New Ruling Allows Oklahoma Women To Be Topless In Public

Wednesday, September 25th 2019, 7:48 pm

By: News On 6

It is now legal for women to go topless in public in Oklahoma and five other states.

Tulsa Police met this week with city attorneys to talk about how this new ruling impacts our area.

People can also take a picture of topless women and post it. If it's a teenager, they can still be in public with bare breasts, but taking a picture of them is still considered child pornography.

The ruling made in the Colorado case affects Oklahoma, Wyoming, Kansas, New Mexico and Utah.

This means women can walk down the street, gather at a public park, or perhaps even go topless at a public swimming pool.

Sgt. Jillian Phippen worries this could open the possibility of additional sexual assaults, that seeing a woman’s breasts, could be a trigger for some offenders.

"Whether they walk up and touch you, because we know it happens when you have clothes on. If that's what they want to do, what's to stop them if you don't have a shirt on and are exposing yourself," said Phippen.

The city of Tulsa is not sure what to expect, but don't believe they'll see man women walking around topless, and because the ruling is still so new they are still figuring out the details. It will go forward on a case by case basis, but there is a line that still can't be crossed.

"The other side is - you can't present them in a sexual way, touching them or saying inappropriate sexual things. That could still be considered outraging public decency or indecent exposure," said Phippen.

This ruling applies to public places like the street and the courthouse plaza, but public buildings and private businesses can still have a policy that says everyone has to be clothed before they're allowed inside.