fair use for educational and discussion purposes....

Link

Texas Woman Organizing Bare Breast Protest for Mardi Gras

Caroline Estes is organizing a protest for women to bare their breasts as part of Mardi Gras festivities.

AUSTIN — Bare breasts can incite a riot, the police said, so they weren't going to allow them at this year's Mardi Gras celebration. The very idea stirred naked anger in Caroline Estes.

So the 43-year-old businesswoman decided to organize a downtown protest for hundreds of women (and a few men), to take off their shirts in the city's Sixth Street entertainment district Saturday night.

Dare to bare, she said, and dare the police to do anything about it.

"I'm not any kind of topless dancer or porn star," Estes said. "It's not a sexual issue. It's just insulting that they say men can't control themselves in the presence of a bare breast."

Austin police had warned that women who exposed their breasts would be ticketed for disorderly conduct, which carries a fine of up to $500.

Under state law, disorderly conduct includes making a display that tends to immediately breach the peace.

After news of her protest spread, Estes said police agreed Thursday to allow her to stage her event between 11 p.m and 11:30 p.m. at a dedicated intersection.

Estes said she didn't know what would happen to women who take off their shirts somewhere else or at a different time. Police officials scheduled a 4 p.m. news conference and did not immediately return telephone calls seeking comment.

"I doubt they'll ticket anyone. They're in favor of breasts," Estes said.

Authorities cited the breast baring traditions of Mardis Gras as a factor in fighting that broke out during celebrations last year. Police had to subdue hundreds of people when several teen-agers started fighting after a woman displayed her breasts.

Austin has long been considered a liberal bastion in a conservative state, a city where state government bureaucrats live alongside dot-comers, University of Texas students and musicians looking for their big break in the "live music capital of the world."

Estes, who said she has not bared her breasts on Sixth Street in the past, said Austin has a long tradition of allowing women to go topless in some areas, such as concerts, the Barton Springs swimming area and during Mardis Gras, when women often expose their breasts in exchange for colorful plastic beads.

She passed out fliers to drum up support and says at least 250 people have committed to participate.

"I want to keep Austin liberal and happy and fun," Estes said.

She scoffs at the idea that police would use male hormones as an excuse to ban the breast baring.

"It's not the breasts that caused a riot, it's the drunken teen-age males. Why don't they just do an ID check?" on drinkers, she said.

And while the demonstration will no doubt be an eyeful, Estes won't promise that it won't also be an eyesore.

"I'm 43," she said. "The only riot my breasts are going to cause might be people stampeding the other way."

-- Anonymous, February 08, 2002