Is law that prohibits women from going topless in public unconstitutional?
The city of Chicago filed a motion to dismiss a federal lawsuit yesterday that challenges its ban on women going topless in public.
Sonoko Tagami brought the Northern District of Illinois complaint (PDF), the Chicago Tribune reports. While shirtless at a 2014 lakefront event that the lawsuit describes as “Go Topless Day,” she was ticketed for not following a city ordinance that prohibits women from being topless in public. The penalty was a $150 fine.
According to the city’s Jan. 21 filing (PDF), Tagami supports the group GoTopless, and its position is that women have a right be bare-chested in public. Her complaint argues that the ordinance in question is impermissibly vague and unconstitutional.
Tagami’s lawyers also argue that their client’s actions weren’t meant for sexual arousal, which is what the ordinance targets.
“No matter the message plaintiff intended to convey by appearing topless in public, her behavior would not be understood by those who witnessed her as conveying any particularized message,” the city filing states. “Passersby would have no way of knowing whether she intended to make a political statement or merely to sunbathe.”
Additionally, the city argues that “female breasts are considered erogenous in a way that male breasts are not.”
Tagami reportedly had opaque body paint—and nothing else—on her chest when she received the ticket. She had also worn body paint at previous GoTopless events in Chicago, the filing states, but hadn’t been ticketed for it prior to August 2014.
Tagami thought she was in compliance with the ordinance because of the paint, her lawyer, Kenneth Flaxman, told the Chicago Tribune. He also noted that women can breast-feed in public.
“She was making a statement that the ordinance should be repealed, that it is unfair to women and that women’s breasts are not dirty and shouldn’t have to be covered in public,” Flaxman said. “That if women want to be top-free, they should be allowed to be top-free.”
Previous coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Woman ticketed for going topless at Chicago event files civil rights suit against city”
