A Brazilian bikini model who could face a year in jail for going topless near a beach is questioning the gender equality guaranteed by the country’s constitution.
Caroline Werner, 37, has criticized the ‘double standards’ that allow men to be shirtless in public. She has called out Brazil’s ‘patriarchal, violent culture’ and the lack of prosecution for men in similar cases.
As the owner of a bikini brand, Werner claims that she was mistreated by the police, leading to her being detained by the Municipal Guard while walking her dog in the southern city of Balneário Camboriú.
‘Unfortunately, in my country, even though the Constitution ensures gender equality, in practice, this does not happen,’ Werner told Brazilian news outlet G1.
‘What should be normal for both genders ends up being denied to one of them in an arbitrary and repressive manner.’
Werner was summoned for ‘committing an obscene act’ after removing her shirt at a beach and tying it around her waist before walking her dogs in May this year.
Article 233 of the Penal Code describes the charge as ‘performing an obscene act in a public place, either open or exposed to the public.’
However, the law does not define an ‘obscene act.’
‘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.’
The police provided a blouse for Werner to cover her breasts, took her to a police station, and left her handcuffed against metal bars in the ‘dark’ jail cell.
Werner alleged that the police violated her due process rights by denying her the opportunity to make a phone call to her family or a lawyer.
‘I spent more than an hour in that situation, unable to speak to anyone and, even though I had asked for it, I was denied my right to speak to my lawyer several times,’ she said.