Lets say I put on a pair of white boxers, and a white T shirt and strut around the mall. I’m no more naked in these than in the clothing many people normally wear during the summer.
Will I be ruled indecent?
Would tighty whitie briefs instead of boxers make any difference in “indecency” levels.
Can a women wear a skirt and just a bra without a blouse and not be indecent?
Ultimately who makes the final judgment call on what comprises “public indecency”? The cops? the judge?
First a lot depends, where you make this “indecency” known: public or private property. As far as private property, such as a mall, they can restrict your presence if they believe it violates their policies.
Second, a lot depend on the region/city cultural mores. One thing is Berkeley, California another thing is Laredo, Texas.
Finally, if public, a lot depends on what are the city’s laws. Check out the story of Thong Man from San Antonio, Texas . Check the photo and he is wearing way yyyyyyyyy :eek: less than what you describe, yet he managed to ride unmolested in his bike. In the end, it is up to the interpretation of a municipal judge on the city’s laws.
xicanorex
There isn’t some national law on this issue. It depends on how state and local laws are written, and case law on that issue in that state.
I have seen lots of people walk around in what I think are boxers but some of my friends will say, those aren’t boxers, those are shorts. So…
But this was on Seinfeld. Remember Elaine gave this girl a bra. (apparently this girl never wore one. So it was a sarcastic present). Anyway the woman wore just the bra over to Elaine’s office. Elaine–“Ah it’s not a top” Friend–“I know.” So she walks out onto the street with a bra and Kramer sees her stares and swerves the car wrecking it. He later sues the friend wearing the bra.
Also, although I wouldn’t count on universally shared viewpoints on enforcement and whatnot, I think it is generally technically held that women are not indecently dressed if they go topless altogether, insofar as men are not generally arrested for indecent exposure for doing so and equal protection clauses etc have been understood to mean that you can’t declare a female upper torso to be in more need of coverage than an upper male torso.
If only…
… And this is why mothers tell their offspring to wear clean underwear …
Do you know of anywhere in the US where this is true? Because I have been to beaches in the LA area where some of the women with us have been hassled by the police because they were sun bathing topless.
I’m pretty sure that a woman won a case in New York City, winning the right for all women to go topless on the subway.
This is a memory of a news story from several years ago.
The cop. If the cop thinks your indecent he’ll take you in.
This is true. But most policemen (including your’s truely) won’t make a pinch unless they know the d.a. will prosecute it, and a judge won’t kick it (believe it or not, this is the reason you get a few miles over the speed limit. In Milwaukee County it’s 12, but you didn’t hear that from me;) ).
My point is: LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION!
What you will get away with in New Orleans, might get you in jail in Salt Lake City.
And what will get you busted in SLC, is what people in Milwaukee drink 12 times a day.
LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION!
in nyc now a days man or woman can walk around in c string thong which covers penis and or vagina -no coverage of any sort anywhere else back and sides are totally open and you look nude from back. police wont stop you because law says private genitalia to be covered. of course if you have bodypaint or doing a show then you can be totally nude.
Today (second Saturday in June) is the World Naked Bike Ride. Literally thousands of people will be riding their bicycles, in public, wearing less than underwear, to protest oil dependency. The argument is that it’s legal because the First Amendment right to protest supersedes any local or state laws regarding nudity, and this argument was upheld by a judge in Portland Oregon around 2009 IIRC.
But, on any other day of the year, in most jurisdictions it’s still legal to walk around in your underwear as long as you’re not being “lewd”. It’s actually legal in many states (including New York and Oregon) for women (and men) to walk around bare-chested. I don’t see how you could possibly argue that it’s illegal to wear, for example, a bra and panties, when it’s legal to walk around wearing just panties.
IANAL YMMV
Could I legally walk around in my underwear in public?
Please don’t.
In the UK, it doesn’t matter what you are wearing generally so long as you don’t expose your genitals. There are many places where nudity is permitted and even compulsory, but walk down Oxford street in your boxers on a sunny day and the looks you get would vary between admiration and disgust, depending on your physique. No cop would be at all interested, but some stores would politely ask you to bugger off.
In Scotland a guy was fined for walking around with a sausage sticking out of his trousers. The reasoning was that, although is clearly wasn’t a penis, some people would have thought it was and been offended.
Yup. The OP pictured himself strutting around “the mall” in his skivvies. That’s private property–they can kick you out just because they don’t like the way you look. Members of protected classes have recourse–but “slob” is not a protected class.
Also the quality of the underwear would matter. And the quality of the body thus revealed…
And what would go unnoticed in SLC might get you beaten in Riyadh. 
It’s sadly common nowadays for men to walk around in public with their pants pulled down below their undies. And while it might earn you a visit to the principal’s office if you’re doing it in school, it won’t get you arrested.
I wouldn’t call the idiot thugs who do this men.