Prohibition Makes for Strange Bedfellows

It occurred to me while doing some online research for an article recently that it is a definite fact that prohibition makes for strange bedfellows. Allow me to elaborate.

Entering the word "nude", "nudity" or "nudists" as a Google search term returns predominantly pornographic sites. Some of the ones most frequently seen advertise things like;

• Naked singles on video
• Naked chicks
• Teen nudists
• 1000s of naked picture & videos - watch tons of sex totally free
• Nudists & Public Nudity Porn Links
• Nudist amatuer movie page (Porn site)
• Nude Teen Girls Blog
• Free porn movies and teen sex pictures
• Boobs, Ass, Stockings, Teens
• Free High Quality Porn
• Nude Girls Gone Wild

Doesn't it give you a feel for what a sick society we live in these days? Famous American essayist Walt Whitman once wrote;

"Sweet, sane, still Nakedness in Nature! - ah if poor, sick, prurient humanity in cities might really know you once more! Is not nakedness then indecent? No, not inherently. It is your thoughts, your sophistication, your fear, your respectability, that is indecent."

- Walt Whitman, A Sun Bath - Nakedness

I have always found it difficult to reconcile the fact that the government extends consitutional freedom of speech protection to pornography and yet prohibits mere public nudity, criminalizing it as lewdness. It is difficult at best to comprehend how any sane, even marginally intelligent person could view simple, non-sexual nudity as an affront but have no apparent problem with the existence and proliferation of pornography.

Without pronouncing judgment on others, speaking for myself only, while I champion non-sexual nudity I have no interest in observing either pictorial or film depictions of people having sex together or engaging in self pleasure or provacative posing to draw attention to their genitalia. There is nothing wrong with sex but there is a time and place for everything and at least in my opinion, sex is a private matter that should be engaged in privately. I not only have no interest in seeing those things, I actually quite honestly would find it offensive to be non-consenually exposed to any of those things. Yet our government apparently believes it is my responsibility to avoid looking at it if it offends me and thus it is okay for it to exist ad naseum on the Internet and cable television channels. Doesn't in then make perfect sense that the government might make it an indivdual responsibility to turn the head by those who find mere, non-sexual public nudity to be offensive rather than empowering them to make a criminal complaint if they happen to encounter it?

Pornography and the apparent insatiable American appetite for it, is one of the main reasons that nudists and naturists must continually argue against the mythical linkage between nudity and sex and a primary explanation for why so many in society think that behind the walls of every nudist club there goes on a non-stop sexual orgy. The hyprocritcal, putitanical standards of modesty and decency in this country would be laughable if they were not at the same time so annoying, unhealthy and downright despicable.

Gymnophobia in the News

Earlier this month I read a nice article by Julie Scelfo, When Do They Need a Fig Leaf, published at New York Times.com. The article was an interesting discussion of the appropriateness of child nudity and modesty. Today I happened to read the following comment posted by a reader pertaining to the article which is provided her verbatim.

"To the Editor:

As a parent, I have a few observations and responses to your article. First, boys are just as modest as girls. There is nonsense floating around that girls are more mature and that it is therefore O.K. for boys to be nude at older ages.

Second, it is never appropriate for you to allow your children to be nude in front of visitors or other children without the knowledge of the parents. Even then, it is just plain wrong. Parents should encourage modesty, which usually starts around ages 4 to 6.

There is nothing healthy or cute in encouraging your children to be nude, or in just ignoring the behavior and hoping that they will grow out of it. As soon as one sibling starts noticing differences, clothing-optional behavior needs to be discouraged. I would be furious if my son or daughter went to a playmate’s home and there was nudity as described in your article.

Children are highly impressionable; what you allow, encourage or ignore will come back to haunt you. So parents need to grow up and be responsible. If you are a nudist and belong to a nudist colony or resort, obviously the situation is somewhat different, but please don’t impose your beliefs on the rest of us.

DARRELL V. HAMPTON
Rocklin, Calif."

