nipple Piercing Conviction

[TXlib]

SANTA FE, N.M. - The state Court of Appeals has affirmed the conviction of an Albuquerque shop owner who offered free nipple piercing if customers underwent the procedure in the store's window.



In 2002, Renee Sachs was convicted of violating Albuquerque's ordinance banning nudity in a public place. She received a 90-day deferred sentence.


In a 3-0 ruling Tuesday, the Appeals Court also upheld the constitutionality of the city's public nudity ban.


Sachs' attorney, Jeffrey Dempsey of Albuquerque, said his client would continue with her legal challenge by asking the court to rehear the case or petition the state Supreme Court to review the ruling.


Sachs ran an advertisement two years ago promoting the free nipple piercing. The first customer to undergo the procedure in the shop's window was a man and the second was a woman.


When police arrived at the tattoo and body piercing shop, a woman was sitting in the window exposing her breasts as she had her nipples pierced. Several people on the sidewalk were watching.


Sachs was convicted of violating the city's ordinance that bans nudity in public and prohibits store owners from allowing people to be nude in a public place of business.


The Appeals Court ruled that the ordinance did not violate the Equal Rights Amendment of the New Mexico Constitution or the state's Human Rights Act, which prohibits gender-based discrimination.

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[GOPisEvil]

1. GENDER BIAS!!!

[TXlib]

2. Absolutely! If men can bare their chests in public

then dammit, women should be able to, as well!

[GOPisEvil]

3. Exactly!

To the streets! :D

[TXlib]

4. I think we should organise a civil-disobedience style protest

and enlist the help of the local Hooters waitresses.

:evilgrin:

[GOPisEvil]

5. Hopefully ones not secretly filmed while applying for a job.

:-)

[TXlib]

6. Why not? If they want to join the protest, they are welcome to it!

[GOPisEvil]

7. True.

The more, the, uh, merrier.

[SheilaT]

8. The problem is,

women's breast are a secondary sexual characteristic, and men's aren't. In our culture, exposing a woman's nipple is provocative, while exposing a man's is not.

The argument that if men can go bare-chested then women also ought to be able to, is silly.

That said, I think women need to be able to breast-feed in public without anyone freaking out, and without her being asked to leave or worse yet (it's happened) being arrested.

[GOPisEvil]

9. Maybe we should change the culture a little.

I'll admit that I'm having a bit of fun with this. But on a serious note, it's only our nation's puritanical background that made nipples provocative. If they were allowed to be exposed, we'd get used seeing them, and not attach the same "naughtiness" to them.

[TXlib]

10. In the islamic world, pretty much every part of a woman

is considered a secondary sexual characteristic. Guys there seriously get off on seeing a bit of exposed ankle.

It is purely a cultural convention.