There is still a discriminatory exclusion to the law on being topless - women can't be topless in public for "commercial purposes." While this might appear to be a way to prosecute topfree panhandling, it is not according to city officials. They're still protected by the First Amendment as panhandlers and street performers and thus exempt from what the law states.
Instead of trying to detain or prosecute, Mayor de Blasio's task force will likely be looking for ways to place restrictions on the desnudas' actions. Yet this will still prove to be quite challenging to do without breaking their right to free speech.
For those of you who might not have seen the story, there was an incident where the New Yorker Facebook page was prohibited for posting a cartoon depicting female nipples, ie, two black dots. They were told it offended Facebook's community standards, which explains their policy as vaguely as possible with: We also enforce restrictions on the display of nudity.
The New Yorker's cartoon editor Robert Mankoff then composed an article entitled Nipplegate, to poke fun at the controversy.
FB apologized and said the removal was a blunder. Here's my own rough drawing judgment of what is acceptable / not okay on FB:
Nipplegate cartoon by Mick Stevens
(Fun fact: The New Yorker has been publishing cartoons with naked folks for quite a long time, but for several years, they didn't show any nipples!)
To get another take on nudity, censorship and animations we additionally interviewed artist and author Bob Fingerman.
A bad instance of F.N.B. (Female Nipple Bulge)
First, Mick:
We adored the Nipplegate post. How can you feel about your cartoon becoming removed on Facebook for having female nipples?
I was really surprised and amused. If you look back through the New Yorker's past cartoons, you'll see a lot of female nipples, often drawn in a considerably more comprehensive manner. Mine were simply those small dots.
Do you believe Facebook should shift its policy on nudity or possibly stipulate that nude cartoons are allowed?
Truly, I believe they have calmed down a little due to the promotion. They could change their policy but then they might need to change their name to "Nipplebook".
Would you perceive this type of censorship as a stifling of freedom of speech?
Not actually, at least not notably. Of course if I lived in China and other more repressive areas on the planet, those dots might send me to jail or worse. At least here in the USofA all they can do is make themselves look absurd. (Mick also told us he is never encountered this type of censorship before.)
Does one personally believe that non sexual/ non pornographic nudity should be censored, and if so, why?
No. In other states, seemingly more enlightened than this one, sex isn't equated with sin and damnation. Those old notions are dying off here, but are still quite definitely alive among some people.
Did any policies or anything alter because of it? Are they going to quit posting animation nipple dots on Facebook now?
You'll need to ask somebody at FBook.
We see you've got a novel coming out. Is there any nipple dots in there? Nudity? If your publisher told you which you need to remove the nude cartoons in order to attract a larger audience, would you do it?
Yes the book has some dots and some nudity. If a publisher told me to remove portrayals of unclothed folks, I'd be surprised. I'd have a chat with them and likely look for another publisher with a more educated viewpoint.
Now, Bob Fingerman. Bob continues to be drawing cartoons all his life and has published several graphic novels and prose novels.
And if so, why were you censored?