Credit: iStockPhoto
By Amy L. Hatch
An Iowa city is considering a ban on tattoos, piercings and certain types of clothing in their public parks after a visitor complained about another guest’s tattoo at a water park last summer, the news website WQAD reports.
Bettendorf city officials say the guest was asked to cover his tattoo and chose to leave instead. Not all tattoos would be banned, so moms with that ill-advised tramp stamp don’t need to worry.
The new law under consideration would take into account the “decency” of the mark. How that yardstick could be applied is up in the air, especially in regard to body piercings.
This case echos a similar incident that occurred in Rantoul in 2010, when a mom was asked to leave the public pool there for a tattoo depicting a man and a women engaged in a nude embrace.
I’m of the generation that fully embraced body art as mainstream, and I confess to having a tattoo on my lower right hip. It is about as unoffensive as humanly possible, but there are plenty of youngsters out there (hey, get off my lawn, kid!) who are less discreet in their choice of imagery and language.
But what does it say about our commitment to the First Amendment that we’re ready to pass laws about what you can and cannot display on your body in front of a certain kind of undefined audience?
When I was a kid we lived near a lakefront beach and we sometimes dropped by for a swim. One afternoon, out of the blue, my dad suddenly sprinted down to the water to gather us all up and we made a beeline for our car.
Turns out there was a man communing with nature, stark naked, just a little ways down from our beach blanket.
No one called the police, no one asked for a law. We just got outta Dodge, and no one was the wiser.
Should public officials have the right to say what people should look like while they visit property that their taxes pay for? I’m gonna say no.
There’s plenty of stuff I don’t want my kids to see, but how often do you really have to address it directly? Kids at parks are usually pretty engaged doing what kids do, not examining the bicep of the teenager slumped at the picnic table.
It’s a very slippery slope when we start legislating other people’s personal appearance.
What do you think?
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I think the Bettendorf Park Board needs to have a very long series of discussions with their attorneys.
If the discussion was about a privatelyy owned water park or theme park, it would already be over with. As this involves what I assume to be property owned by a public entity, Constitutional protections must be considered.
As communities have discovered in the past, often the hard way, tattoos and clothing can be viewed by the courts as protected speech. Whether or not anyone is offended by a particular tattooed image or wording has no bearing. There is a line which can be crossed in terms of obscenity, but that’s a very difficult decision, too.
I’m somewhat… outspoken, at times (*cough*), and I’m definitely not a person that is easily offended. If the tattoo in the Rantoul situation of 2010 is anything at all like what they’re considering banning, I think they’re going to have a lot of trouble upholding the ban. There are much more graphic depictions of nudity (and nude embraces) hanging in places of honor in museums open to the public around the world.
As far as clothing or piercings are concerned, I think no action should taken unless existing laws regarding public indecency are being violated, or a dangerous situation exists because of it. To restrict free expression requires a compelling government interest, and I doubt very much that the feigned outrage over a drawing of an exposed breast fulfills that interest.
[I am not a lawyer, nor do I portray one on TV or the Internet.]
I think this is ridiculous! Talk about profiling. I am a father, a hard working, drug free professional and a married man. I have sleeves of tattoos on both arms, back and chest. I can’t believe they would ask someone to leave for having tattoos. What’s next, are they going to ask people with disturbing birth defects or black skin to leave? Im so offended.
This country is going downhill all the way, the republican right wing christians love to persecute everyone except millionaires
It is not a ban on all tattoos and piercings, but more of a policy on what tattoos and piercings are acceptable at the parks. A grey area sure, who is in charge of what is offensive or not, but in this case it seems as though it is limited to only offensive tattoos. If you make a choice to get an offensive tattoo, I think you need to a least be somewhat considerate to others by covering it up, especially in family environments. People who wear offensive t-shirts are asked to turn them inside out. I think people are making a mountain out of a molehill here.
The problem, AJ, is when it comes down to deciding what is offensive. In a privately owned area, like a shopping mall or department store, the store owners and management get to make that decision. WHen it comes to public places, it’s quite a different matter. Does the lifeguard at the city pool get to decide that my AC/DC concert shirt is offensive because they think AC/DC are satan worshippers?
I have a t-shirt that I wear on occassion. Printed on the front are the words “I don’t give a F*%$ what you think.” (The f-word on the shirt is NOT censored.) I wear this shirt in public, but not frequently. Would some people find it offensive? I’m certain they would. Is it against the law for me to wear it? No, it isn’t. Should it be? I certainly don’t think so.
People often have a desire to impose their own moral views about what might be offensive onto other people. Personally, I find very little in this world “offensive” other than hatred and bigotry. I will, however, fight tooth and nail for the right of haters and bigots to spew their vile ideas. Were I to do otherwise, someone might make the claim that my ideas are offensive to them, and should be censored. I won’t let that happen either.
Disgusting…but I won’t be surprised if the Mormons in Idaho will pull the same stunt where I live. This country is going backwards in freedoms, once upon a time a person could be fined for saying the “f” word in public in a lot of cities and towns. Looks like we’re headed back a century or two. Man, I hope I don’t live long enough to have this happen to where I live.