Ghosts of DC: Here’s an amazing shot I found on Shorpy (what an amazing site), taken at the Tidal Basin bathing beach in 1922. The photograph is Washington police officer Bill Norton measuring the distance between the knee and the swimsuit. Colonel Sherrill, the Superintendent of Public Buildings and Grounds had issues an order that suits not be over six inches above the knee so young women would stay decent, while enjoying their summer swim.
2 comments:
I have no doubt that the Republican Party would happily take us back to 1922.
Things might be a little more difficult in today's world to do this.
"The knee" is such a vague term. Do they mean 6 inches above the top of the patella? Or maybe to be fair, since everybody is designed differently, maybe 6 inches above the mid-line of the patella. Standing 'straight', or like the Pic maybe with the leg akimbo that may alter the measured length. Would the person doing the measuring need to be 'female', or maybe merely gender defined female. If a male does the measuring, it might be required that a female witness be present, and there might be a 'stick' required so as to prevent any actual 'touching'. The 'stick' would need to be calibrated by the National Bureau of Standards (NBS) at various temperatures, and the temperature would need to be recorded at the time / place of a woman's suit measurement and any recorded differences added / subtracted from the measured value. And, of course, the female's name, suit/knee length value, social-security-number, age, weight, hair and eye color, and date of last menstrual period would need to be recorded and kept of file for a minimum of three calendar years in each State's newly mandated Department of Standards and Measurements, in a required 'stand-alone' super computer that is not connected to the internet and thus safe from 'hacking' and 'prying-eyes'.
Just a thought.
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