The Daily Newds 1/31/08

• Male circumcision has fallen out of fashion. [abc.net.au]
• Are First Amendment rights being violated at the University of Southern Indiana? [The Shield]
• Lake Como Family Nudist Resort is holding a free open house on February 9 to showcase their new RV village. [sptimes.com]
• Police in Hong Kong have placed "great importance" on the case of a man arrested for pasting the heads of "prominent pop stars" onto images of naked bodies. [earthtimes.org]
• Naked yoga is a growing trend in New Mexico. [dailylobo.com]
• The fascination with nude art models continues, and one Italian woman explains why she and her colleagues have gone on strike for better wages.

  "It is not easy because you are naked, so you have to be very comfortable with your body and have a nice relationship with everybody," she says as the students look on, "but not too open and not too close. You are trying to give inspiration to the students. If we lose these artistic roots that are very important to Italy then we lose a big part of our identity." [cnn]

• Thai police have busted a husband and wife home porno operation. This has nothing to do with nudism, but the photos of the police posing with sex toys are hilarious. [pattayadailynews.com]
• Another lawsuit emerges over illegal police strip searches.

  The potential class-action suit, filed in federal court this week against The Geo Group, involves a drunk-driving suspect who was strip-searched at a county prison the firm manages near Philadelphia."It's humiliating," lead plaintiff Stephen D. Bussy, 53, said Thursday. [delawareonline.com]

• Think it's not a man's world? Check out this gallery of famous topless male actors. [reelzchannel.com]
• 23 South African celebrities are baring all in Marie Claire magazine to raise funds for Rape Crisis.

  "It refers to what is perhaps the most overriding myth surrounding sexual assault: that the individual made themselves a target through some action of their own, by wearing a short skirt, for instance, or drinking too much in a bar."
  
  "By asking celebrities to pose naked in familiar surroundings such as a bus stop or a locker room, we are challenging this notion: nothing, not even nudity in public, is ever an invitation to rape. " [news24.com]

• Rising complaints over public nudity and sexual activity is forcing the closure of the Jordan Lake Trail in North Carolina. [news-record.com]

Tags: nudism, naturism, nudist, nudists, naturist, naturists, nudity, nudes, bare, au naturel, nude, naked

The Old Swimming Hole

It's getting to the point where people who remember swimming naked at the old swimming hole are fading away. Still, some wonderful memories endure.

Most any hot summer day, at least a dozen boys in their birthday suits could be found here cooling themselves...One hot morning, I was in a group of local boys having our morning swim, when three older ladies with fishing poles on their shoulders came walking down the creek bank.

They were headed to our swimming hole to catch a few catfish. We all headed for the deep water to conceal our naked bodies. The ladies were wise to what was going on.

It seemed that hours went by, and we were getting hungry and really wanting to get out and go home to our mothers' home-cooked meals. Finally, one of the ladies said, "You boys may as well come on out. You ain't got nothing we ain't never seen before." [charlotte.com]

Tags: nudism, naturism, nudist, nudists, naturist, naturists, nudity, nudes, bare, au naturel, nude, naked

Sweden's Bara Bröst Network Expands Activities

Sweden's Bara Bröst Network, a group of women seeking topfree equality at local swimming pools, has plans for expanding its activities.

Supporters can add their names to a list online, new local groups are forming around the country, workshops are being organized, politicians are being contacted, and lists of topfree friendly pools are being compiled.

Apparently one politician in Malmö has recommended that all municipal pools should not discriminate against women who wish to swim topfree the same as men, and the group is eagerly awaiting a decision.

The Swedish model should be an inspiration for American topfree advocates to organize a movement here to bring topfreedom to at least some beaches, or sections of beaches.

The time is NOW.

