And now this . . .
Bicyclists who bare it all could be arrested, city warns.
By Tom Beal
ARIZONA DAILY STARYou might want to cover your “naughty bits” if you plan to ride in Tucson’s first naked bike ride Saturday.
A flier promoting the Tucson World Naked Bike Ride suggests you go “as bare as you dare,” but lawyers warn that if you dare to bare it all, you may end up in jail.
City Attorney Mike Rankin said Thursday that totally naked riders would be subject to Arizona’s public-indecency statute, though he knew of no city plans to crack down. It was the first he’d heard of it.
Rankin said the statute covers exposure of genitals and anus for both men and women, and exposure of the nipple or areola portion of the breast for women. “Those are the naughty bits you must cover,” he said.The crime is a misdemeanor, unless the exposure is in the presence of a child under age 15, Rankin said.
Here’s some of what I told Beale:
Ryberg said he doesn’t plan to join the ride, but “I support what they’re doing.”
“I am an advocate for bike safety, and one of the points is to … demonstrate how fragile and vulnerable people are when they ride their bikes,” said Ryberg.
“There is no criminal intent in this bike ride. It’s a celebration of the bike and the body, and I hope the Tucson Police Department understands that.”
The article has some good information in it about the history of the naked bike ride:
“People as a collective across the world created the Web site and created the ride,” he said.
Schmidt said the ride attracted 2,000 riders in London last year and 1,000 in Portland. Arrests have been made in some cities, Schmidt said, though none in Canada or Europe.
In Seattle, where the rides are preceded by body-painting festivals, two naked rides are scheduled this summer. Judging from photos on the Web site, shoes are pretty much the clothing of choice.
The Web page for the World Naked Bike Ride says: “We face automobile traffic with our naked bodies as the best way of defending our dignity and exposing the unique dangers faced by cyclists and pedestrians as well as the negative consequences we all face due to dependence on oil and other forms of non-renewable energy.”
As I said below, I view the whole thing as one giant world-wide performance art piece, and I hope the Tucson Police Department sees it that way, too. And I’ve never quite grasped how the simple display of the human body itself can be a criminal act.
What exactly is it that we are protecting children from when we hide from them the human form?
–Erik Ryberg
July 18th, 2011 at 9:03 am
[...] A sign of cultural advancement and consciousness we have not achieved here in Tucson. [...]