Hang on to your shirt
By Colette Derworiz
of The StarPhoenix and SP Services

The acquittal of two Regina women charged with creating an indecent exhibition after baring their breasts in public is not an open invitation for Saskatchewan women to go topless, according to officials in the justice system.

Women who bare their breasts in public still face prosecution.

"What this means for future cases is what it has meant for all cases or all past cases, in that each case will be decided on its fact situation," said Daryl Rayner, senior Crown prosecutor with Saskatchewan Justice.

Judge Eugene Lewchuk decided Wednesday Kathleen Rice and Evangeline Godron didn't violate community standards when they sunbathed topless in a downtown Regina park last August.

Rayner noted the judge made it very clear the decision was based on the facts of the case.

"He looked at the circumstances which were present in the cases - these two ladies did not exhibit indecent exhibition in a public place in their particular circumstances."

Rayner said if the conduct of a topless woman is sexual, causes a disturbance, draws a crowd or takes place in the presence of children, charges may be laid.

City police spokesperson Staff Sgt. Glenn Thomson said each situation "is going to be different - we'll look at it and see what happens.

"The officers will look at it and before the charge is laid, they may have to discuss it with the prosecutors to get an interpretation of it."

Kripa Sekhar, executive co-ordinator of the Saskatchewan Action Committee on the Status of Women, said the case shouldn't have gone to the courts in the first place.

"They made an issue out of a non-issue," said Sekhar, "It's really a non-issue because it is a question of women's rights and freedoms and women's choice."

Sekhar said women are entitled to enjoy the same rights as men.

"I think that message came out loud and clear."

But, Gwendolyn Landolt, vice-president of REAL (Realistic Equal Active for Life) Women of Canada, said the whole thing was ridiculous.

"Obviously they found them not guilty on the grounds that baring their breasts was an equality issue with men, but the shape and purpose of women's breasts are considerably different than men's," said Landolt.

"Everybody knows women's breasts are sexually appealing to men; everybody knows that women's breasts are used to feed babies; everybody knows women's breasts are a different shape than men's - how can they say that is equal?" Landolt asked.

She said if women don't want to be seen as sex objects, they shouldn't be walking around naked from the waist up.

Meanwhile, the new policy adopted by the Regina Police Service is that women who bare their breasts will only be arrested if they are creating a disturbance or behaving in an erotic manner.

"We aren't going to arrest them unless it's, like the judge said, in front of kids or in a sexual manner," said Sgt. Jim Mayes.

"If it's prostitutes flaunting their wares, of course we're going to arrest them."

If someone complains about a topless woman, the police will ask the woman for her name and then file a complaint report with the Crown prosecutor's office to review.

"The prosecutor's office is going to have to come up with some guidelines (for us)," Mayes said, adding police want to see Lewchuk's ruling in detail.