When I read the case of a woman who was taken to court and condemned for indecent exposure in a secluded beach in the Law Courts section of our local newspapers, I hung my head in shame. Not because this lady exposed her breasts in the secluded beach of Gnejna Bay, a locality well known for nude sun bathing but because of the hypocrisy of our nation and the Taliban mentality of some of us who want to dictate how we should dress, what to see, and what to do.
I feel very sorry for the lady for having had to endure the ordeal of being dragged to court and condemned for such an insignificant misdemeanour, especially when far greater atrocities are being committed around us and the culprits are unpunished by our authorities. I pity our police force that had to intervene in this case when it is already overburdened by duties of crime prevention, crime detection and prosecution, illegal immigration, and investigation of corruption, which has even reached the highest levels of our society including the judiciary.
As if being understaffed and having to cope with such overwhelming tasks is not enough, our police are being used to chase topless ladies on the beaches (albeit in this case, in a secluded beach) and lap dancers in private or semi-private entertainment establishments, while no action is being taken for much more grave criminal activity such as illegal buildings, dumping, and so on.
Has our society become so conservative and discriminatory that while it allows the male of the species to expose hairy, hairless, or shaven chests even in public places, it prohibits the opposite sex from exposing their breasts, which albeit larger than the males, is created by God as a mammary gland and enhances their beauty?
In this respect of human rights are we considering ourselves as European with an open and tolerant mentality, or are we giving in to the Taliban in our midst?
I have visited various European cities, and even in the most conservative European societies I have encountered nude bathing in the summer season along the rivers in city centres and outskirts (Munich’s river Isar is well known for this) but have not seen any policeman booking anybody for such activity.
It is no wonder then that our nation is being labelled as ultra conservative, intolerant and unkind to the extent that even birds flying over our country during the migratory season are not allowed to stop for a drink and a rest.
My major three disappointments with regard to this case is that first and foremost, the victim of this innocuous chain of events did not appeal the court’s ruling, as three learned judges might have given a different interpretation to the terms of the law and nor did she petition her case to the European Court (she was too late to do so in the former but can still do so if she wishes in the latter).
Secondly, that our society tolerated women bathing topless in public beaches during down turns in tourism, accepted pictures of “page 3” topless girls in British newspapers imported in our country for decades, watches satellite transmissions from all over the world with a lot of nudity, and permitted Playboy magazine to be sold openly on shelves of stationary shops – yet prosecuted and condemned a women who bared her breasts in a secluded bay (there is no end to our hypocrisy it seems) and has made no attempt to amend the law of public decency to conform with European standards.
Thirdly, that as our beautiful country is fast becoming a concrete jungle with legal and illegal buildings, and our shores being encroached on with illegal shanty towns (some reportedly to be legalized soon as an electoral reward), there will not be any secluded beach left for any woman to bare her breasts out of sight of the Taliban in our midst.
Raymond Sammut
LIBYA