Are women's nipples indecent?

[Superlambaanana]

A young woman exposed her breast during a 12th of July parade in Belfast.

It seems she was doing it to be provocative. She wasn't part of the parade, was dressed in a fairly striking manner and it was filmed. But, ya know, "Young person does something to attract attention" has hardly ever been worthy of anything other than a yawn now or ever in the annals of history.

But...

The Police Service of Northern Ireland has launched an investigation and is searching for the young woman.

m.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/psni-searching-for-twelfth-flasher-as-investigation-launched/a2089568267.html

This strikes me as creepy at best and deeply concerning at worst.

The law prohibits the bearing of genitals (apparently female breasts are genitals) with the intention of alarming or distressing others. But really, do we need to go searching for a young woman because she bared a breast and nipple for a few seconds in a sort of provocative way?

How many men swagger around topless around pubs and football matches - are any of them ever pursued by police because their nipples were on show? Or are men's nipples incapable of causing alarm or distress while women's still hold that kind of power?

It's like living in some dystopian nightmare. Breasts are simply part of a woman's anatomy. The alarm or distress is only caused as a result of the viewer's personal issues and likely weird associations with women's bodies.

Surely police forces are thinking even more carefully about which cases to pursue against women these days? Why on earth do the PSNI feel it is necessary to spend time and money on this when women are being murdered and harassed by men on a regular basis?

@cupcaske123 I don't know which law the police believe she has broken. The Public Order Act for NI does list 'insulting behaviour' at a public procession as an offence. So could be that.

My point is that the police must believe she has broken the law because they are looking for her. And that means her breast has been deemed indecent, offensive, sexually provocative and/or insulting. They aren't looking for her to congratulate her on her choice of tights!

No it doesn't mean that at all. You've gone on some kind of crusade here saying it's a feminist issue and she's been victimised for baring her breast.

That's not what's happened at all. These were 12th July marches which are often a tinderbox. She looks like she's off her head and acting like a prat, trying to get a rise out of people.

She was moved on several times, she wasn't arrested for exposing herself. Each time she went back and carried on walking alongside the bands mocking them with a drum and comical bowler hat.

This isn't a feminist issue.

So she's going to get a record as a sex offender for doing something a man would have faced no punishment for? That's why this is a feminist issue. Absolutely appalling.

It's a criminal offence to walk with the band and act stupid?

But surely you don't want them to be treated as sex offenders and arrested.

Well men get turned on by women's nipples and the reverse isn't true. If we had been socialised to believe the reverse then that would be the case but it isn't. There's no point trying to pretend that womens nipples aren't sexualised, why else are they constantly in advertisements, television and movies.

How men feel about it is irrelevant. You don't make something a criminal act just because it gives men a stiffie. Getting a stiffie isn't going to harm them.

@XChrome that's basically why women are treated differently, because that's what men thought of boobs and they made the rules.

It's dumb though, she did it to be provocative as the OP says then wah wah when you get attention. You can't have it both ways, well you can try but don't be surprised when you're not successful

I think the wah wah is about being charged with crime. She liked the attention. Being wanted by police, not so much.

But you've said The law prohibits the bearing of genitals (apparently female breasts are genitals) with the intention of alarming or distressing others which is exactly what she's done, so why should she be exempt?

No, that was not me who said that. Be that as it may, breasts are not genitals.

Someone should tell Kanye West's GF then! She hasn't been arrested 😆

Thanks @XChrome for your responses - I definitely believe this is a a feminist issue. There's an undertone to all of this of two worrying things:

1. A woman's nipple is somehow more indecent and scandalising than a man's, especially when it's manipulated (given a shake) in public. I don't think a man doing the same thing would have been pursued by the police. And I don't believe for a second that the young woman would have been pursued by the police if she'd just walked alongside the march in provocative clothing, even gesticulating or singing or whatever, without baring her breast.

1. The young woman is being seen as a bit chavvy/ sexy/ cheeky whatever. And society still says young women shouldn't act like that - which is wrong for a start, but criminalising someone for being a cheekily provocative young woman just shows how far we still have to go in terms of women's rights.

I do hope the young woman herself has found this thread and if she is arrested she asks the police some questions like which exact law she's accused of breaking and why the Public Order or Sexual Offences legislation was selected. Also whether she would have been arrested if her breast hadn't been on show. I'm not on tiktok and have no interest in these short videos everyone seems to want to consume, but I would definitely pay to read an article reporting on this whole debacle from a feminist point of view.

"She sounds like a pain in the arse"

I agree. That's not a crime though...

Increasingly it is if you're a woman. (See Scotland)

No she's not going to get a criminal record as a sex offender.

What crime is she being charged with? The articles say the police are looking for her. She hasn't been charged with anything.

I think the police will be responding to complaints from the public about it or some person in authority in the church or similar - the police have to follow up complaints. Even if in the end the CPS or whoever in NI decide it doesn’t break the law so she isn’t prosecuted.

The police absolutely do not have to follow up every complaint they receive. Mind you I wish they would follow up a few more serious complaints like the ones made by women who are raped!

Context is everything. Lying flat on your back sunbathing on a beach, no not really, sunbathing in a public park right next to kids play area is a more questionable thing and flashing at a parade deliberately to get a reaction, yes it's indecent. Would I waste police time searching, probably not but it's a fine line

@mitogoshi "sunbathing in a public park right next to kids play area is a more questionable thing "

Why? Do children need to be protected from breasts? Gonna be pretty hard to deploy them for their intended use in that case.

That's good to know. Thank you.

😄Yeah, seriously.

Why does it matter if there are kids around? Plus, kids are on beaches, too. Hell, the beach near my home is chock a block with them. Sunbathing in a park is no different than sunbathing on the beach. Both are places for recreation.