It will be a big moment for the Ladies Godiva horseback parading group, when they appear to ride naked through the throngs along the curbs of the 2022 Muses parade on Thursday, Feb. 24, raising the eyebrows of uncountable Peeping Toms along the way.
For the first time, two members of the all-female equestrian Carnival club are inducting their daughters into the audacious organization.
The Ladies Godiva are modeled after the legendary medieval noblewoman who rode horseback through her city completely uncovered, except for her flowing hair. The 10 to 20 members of the group aren’t really naked, of course. They wear form-fitting, flesh-toned, scuba-style wetsuits.
The Krewe of Muses parade rolls through New Orleans on Thursday, February 4, 2016 for Mardi Gras.
Twenty-year-old Bella Summa, who is being inducted into the group by her mom, Stacey, said one of the membership rituals is sending away for a skin-tight custom suit, fitted in 33 places, then going to an artist’s house and having the proper musculature spray-painted in the appropriate places to approximate the female anatomy.
Summa is an environmental science major at the University of New Orleans and an aspiring tattoo artist, who applied a comet tattoo to her buddy Tera Marie Eyer, 19, who is the other Ladies Godiva inductee. Eyer is also a UNO student who teaches kids horsemanship.
Horsemanship is a big part of being a Godiva. Handling a 1,100-pound steed amid a loud, rambunctious crowd is a powerful experience. And power is the point.
A new generation of Ladies Godiva, Bella Summa and Tera Marie Eyer
A courageous protest
You see, Lady Godiva’s ride wasn’t merely a matter of exhibitionism. It was a courageous tax protest. The lady had begged her kingly husband to reduce taxes on the population. He dismissively told her that he’d do so … as soon as she rode naked through the streets. In an act of defiance, she did just that. Most of the people of the town appreciatively turned their eyes elsewhere until she passed, to preserve her dignity.
Eyer said that seeing her mother, Tiffany, a longtime member of the Godivas, atop a horse amid the population of practically the whole city of New Orleans, has always been inspirational. Mom might have looked like she was naked. But that didn’t imply vulnerability, it implied the opposite. “She embodied such a powerful woman,” Eyer said.
Summa feels the same way. She has no qualms about following in her mother's footsteps by appearing to be nude in public. The Godivas have “normalized it,” she said. They’ve destigmatized it and taken the power back. It’s a community. We’re strong together.”
Eyer believes that Carnival crowds immediately recognize that the point of the Godivas is to be icons of strength. “There’s a solidarity between us and the paradegoers,” she said. “They expect us to be outrageous.”
Nicole Perry, dressed as Lady Godiva, and her horse, Ebony, 12, ride down Jefferson Avenue on Thursday, February 20, 2020. She and other members of the Ladies Godiva Riding Club were heading back to their trailers following the cancellation of three parades in New Orleans on Thursday, February 20, 2020. About 12 riders and a dozen more crew members with the Ladies Godiva Riding Club, from poop scoopers, walkers, flag holders, and DJs gathered around 3 pm in a parking lot on Tchoupitoulas in preparation for today's Mardi Gras parades. Strong winds resulted in the cancellation of Babylon, Chaos, and Muses parades in New Orleans on Thursday, February 20, 2020. The group was packing up for the ride back home.
Feminist subversion
The Godivas, who first appeared in 2007, will join other groups that practice various forms of outrageous feminist subversion, such as the Pussyfooters, Bearded Oysters, Camel Toe Lady Steppers, when the Muses parade rolls along the standardized Uptown route on Thursday at 6:45 p.m.
