From: grogono@cs.concordia.ca (Peter Grogono)
Newsgroups: rec.nude
Subject: Gwen Jacob revisited
Date: 9 Oct 92 23:39:39 GMT
Organization: Computer Science, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec

On July 18, 1991, Gwen Jacob took off her shirt and was charged for 
committing an "indecent act". A lengthy discussion in rec.nude followed, 
but we never really found out much about Ms Jacob herself. The magazine 
"Herizons" has now remedied this by publishing an interview (and two 
photos: she's wearing shirts in both) with Jacob in its current issue, Fall 
1992. I don't have time to enter the entire interview (nor do I want to be 
charged for copyright violation). Here are a few of the things that Jacob 
says in the interview.

[Begin quote]
  It wasn't just my shirt that I ripped off. I ripped off that whole 
  mindset, that whole patriarchal definition of my body. It was amazing! 
  Nothing even shadows the feeling of empowerment I felt at that moment ...

  My breasts felt their first breeze. It was the most beautiful breeze I 
  had ever felt. I will always remember that moment when I took my shirt 
  off, breathed in the breeze and sighed: Ahh, so this is what it feels 
  like. When things get really tough, I just remember the breeze ...

  [Interviewer: Some people think you are wasting precious court time 
  pushing this issue through the courts.]

  I didn't charge myself. The cops are the ones dragging me through the 
  system ...

  I am not fighting for a law that says women _have_ to take their shirts 
  off. I'm fighting for the choice to take our shirts off when we feel like 
  it ... If the government passed a law forbidding women to wear nail 
  polish, it might be a trivial issue, but holy shit, would this place turn 
  upside down. Women would rise up yelling "Don't tell me what to wear on
  my fingernails!"

  I am fighting the definition of women's bodies ... Many people have asked 
  me, "Ms Jacob, would you be doing this is you had breast cancer?" If I 
  had breast cancer, or if I had a mastectomy, it would be 10 TIMES AS 
  IMPORTANT for me to take my shirt off ...

  ... I work with a bunch of guys in a warehouse. If I'm working outside 
  and it's hot, my shirt comes off. If they can't deal with it, it's their 
  problem, not mine. It's ridiculous. I get razzed for taking my shirt off 
  on a hot day, and meantime these guys have newsprint photos of breasts 
  wallpapering warehouse washrooms. It's okay to see women's breasts in 
  strip joints, pornography, erotica, on television  ... but it's a 
  criminal offence for a women to take her shirt off on a hot day ...

  If I never knew it before, I certainly know it now, that one person can
  make one hell of a difference. If anyone tells me again that one person 
  can't change anything, they're going to get an earful. "Oh yeah? Well, 
  back in the summer of 1991 ..."
[End quote]

The same issue has a tongue-in-cheek (?) article by Lyn Cockburn, with some
suggestions about masculine attire.

[Begin quote]
  ... It's obviously time that we acknowledged that breasts belong to 
  women; they are not there for the pleasure of men. And they are certainly 
  not something by which women may be judged and found wanting. Breasts are
  normal. Like penises ...

  I want those pants off. I want those penises exposed  ... First, since I
  am heterosexual, I wouldn't mind looking at them ... Second, and more
  important, a pantless man is a vulnerable man ... a man open to
  comparison, ridicule and, of course, flirtatious compliments. This is a 
  man to be whistled (or chortled) at by female construction workers, 
  laughed at, ignored, or applauded by women truck drivers  ...

  ... trouserless men with penises right out there for public scrutiny 
  would, I predict, be much less likely to attack women ... the simple act
  of requiring men to take their pants off will put an end to war once and
  for all ...

  So yes, I do agree that Canadian laws must be changed to allow women to 
  take charge of their own bodies and their own clothes, or lack thereof. I 
  just think it's also time for a totally new law, one which requires men 
  to take their trousers off. Forever.
[End quote]

Peter