Tags: nudism, naturism, nudist, nudists, naturist, naturists, nudity, nudes, bare, au naturel, nude, naked

The Daily Newds 1/30/08

• Nudes are all over the Vatican, but a fitness club ad in Boston which depicts nuns sketching a naked man is seen as "a callous contempt for the sensibility of Catholics". [nbc10.com]
• A 25 year-old Malta woman was cleared of "offending public morals" by posing nude for photographs in public places, because the exact date of the offenses could not be established, which was required by law. [timesofmalta.com]
• A small town Oregon mayor faces a recall because she posted some photographs of herself wearing a black bra and panties on a MySpace page. The photos were taken three years before she became mayor, were taken in a fire house with the permission from the chief, and were intended to be used in a women's fitness contest. If the photos were of the woman on the beach wearing a bikini, nobody would care. [rawstory.com]
• Did Rudy Giuliani really clean up the sex in New York City? According to the Washington Post, the sex just went underground and upscale. [washingtonpost.com]
• It's perfectly OK that McDonald's is a chief contributor to obesity in America, but it's not OK for the fast food company's ads to appear on the BET web site alongside images of scantily-clad women. [suntimes.com]
• The woman behind "Sextival", Israel's first sex and erotica expo, has the following observation on American attitudes on matters of sexuality: "In the US, it seems like there's a double standard. Adult material is available everywhere, but you would hardly ever see a women go topless on the beach." [jpost.com]
• Nude photos of Wake Forest football quarterback Riley Skinner are all over the Internet. With a body as impressive as his, the real crime would be if he didn't pose naked. I hope they leave him alone, but he's probably in deep trouble. [nbc17.com]
• Massachusetts is finally on the verge of adopting a breastfeeding bill of rights. [thebostonchannel.com]
• A bill that would ban television ads for the "Girls Gone Wild" videos is stalling in the Tennessee legislature. [newschannel5.com]
• The New Zealand Advertising Standards Authority has banned a soda ad which shows two young boys spying on a woman sunbathing in the nude. "It is political correctness gone mad when a tiny minority can dictate that such a fun and innocent cartoon commercial could be found offensive." [stuff.co.nz]
• The Jasper Texas school system has a new dress code that bans the wearing of "shower shoes", "pants with holes", and "hairstyles that cause attention", among many other things. [jaspernewsboy.com]
• Ass-baring parties are the new rage in New York gay nightlife. [villagevoice.com]
• A group of Memphis topless clubs has filed a federal lawsuit alleging that the county is passing ordinances specifically designed to put them out of business. [myfoxmemphis.com]
• A UK watchdog agency has given Ryanair a slap on the wrist for advertising "hot" fares using the image of a "naughty" school girl. Peter Sherrad, a spokesman for Ryanair says, "It is remarkable that a picture of a fully clothed model is now claimed to cause 'serious or widespread offense. This isn't advertising regulation, it is simply censorship." [dollymix.tv]

Tags: nudism, naturism, nudist, nudists, naturist, naturists, nudity, nudes, bare, au naturel, nude, naked

An Open Letter to the NAC Regarding Liz Book

Dear Naturist Action Committee,

Thank you for responding to my last post about topfreedom. I do appreciate that you have been working closely with Liz Book on her struggle for topfree equality.

I would like to know specifically what you have planned to support Liz on March 8 for her International Women's Day Top-Free Stand.

I am ready to send a contribution today, and will urge all my readers to do the same, if you will be actively involved in organizing mass support for Liz on that day. Without mass support, Liz will likely face another arrest.

I look forward to your response.

nudiarist

Tags: nudism, naturism, nudist, nudists, naturist, naturists, nudity, nudes, bare, au naturel, nude, naked

A Topfreedom Call for Action

The Academic Naturist makes a passionate plea for action in the cause of topfree equality for women, calling for nudists and naturists to offer concrete support for Elizabeth Book in her fight for topfreedom. I have been advocating topfree equality for some time now on this blog, and I agree with AN that this is an achievable goal for body freedom advocates everywhere.

Talk is cheap, and actions speak louder than words. Stand up for what you believe in! Your armchair commentary is enlightening, but getting out and doing something is far more helpful. You can indulge in your nudist lifestyle this summer, but please invest in the future of nudism as well. (That's part of the problem -- we'd all prefer to indulge, sunning ourselves and being nude, instead of clothed and pushing for change.)

This is a "numbers" issue. Spencer Tunick can get away with photographing thousands of people in public places because he has wide support. Elizabeth Book is arrested for being topfree because she is alone. If 1000 nudists/naturists joined Book on March 8 for her International Women's Day Top-Free Stand, the police would be forced to stand by and allow the protest to take place. Where is AANR, NAC, or TERA on this issue, other than offering words of support? If thousands of people are willing to show up completely naked for Tunick, then certainly there are even more who would be willing to support Book in her crusade. The time is NOW.

