September 22, 2005

"I know this is a metaphor, but it is the only way I feel I can protest the unjust occupations."

Said a performance artist, Hala Faisal, who took off her clothes in public, displaying the words "Stop the War." Where's the metaphor? Supposedly, taking off your clothes ≈ disarmament.

I like the way the lawyer got the charge of public nudity dismissed on the technicality that the summons failed to state which body part she exposed, but that he had also loftier arguments:
Women in New York are entitled to bare their breasts under "equal protection" rules since men are allowed to bare theirs, ... and anyone may bare all if they do so during a "play, performance, exhibition or show."

8 comments:

XWL said...

As I understand things (and my legal understanding is decidedly limited), public nudity isn't what most jurisdictions ban (though some do), rather lewd acts, so if you can demonstrate that your display was not meant to be lewd nor taken as being lewd by anyone around you aren't in violation of any code.

That construction of the law does suggests however that the degree of flesh that leads to lewdness depends on the audience, so that if you were a woman bearing her ankles and arms in front of a conservative mosque, even on the public sidewalk, couldn't that be considered lewd behavior if the display was intended to offend her audience?

Whereas conversely, being bare assed naked at UC Berkeley (as one student famously did for his years there not long ago) is perfectly within the conventions of the community and therefore in no way lewd as long as no lewd acts are engaged.

Meade said...

Saul: A nose is a nose is a nose. But a penis is sometimes a cigar and what could be more perverse than a cigar?

The naked peace activist is the new naked warrior.

Goatwhacker said...

She's got a point. I might not agree with her message but I'd stop and read it. Twice even.

jeff said...

47 years old? Odds are I'm not interested in seeing or hearing any of her messages.

Steve Donohue said...

what makes a nose any less perverse than a penis?

Actually, there are several former Afghani rulers that would agree with you, at least if the nose was a female's.

Of course the answer is the sexuality envolved. You could respond that it's merely a social construction, but so what?

SippicanCottage said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
P_J said...

In all the times I've seen people write about spewing their coffee over someone's humorous comment, that always seemed contrived -- until Beldar's last entry.

Condoleesa said...

I think we should send her over to Iraq and let her try that and see what happens. Maybe then she would understand why we are there.