INDReporter

State lawmakers seek to define ‘naked breast’

by Walter Pierce

This isn’t click bait — we swear!

Louisiana lawmakers will take another shot at barring women ages 18 to 20 from performing nude in strip clubs after a judge last month ruled that a previous law with same the aim passed last year was unconstitutionally vague, according to multiple press accounts.

Nola.com reports that state Sen. Ronnie Johns’ bill “appears aimed at cleaning up language that U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier found was too problematic to keep the entire law in place.” Three women under 21 who work in strip clubs challenged last year’s law, arguing in a suit that it deprives them of their livelihood. While Barbier ruled that he thought the state was on firm legal ground with the intent of the law — to protect under-21 women who work in adult venues from exploitation and “secondary effects” such as exposure to illegal narcotics — the federal judge ruled that other parts of the law were too vague.

According to nola.com:

Among the vague provisions Barbier cited was “inconsistency” in Louisiana statutes “with respect to its definition of the naked breast.” Under Johns’ bill, the law would create a new definition for “semi-nude” that allows women over 21 to show their breasts, but prohibits men and women younger than that from “showing a majority of the male or female buttocks” and the “lower portion of the female breast.”

The legislation is crafted to allow women younger than 21 to work at bars and restaurants where skimpy clothing is worn as part of a uniform, and also seeks to limit the exposure of 18- to 20-year-old cocktail waitresses at adult nightclubs. For instance: An 18- to 20-year-old could serve drinks at a strip club or wear a bikini-like uniform at a restaurant, but she wouldn’t be able to wear a thong, “T-back” underwear or nipple coverings such as pasties while doing it.

The proposed bill goes so far as barring certain types of nipple coverings for women age 18 to 20, including anything “flesh-colored” or “any substance that can be washed off of the skin, including paint or makeup.” The covering also “shall not simulate the appearance of the anatomical area that it covers.”

Stop blushing and read more — if you dare — here.