Two popular stories came off the wire today. Each involved public nudity. And each resulted in very different public reaction.
One involved a "mysterious blonde" who stopped at a petrol station in Berlin to buy cigarettes. According to the
Reuters report, the "tall, slender woman" got out of the passenger seat of a Ferrari "wearing nothing but a pair of golden stilettos and a thin gold bracelet." [Note to self: Keep saving for that Ferrari.]
Reuters noted the woman could have faced charges of creating a public disturbance if anyone had complained. Did anyone complain? Nope. Apparently none of them were even bothered. And the station employee was quoted as saying, "I wasn't surprised because she's come in naked before -- she's a very nice woman." And exactly the kind of regular customer I'd want in my shop.
Now jump to a story that appeared a day before.
Reuters reported on three male tourists who enjoyed a little cycling along the River Danube in Serbia. Naked. As the day they were born. Apparently the local heat wave prompted the two Austrians and a German to strip down to their birthday suits and go for a little ride.
Did anyone complain this time? Hell yes people complained. And all three were charged with disrupting public peace and order. And rightfully so. Who wants to see three grown men peddling down the street naked in 104 degree heat? There are some guys who disrupt public peace and order riding a bike fully clothed. I can't even imagine where they were "hanging" either. It had to be offensive all the way around.
Bottom line: Was this a case of double standard? Yes. Should we be outraged? No. Be outraged these guys weren't sentenced to prison for subjecting innocent bystanders to their sweaty, jiggling, man stones. As a side note, I vote that guys who ride, jog, rollerblade, or just generally stand around on the beach in a Speedo, be found guilty immediately of inflicting permanent retinal damage on all within their sight-line, and hauled directly to the cell block housing the Criminally Insane and Seriously Sexually Depraved. While still wearing their banana hammock.