Mississippi Code

Miss. Code Ann. § 19-5-103 (2026)

Regulation of massage parlors and public displays of nudity

✓ current as of July 2026

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(1) In accordance with the provisions of Section 19-3-4l, providing that additional powers may be conferred upon the boards of supervisors, the board of supervisors of any county bordering on the Gulf of Mexico and having two (2) judicial districts and the board of supervisors of any county adjacent to any county of this or any adjoining state wherein is located a city having a population in excess of two hundred thousand (200,000), according to the latest federal census, are hereby empowered to promulgate, adopt and enforce ordinances which are necessary and reasonable for the protection of public health and the maintenance of order in relation to the advertisement, the offering of services and the dispensation for compensation of personal services in establishments known as massage parlors and to promulgate, adopt and enforce ordinances which are necessary and reasonable for the protection of public health and the maintenance of order in relation to public displays of nudity.

(2) For the purposes of this section, the term "massage parlor" shall mean any premises where a person manipulates, rubs, caresses, touches, massages, kneads, palpates or otherwise physically contacts the body or part or area of the body of another person. The term "massage parlor" shall not include gymnasia or other premises wherein persons engage in bona fide athletic or conditioning activities, duly licensed barbershop, beauty parlor, chiropractic clinic or other premises of a person practicing a vocation or profession regulated and licensed by the state.
For the purposes of this section, the term "nudity" means uncovered, or less than opaquely covered, postpubertal human genitals, pubic areas, the postpubertal human female breast below a point immediately above the top of the areola, or the covered human male genitals in a discernibly turgid state. For purposes of this definition, a female breast is considered uncovered if the nipple only or the nipple and areola only are uncovered, however, the term "nudity" does not include a woman's breast-feeding of her child whether or not the breast or any part of it is exposed as any element of breast-feeding.
For the purposes of this section, the term "public display" means the exposing, exhibiting, revealing, or in any fashion displaying the nude human body or any representation thereof in any location in such a manner that it may be readily seen by the public by normal unaided vision and the term also means any play, motion picture, dance, show or other presentation, whether pictured, animated or live, performed before an audience and which in whole or in part depicts or reveals nudity or sexual conduct.

(3) Ordinances adopted pursuant to this section shall comport with the elements of due process and shall include but not be limited to specificity, adequate notice, right to hearing, right to counsel, right to appeal adverse findings to a judicial authority and penalties rationally related to prohibited acts.

(4) Boards of supervisors proposing such ordinances shall publish and post notice of such intentions not less than twenty (20) days prior to the holding of a public hearing whereat the purposes and substance of such ordinances shall be fully discussed.

Laws, 1977, ch. 460; Laws, 1981, ch. 331, § 1; Laws, 2006, ch. 520, § 4, eff. 4/3/2006.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 2 cases, 1994–1998 · leading case: J&b Ent., Inc. v. City of Jackson, Mississippi, 152 F.3d 362 (5th Cir. 1998).

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J&b Ent., Inc. v. City of Jackson, Mississippi, 152 F.3d 362 (5th Cir. 1998). “Finally, J&B argues that Miss.Code Ann. § 19-5-103, 20 which defines “nudity” for purposes of determining the regulatory powers of a county board of supervisors, constitutes the state’s official definition of nudity for all purposes, and that because the Ordinance’s definition…”

Steverson v. City of Vicksburg, Miss., 900 F. Supp. 1 (S.D. Miss. 1994). “Inasmuch as Section 1014(A)(1)(g) is severed from Ordinance 93-37 on other grounds, and inasmuch as this Court is not addressing Ordinance 93-29, such claim is best suited for future litigation.”

— Miss. Code Ann. § 19-5-103(2) — 1 case

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