A sunbathing session led to a brush with the law for one Saskatoon woman on Wednesday.
Danielle Forget was tanning at the sand bar near Spadina Crescent Thursday when she decided to go topless. The move offended at least one other beach comber, and the police showed up at the beach.
“It’s a public place, a kid and a family friendly place. We don’t need that here,” said Jenelyn Ong, who called the police about Forget’s topless tanning.
“My nephew is 13, going into high school. He’s never been exposed to anything like that,” she said.
Forget doesn’t see baring her breasts as a problem. “I don’t think women would be embarrassed of breasts,” she told CTV.
For Forget, the issue is about fairness. She said there’s a double standard when it comes to how much skin you can show. “If men can be topless, we can be topless. We don’t need to be embarrassed about how our bodies were made,” Forget said.
While Forget didn’t see anything wrong with going topless, the move was against the law. The criminal code says anyone nude in a public space is committing an indecent act – however; there are no clear guidelines on what exactly an indecent act is.
The criminal code also doesn’t define nudity, only saying “a person is nude if they are clad to offend against public decency and order”.
Police can lay charges in these cases, but they’re dealt with on a case by case basis.
Alyson Edwards, spokesperson for the Saskatoon Police Service, said officers take several factors into account when considering whether or not to issue a ticker. “Who is offended, why they’re offended, what the setting is, were there any children around,” she said.
Police did show up to the sand bar, and Forget was asked to put her top back on. She did eventually oblige, and wasn’t charged.
