A Brazilian model arrested for walking her dogs topless is criticizing the “double standards” in place as she faces up to a year in jail.
Caroline Werner is a bikini model who removed her t-shirt and tied it around her waist back in May while walking her dogs in the southern city of Balneário Camboriú, the Daily Mail reported. Needless to say, Werner created quite a stir and was arrested by local police.
The 37-year-old model has since lashed out at Brazil’s “patriarchal, violent culture,” according to the British newspaper, insisting that Brazil’s constitution guarantees gender equality while pointing out that a man would not be prosecuted for doing what she did.
Caution: Nudity
Model Caroline Werner demands equality and inclusion
pic.twitter.com/CVnsYGyTlC— No Wan Unoh (@Michael62164404) December 26, 2023
“Unfortunately in my country, even though the Constitution ensures gender equality, in practice this does not happen, I cannot have the same freedom and I feel coerced into doing so by this system and the repressive interpretation of the law,” Werner told Brazilian news outlet G1. “What should be natural for both genders ends up being denied to one of them in an arbitrary and repressive manner.”
Werner, who owns her own bikini brand, claimed she was mistreated by police, who allegedly chained her to the bars of her prison cell after taking her into custody. She received a summons for “committing an obscene act” for her topless display, with the Daily Mail citing Article 233 of the Brazilian Penal Code, which describes the charge as “performing an obscene act in a public place, either open or exposed to the public.”
The law fails to define what an “obscene act” is.
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“When crossing the street to leave the dogs, I was approached by the Municipal Guard in a completely arbitrary and disproportionate way,” Werner said. “They arrived already putting my hands behind me and handcuffing me.”
After providing her with a top to cover her breasts, the model said she was taken to a police station and placed in a “dark” jail cell. Werner also claimed her due process rights were violated when police did not allow her to place a phone call to her lawyer.
“When I arrived at the police station, they took me to a dark cell, where I was handcuffed to the cell railing, without the right to communicate with any family member, friend or lawyer,” she said. “I spent more than an hour in that situation, unable to speak to anyone and — even though I had asked for — I was denied my right to speak to my lawyer several times.”
With her case drawing attention, Werner sees it as a matter of a patriarchal society trying to control women’s bodies.
“What happened to me, the abuse of authority and judgment by society, demonstrates how the interpretation of the law itself reflects gender conduct dictated by patriarchal, violent culture, in relation to the control of female bodies,” she said.
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Tom Tillison grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills. Tillison also contributes to BizPac Review.
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