An Occasion of Bare Breasts in Protest
Way back in 1981, I volunteered to serve on the Grand Jury in San Luis Obispo County for a year. It was a fascinating year, and I played a large role in creating the report for it. Unlike typical Grand Juries, California Grand Juries have some autonomy, and are charged with investigating many things during their term. One of those "shall investigate" duties is the local jails and prisons.
That year was the year of a very large protest against the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant, which was located within the county. That protest led to many, many arrests of protesters. They were housed in a makeshift county jail facility located on Camp San Luis Obispo, a California National Guard training facility that was a major base in WWII.
Since it was part of the county jail system and since it was not the regular jail, the Grand Jury scheduled an inspection and review of the facility, during the time the Diablo Canyon protesters were held there. The entire grand jury went to the facility and interviewed both staff and those held there, checking conditions and hearing complaints.
One group of a couple dozen women being held at the facility protested their arrest and detention by refusing to wear any clothing while being detained. Fortunately, this was during good weather. Since our job was to interview detainees, we also interviewed these women.
The make up of the Grand Jury was about 50/50 men and women. Nudity has never been an issue for me, and it has never mattered to me whether people had clothes on or not. That was not the case for some Grand Jury members. Some of the men refused to interview the protesting women, and a few of the women also refused. The rest of us did the interviews. What I found interesting was that the men very carefully avoided looking at the women, except for their faces. Very deliberate avoidance of any semblance of interest in the naked women. It was sort of funny, really.
However, that resulted in them actually hearing what the women had to say. So, the nudity had a beneficial effect on understanding, since actual listening went on.
In the end, the report really found nothing horrible about the place. The food wasn't great, and we recommended that better portable food preparation facilities be used should such a thing happen again. There weren't any complaints about treatment or housing, or anything else from those detained there, and the atmosphere at the facility was very easy going. The detainees were very cooperative with our investigation and didn't seem all that put out by being there. Indeed, since it was a civil disobedience protest, they were all planning their statements when charged with whatever they were charged with.
= new reply since forum marked as read
seriously? You are trying to force YOUR opinion and morals on those women. You, my dear, are worse then patriarchy you are so fond of condemning. Infinitely worse.
It's all I have to say to you. Now, please enjoy your last word.
