Despite the fact that it is currently legal in New York City for women to go 100 percent topless on the streets, mayor Bill de Blasio is on a crusade to get rid of the mostly-naked ladies in Times Square.
The "desnudas," as they're known, wear nothing but body paint and thongs and spend their days taking photos with people for tips. Gov. Cuomo said it reminds him of the "bad old Times Square," which if you remember NYC as late as the mid-90s, you know was full of hookers and porno theaters.
Is it an exaggeration? A New York Post reporter really took one for the team this week when she got topless herself and went undercover in Times Square to get the real story.
After spending seven hours working to make $286 in tips, reporter Amber Jamieson wrote that she is firmly on "Team Topless."
"If the mayor wants to worry about activity in Times Square, how about the short bald man walking around wearing only black duct tape over his privates?," she wrote.
She concluded that the "managers" who work with the desnudas for 30 percent of their tips are not "pimps" as they've been called.
"A baby-faced rapper wannabe, Chris (the manager Jameison worked with) works as a combination artist and security guard. ... His cousin, David, would mind my bag, take photos and be ready to pounce if anyone tried to touch me inappropriately."
And the idea that the people who pay these women are creepy pervs was not true at all, at least in Jameison's experience. She recounted a 7-year-old girl taking a photo with her to text her mom, and lots of families.
"Moms push their giggling teenage sons toward us. Older wives nudge their smiling husbands in our direction. Middle-aged women laugh, say “Oh my God!” and ask for a photo."
There was one incident where a teenage boy casually touched her boob, but that was about as bad is it got.
The real question is whether Jameison might be considering a new career. Does she clear $300 a day as a Post reporter? Isn't it going to feel kind of boring when she goes back to her desk on Monday? Those questions went unanswered.
Her whole story is worth a read over at the New York Post.
