Legislating nip slips

An Arizona law would exempt mamas who show some nipple while feeding their kids from getting arrested.

Published January 9, 2006 7:25PM (EST)

State lawmakers in Phoenix are being asked to give nursing mothers the respect they deserve -- or at least to maybe stop throwing them in the slammer.

Under current state law, any woman who exposes even part of her nipple while someone else is present -- even while nursing -- is subject to arrest and up to six months of jail time.

Democratic state Rep. Linda Lopez is introducing legislation that would exempt breast-feeding mothers from these punishments. "I believe that breast-feeding an infant is not an act of indecent exposure," Lopez said.

Naturally. It's ludicrous to think otherwise. An ancillary concern, of course, is providing legal protection for Hollywood's young movie stars; under Arizona's strict legal standards, each and every one of those repeat nip-slip offenders would be imprisoned right now.


By Rebecca Traister

Rebecca Traister writes for Salon. She is the author of "Big Girls Don't Cry: The Election that Changed Everything for American Women" (Free Press). Follow @rtraister on Twitter.

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