Tags: nudism, naturism, nudist, nudists, naturist, naturists, nudity, nudes, bare, au naturel, nude, naked

Support Your Local Club

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Dennis Franz Responds to FCC Ruling Against NYPD Blue

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nudistclubhouse.com

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The Daily Newds 1/29/08

• A Williamsburg man is fed up with nude children on "America's Funniest Home Videos" because it is "child pornography". [dailypress.com]
• A writer in San Francisco, commenting on the FCC fines against ABC TV for showing a woman nude from behind, wonders how this could happen in a country that has a First Amendment. [beyondchron.org] Another writer says that "it seems most Americans want to live in a fairytale land which is wrapped up in glittery cotton wool." [hecklerspray.com]
• Germaine Greer, in a column exploring the connection between art and exhibitionism, says, "The woman who displays her own body as her artwork seems to me to be travelling in the tracks of an outworn tradition that spirals downward and inward to nothingness." [blogs.guardian.co.uk]
• With all the rampant fears about nudity and sex on the Internet, Bonnie Ruberg offers her top ten reasons why cybersex is actually good for you. [The Village Voice]
• A French couple who posed for nude photographs at a World War I memorial were fined about $250 for "exhibitionism". [news.com.au]
• The wild blue yonder just got a little wilder with the announcement that a travel company is offering naturist flights for German tourists. [news.com.au]
• Diane Keaton no longer enjoys seeing herself naked. [newkerala.com]
• Heather L. Nunez, an art student at the University of Maine, uses nudity in her works. "We watch violence on TV all the time and it's okay," she explains. "So why is nudity shocking?" She is not trying to shock people, but instead point out the societal hypocrisies we hold. [umpi.maine.edu]
• A North Carolina attorney was held in contempt of court when a judge noticed that the copy of Maxim magazine that he was reading had a topless woman on the cover. [wsoctv.com]
• A Pennsylvania prison guard is back on the job after a arbitrator ruled that her posing naked in Playboy caused no harm to the institution. [philly.com]

Tags: nudism, naturism, nudist, nudists, naturist, naturists, nudity, nudes, bare, au naturel, nude, naked

Isn't It Ironic?

The "indecent" scene from "NYPD Blue" which shows a woman's bare buttocks has received over 1.2 million views on YouTube. The FCC fine has actually encouraged more children to see what the government is professing to protect them from.



Tags: nudism, naturism, nudist, nudists, naturist, naturists, nudity, nudes, bare, au naturel, nude, naked

PETA's State of the Union UNdress

The video is a weird combination of stripping and protest (NSFW).


Watch more PETA videos at PETATV.com

Tags: nudism, naturism, nudist, nudists, naturist, naturists, nudity, nudes, bare, au naturel, nude, naked

Fifty Nude Women: A Musical Montage

Way back in the Spring of 2001, first-time filmmaker Margot Roth took out an ad in The Village Voice to recruit participants for a documentary about naked women, seeking "50 Real Women of All Ages, Sizes, and Colors . . . Stretch Marks, Bow-Legs, Body Hair, Cellulite, Tattoos, Wrinkles, Knobby Knees, Varicose Veins, Round Bellies, Defined Muscles, Scars—Thin, Heavy, Pear-Shaped . . . All Shapes and Sizes Welcome & Needed". Women responded with enthusiasm.

Roth’s career as the Bob Guccione of bulgy everywomen arose, unlike Bob Guccione’s, out of a sense of civic duty. Several months earlier, a friend of hers had begun to date “this really nice woman” whose breasts, he confessed to Roth, looked less alluring au naturel than they did encased in their customary pushup bra.

“What’s wrong, are they hairy or covered in stretch marks?” Roth asked.

“No, they just hang down.”

“Dude, if large breasts stand up straight they’re not real!” Roth declared. “You just need to be barraged with, like, real boobs.”

This is precisely why nudism, or at least some sort of societal shift towards a wider acceptance of non-sexual nudity, is important to the mental health of individuals who obtain their only images of the human body from pornography.

The attacks of September 11, 2001, forced Margot to shelve the project because, at the time, it seemed "frivolous", but last November the film was completed, and several of the participants gathered in the filmmakers apartment to view and comment on the final product.

