City’s female leaders backing bare boobs over de Blasio
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Amber Jamieson goes undercover in Times Square as a "desnuda." Photo: Helayne Seidman (3)
Prominent female city leaders — including Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito — praised The Post Sunday for revealing that Mayor Bill de Blasio’s crusade against the half-naked ladies of Times Square is wrong-headed and sexist.
“It’s a real shame that women’s bodies continue to be used as political fodder. As I have said repeatedly, our city has many more pressing things on its plate,” Mark-Viverito said in a statement to The Post.
The speaker, until recently a staunch ally of the mayor, was praising Post reporter Amber Jamieson’s first-hand account of her day spent working as one of the painted ladies.
Jamieson’s Page One story in Sunday’s Post noted that de Blasio’s opposition to the working women is severely misguided considering he still has plenty of other quality-of-life issues to address, such as the city’s homelessness explosion.
It’s the second time in about a month that the speaker and mayor have been at odds.
In July, Mark-Viverito blasted de Blasio for painting the City Council as a political pawn in his failed attempt to limit the number of licenses issued to city cab competitors such as Uber.
Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito said she found it “offensive as a woman” that Mayor Bill de Blasio implied that she would go along with whatever he wanted.Photo: Zumawire
Mark-Viverito said she found it “offensive as a woman” that the mayor implied that she would go along with whatever he wanted and wasn’t able to come to a decision on her own.
She wasn’t the only politician to praise The Post’s Times Square coverage — and, in the process, bash de Blasio.
East Harlem Councilwoman Inez Dickens noted the “double standard” of criticizing the topless women while embracing such Times Square stalwarts as the Naked Cowboy, who performs in his tighty whities.
Dickens added it was foolish to make an issue out of the ladies.
“As far as I’m concerned, I’ve got other issues to deal with,” she said.
It wasn’t just women saying the ladies were the least of the city’s problems.
Councilman Rafael Espinal of Bushwick, Brooklyn, said: “We should be more focused on regulating the costumed characters in Times Square, not on the fact that these women are topless. I don’t believe what the topless women are doing is inappropriate.”
Jamieson’s story also got a rise out of everyday New Yorkers and social-media users.
Post reporter Amber Jamieson goes undercover as a “desnuda.”Photo: Helayne Seidman
She gained more than 400 followers on Twitter on Sunday, with many supporting her daring decision to bare it all to call out de Blasio.
“Your determination to give the city the other side of the story was inspiring,” one Post reader wrote in an email. “Your article has the potential to dramatically shift public opinion in this issue and the broader ideal around feminism.”
On Facebook, many echoed the need to focus on the far more serious problems facing the city.
“I personally don’t understand why the politicians are making such a big deal and putting so much resources into this when in the city there are many other issues,” Stu Walerstein wrote.
Another user said, “I think the problem here is not so much the nudity, but the thuggery that goes on down there.”
In Times Square, The Post’s Sunday front page was still turning heads.
“It’s a good cover,” said a 29-year-old tourist named Nolan.
“I don’t think [the topless women are] a problem at all with everything else that is going on here. There are bigger problems than someone painted like the American flag.”
Additional reporting by Khristina Narizhnaya
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