This post originally appeared at https://www.bootsandsabers.com/2023/11/01/should-kids-participate-in-the-naked-bike-ride/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=should-kids-participate-in-the-naked-bike-ride

One thing I’ll point out about the mom who wants her prepubescent daughter to participate in the Naked Bike Ride…. no dad in sight.

The mother of the 10-year-old girl did not attend the hearing, but one of the bike ride’s organizers read a statement she wrote about the incident.

“As a parent, it is my responsibility to raise my daughter to be a thoughtful adult who is engaged with her community. The World Naked Bike Ride is a place of empowerment for my daughter and I. We have participated several times, because it is a rare situation where we can exercise freedom over our own bodies and be naked of liability for the behavior of others towards our bodies. I would like to believe that our community values freedom of speech, self-expression, and the right to protest. Those bills would do harm to those freedoms, and as a parent, I must try to preserve those freedoms so my daughter may continue to enjoy them,” according to the mother.

Opponents of the bills not only argued on behalf of their freedom of speech. They also claimed the bills would impose dress standards akin to Iran’s decency laws that require full hijabs for women. They said that lawmakers should leave the issue up to local control. They even claimed that the girl participating in the bike ride was up to her parents, and that Republicans should support parents’ right to raise their children how they see fit.