June 19, 1997

SHE GETS THE HOOK

By BEN RAYNER
Ottawa Sun
OTTAWA --  A Vanier prostitute, who went topless in public, has been charged with committing an indecent act.
  Ottawa Police charged Joanne Gowan, 31, on Tuesday in connection with a June 3 incident in which a woman on the roadside caused traffic jams for hours by flashing her breasts.
  Gowan was inspired, she said, by the Ontario Court of Appeal's decision last year making it legal for women to go topless in public. But the court made it clear women doffing their tops for "sexual, commercial, harmful or degrading" purposes still could be charged.
  Police stressed they were not cracking down on public toplessness but on "indecent" acts.
 

1