IT’S AN INALIENABLE RIGHT, handed down through the
generations, that if the mood should strike for reasons political or
not, Portland women have a free pass to occasionally take off their
tops.
For Gloria Stovall that Portland dream recently became a nightmare.
The 27-year-old Portland State University student claims two male
Wackenhut sercurity officers contracted by TriMet to augment its own
police force harrassed her for attempting to ride MAX topless at the
Rose Quarter station on a Sunday night two weeks ago.
“When I walked down the platform they said, ‘Cover yourself,’ and I
said, ‘No,'” Stovall says. “They stopped me, saying they didn’t want to
see my breasts and that it wasn’t okay.”
The alleged incident—coming a day after Portland police mostly
turned a blind eye to the World Naked Bike Ride’s parade of penises,
vaginas, and breasts on June 13—exposes a rift between Oregon’s
lax public indecency laws and TriMet’s apparently less liberal policy.
In Oregon, indecent exposure law only prohibits nudity intended to
induce arousal in public. Though Portland recently ratcheted up its own
ordinance to include exposed genitalia, there is no law that bars women
from baring their breasts in public spaces.
“Each woman has their own reason for going topless. For some it’s
about being pro-body,” says Meghan Sinnott, lead organizer of this
year’s Naked Ride pre-party. “Either way, it’s totally legal.”
Though TriMet has no written rule of its own barring topless women
from its buses and trains, Stovall could have been ticketed or even
arrested if “her nudity caused such a commotion on the platform or MAX
that it interfered with the operation of our system,” according to
TriMet spokesperson Bekki Witt.
Stovall denies any intent to arouse or to cause commotion on an
almost-empty MAX platform on a Sunday night. Instead, Stovall says she
believes the two Wackenhut security officers pulled her aside because
they had another, much older, set of laws in mind.
“They were really intent on shaming me,” she said. “I felt like they
were morally judging me… it was intense.”
A Wackenhut spokesman confirmed two officers were on duty on MAX
that night, though he said they were not stationed in the Rose Quarter
when the alleged incident took place. A review of TriMet surveillance
footage by the Mercury placed Stovall at the scene of the
alleged incident, although she wanders off camera and out of the frame
for about five minutes before the next train arrived.
Stovall sticks to her story, which she says ended in tears. “What
really bothers me is how close-minded they were. It was about them
being right and me being wrong,” she says. “I just wanted them to
listen.”
she is like the mona lisa, where ever i move that nipple is looking at me
It’s interesting. I saw her on a #4 bus that night. She got on on Mississippi and the driver took her fare and didn’t even bat an eye at her or her boobs. This same driver, on the same trip, told people to watch heir language no less than three times. Meanwhile, the reaction on the bus was mixed, about half tittering like a bunch of moronic boobs (sorry, couldn’t resist); while the other half had that look of “RIGHT ON!” on their faces. Oddly, as I glance over my desk, I can see the grocery receipt from that night, so I know rough timing for the whole trip. Really odd.
Still. What does one expect from Wankenf**k? Their employees are the kind that…….well, they’re the kind of AV nerd that completely failed at life, so they become little tin-plated Hitlers and excersize power more than they actually have, and frequently with zero knowledge of anything that would put them in the right. I’ve been dealing with those ignorant assholes for nigh on 20 years….and I’ve still yet to meet one that was nice, polite, or smart.
Hey hey; lay off the AV club, brother…
And yes to everything you said about Wackenhut. Extend that to pretty much all private security I’ve ever encountered. Its what you do when you’ve been dishonorably discharged from the military, can’t pass the physical exam to become a real cop, or just have a meth addiction to feed.
It’s the age-old story. Introduce a pair of boobies into the mix and men go crazy.
Someone should come up with a snack called “Boobie Mix”.
Also, it’s quite a surprise when people find out that that stuff is actually not illegal. In poor taste, depending. But not illegal.
SJK, it’s the “taste” thing that zooms over people’s heads sometimes. Sure you CAN make such a statement, but why?
But then my expectations for what I will encounter on a Trimet ride have pretty much bottomed out at this point.
I hope when you see stuff like this, you youngsters appreciate how difficult it can be to raise young kids in this town sometimes, when all the 20-year-olds are busy making such important “statements”.
I honestly don’t see what the big deal is.
Otherwise, my hats off to her!
I am sure that she will then complain about sexist treatment when she attracts unwanted attention. All these years wasted by women trying to get men to look them in the eyes when speaking rather than our chests.
And yet, you ladies think there’s something wrong with us, when we ignore you completely.
You can’t win if you’re a guy!
Jeez, how many dudes have I seen riding the bus without a shirt on hot days around this city? Didn’t see them being accosted by Wackenhut officers…
But I guess when we allow society to sexualize non-sexual body parts, we end up (or in this case, Ms Stovall ends up) dealing with the consequences.
What exactly is offensive about breasts to kids again?
Children are not harmed by bare breasts (or for that matter, full nudity) – rather, they are harmed by adults reacting badly to them having seen bare breasts. And then those kids grow up believing that it was the nudity itself that was the problem, so they react badly if their kids see something – so either we need to break out of this vicious cycle somehow or else everybody has to stay fully clothed in public because some people are stupid.
As for adults, sure most of them are going to stare at bare female chests because they aren’t used to seeing them. They’re also going to stare if a peacock escaped from the zoo and started wandering around downtown because they’re not used to seeing that either.
And ladies, men’s nipples are erogenous zones also, so go right ahead and look at their chests and think about how much you want to play with those…
She’s an attention whore. Yes, being nude is a right, we were born naked, blah blah blah. The fact is, no matter what her beliefs are, society is different than her beliefs. She’s going to mess up a child’s mind (an American child will have a different idea about breasts than an African child). Besides, who wants to see those…
I don’t have a problem w/ someone bearing her breasts, but I’m guessing she wasn’t even harassed by rent-a-cops and made up the story because nobody made a big deal out of her boob parade.
Clearly, you’re never been buggered by the authorities before.
Columbus Ohio recently hosted Comfest, the annual community festival in a downtown park. 60,000 people attended – there was music, food, fun, and hundreds of topfree women. It’s legal for women to exercise their topfree rights in Columbus, same as men. It’s no big deal. No children were harmed, no parents panicked, and no men exploded.
Shumzeez – you do realize that the only people who are going to listen to you, let alone agree, are ignorant pompousoids like yourself, right? You can have your completely uninformed opinion and even spew it over the internet like its God’s truth, but why the need to insult someone or their body? (other than that’s what righteous blowhards do). I’d much rather see a naked breast than have to read or listen to your arrogant “comments”.
Apparently, this has created a cleavage of opinion among Portlanders.
Come on, Blabby, kids like to see boobies as much as the next guy. Even more maybe!
More boobies!
I guess I’m a chauvinist pig if I say I would welcome her to come parade around my house like that. As long as I can hang out too.
Well, I think she looks cute and sweet, and that she has very nice breasts. However, as a germophobe, I kind of think it is gross for anyone of either gender to go top-free on public transportation, both for the top-free passenger and the other passengers. Who would want their bare skin to touch the seats? Yuck!
She’s actually a very close friend of mine, and wouldn’t do such a thing merely to attract attention. She also would not lie about being accosted. And people who think children are negatively affected by the sight of bare breasts are closed-minded morons. Let them look, and ask questions. Educate your children for christ’s sake.
Some of these comments are absolutely ridiculous. She didn’t do it to attract sexual attention, or to scar children, or for any other reason other than her own personal free will that she has full right to exercise. Why can’t people just respect that?