What interests me about the above comment is the fact that while Mr. Hampton and many like him resist in his words, having nudists “impose your beliefs on the rest of us”, it never ceases to amaze me that he has apparently not the slightest hesitancy in attempting to impose his beliefs on the rest of us. He begins by lecturing the New York Times on what is and isn’t appropriate and then expounds on his own beliefs about what children should be taught about modesty. Mr. Hampton is entitled to his opinion just as we all are. Yet his comment illustrates the obvious internal conflicts and phobias he holds with respect to nudity which he was likely conditioned to internalize during his own “impressionable” years as a child, likely imparted to him by his own misguided parents, which causes him to see nudity as such a scary thing.

The fact that I am a nudist aside, I never think it appropriate to lecture others on such a personal issue as how to raise their own children. Since he alludes to the fact that he is a parent, I find it most unfortunate that Mr. Hampton is busily raising another generation of nude-phobic Hampton’s who sadly will likely never feel comfortable with their own bodies. My response is, Mr. Hampton please don’t impose your beliefs on the rest of us.

Modestly Yours

Standards of modesty are aspects of the culture of a country or people, at a given point in time, and is a standard against which an individual in society may be judged. Standards of modesty vary by culture, and vary depending on who is exposed, which parts of the body are exposed, the duration of the exposure, the context, and other variables. Though the measures are applied to both men and women, typically there are differences based on a person’s sex. This is especially true with respect to standards of body modesty. Body modesty standards usually discourage non-essential exposure of the human body in public, especially the bare skin, undergarments and “intimate” parts. In general, Western culture expects intimate body parts to be covered in public at all times. For males, intimate body parts are generally the genitals, anus and bare buttocks. However, for females, in addition to the genitals and anus, given that they have been so highly sexualized in Western culture, the female breasts are also generally considered intimate parts. So while it is perfectly acceptable for men to appear topless in many public areas, the same is not the case for females who are expected to keep their breasts covered.

Naturists and nudists reject contemporary Western standards of modesty which discourage personal, family and social nudity, and seek to create a social environment where people feel comfortable in the company of nude people, and being seen nude, either just by other nudists, or also by the general public. They hold that the naked human form is neither immoral nor inappropriate and endorse a culture of positive body acceptance. Naturists and nudist maintain that all parts of the body are just natural and should not be treated as something that should be hidden. They believe that the practice of hiding body parts for the sole purpose of shame only causes people to have unhealthy or shameful thoughts about the nude body. The practice of nudity however produces a safe, healthy, wholesome atmosphere that allows everyone, to have a better body image, learn respect and develops healthy self-esteem.

Pope John Paul II once observed, “Sexual modesty cannot in any simple way be identified with the use of clothing, nor shamelessness with the absence of clothing and total or partial nakedness...Immodesty is present only when nakedness plays a negative role with regard to the value of the person. Nakedness itself is not immodest... Immodesty is present only when nakedness plays a negative role with regard to the value of the person, when its aim is to arouse concupiscence, as a result of which the person is put in the position of an object for enjoyment.”

Just because a nudist embraces the practice of nudity does not at all mean that they are immodest. For the nudist, modesty is not shed with one’s clothes. While doing research for his study, “Sexual Modesty, Social Meanings, and the Nudist Camp.” Social Problems 12, no. 3 (Winter 1965), Martin S. Weinberg visited three nudist camps in the Chicago area, letting them know that he was doing research, and went on to interview 101 of the camp members away from the nudist camps to learn more about their attitudes. He concluded, “The rules and customs at the nudist camps were sufficient to maintain modesty in all areas except the active display of the body, (i.e. being naked in front of others). In other words, except for being naked, these nudists were every bit as modest as non-nudists in every single way.”

Nudists simply hold to a different standard when in comes to modesty. During social interaction, traditional nudists do not engage in behavior or conduct that draws undue attention to the genitals for the purpose of producing sexual excitement nor engage in overt sexual activity. As has been upheld by extensive legal precedent nationwide, “Mere nudity is not in itself lewd or ‘indecent exposure.’ “Mere nudity cannot be offensive or immoral ‘conduct’ for it is not conduct at all, but merely the natural state of a human being.” Hence I suggest that naturists and nudists are not at all modesty challenged and I thus remain, modestly yours.