“I’m thinner now,” Heather Allison, a thirty-year-old university administrator and singer, said, as a shot of her as an odalisque revealed upper-abdomen fat rolls. “I was still coming off my women’s-college weight gain.” She went on, “When I think back on it, doing this was the beginning of my adult life.”

That's a pretty profound statement to make, that shedding clothing and coming to terms with her own body was a watershed of maturity. Time for America to grow up a little, too.

The Fifty Nude Women Project

Tags: nudism, naturism, nudist, nudists, naturist, naturists, nudity, nudes, bare, au naturel, nude, naked

Buckeye Bares Meeting Akron Ohio 2/2/08

Buckeye Bares will be having its next meeting Sat February 2nd in the Akron / Canton area of Ohio. If you would like to attend please either send an email to info@buckeyebares.com with your name and address or fill out the info request form and they will email you complete information and directions.

Tags: nudism, naturism, nudist, nudists, naturist, naturists, nudity, nudes, bare, au naturel, nude, naked

200 People in Nude Spanish Protest

200 people stripped naked in front of Barcelona Cathedral to raise consciousness about animal cruelty prevalent in the fur industry. [eitb24.com]

Tags: nudism, naturism, nudist, nudists, naturist, naturists, nudity, nudes, bare, au naturel, nude, naked

In Texas, Strippers are Prostitutes

In Killeen, Texas, undercover state investigators enjoyed a couple of paid lap dances, and the two women who performed for them were arrested and charged with prostitution.

The Texas penal code states that prostitution occurs when a person knowingly "offers to engage, agrees to engage, or engages in sexual conduct for a fee; or solicits another in a public place to engage with him in sexual conduct for hire." Part of the penal code's definition of sexual conduct, includes sexual contact, which is defined as "any touching of the anus, breast, or any part of the genitals of another person with intent to arouse or gratify the sexual desire of any person."...Six TABC officers contributed to the arrests, and two officers made about four trips to the strip club since October to investigate the complaints. During undercover investigations at strip clubs, the procedure dictates that officers are to act as customers and to only accept services that are initiated and offered by the dancers.

I hope all the officers were sufficiently aroused and gratified during their grueling investigation.

Tags: nudism, naturism, nudist, nudists, naturist, naturists, nudity, nudes, bare, au naturel, nude, naked

How NOT to be a Nudist

So you think you want to be a nudist? Well, there are many ways to start, such as sleeping in the nude, being nude in your home, joining a local club, visiting a resort or beach, etc. What I cannot recommend is making your first nudist experience a job.

Once I decide that something is a good idea -- going to Australia, baking a chocolate cake, trying nudism -- I work blindly, diligently, toward setting it into motion. As I continued flipping through the 1,500 entries in the WWOOF book in search of our next destination after we finished our daily duties to Peter's chickens and banana trees, I marked the nudist positions along with those that offered interesting activities like composting and making cheese. And I kept pestering Dan. [alternet.org]

WWOOF is an acronym for Willing Workers on Organic Farms, so the author of the piece, Nicole, was looking for work as her first nudist experience, which is a very bad idea, not to mention that her partner Dan was quite unenthusiastic about the whole idea in the first place.

Dan and Nicole arrived at the resort totally clueless about the nudist lifestyle, not even being aware of the basic etiquette of carrying a towel to sit on. In addition, their nudity was required as part of the job, so the pleasure of being naked suddenly became a mundane task.

Generally people who write about their first-time social nudism experiences, they tell about their apprehensions about stripping in front of strangers. Nicole describes getting naked in a very matter-of-fact manner.

"Well," I said. "I guess we should get naked?" Dan shrugged, shook his head, and laughed a little. "I guess."

We walked down a path toward the pool, naked but for our sandals and sunglasses.

That actually sounds positive for Nicole and Dan, that they exude a natural confidence that is a trademark for many nudists. The real problem revealed itself when the couple met their first naked people face to face.

Chlorinated water glistened on the man's back hair, chest hair and ass hair, but what pudenda were visible from under their big bellies were smooth and disconcertingly shiny. This guy said his name was Peter, and I said something about our just having stayed with a Peter, though inwardly I doubted that that Peter waxed his balls. The woman swung her arm out from behind pendulous, waist-length breasts to shake our hands, and I wondered why she didn't remove her moustache or sparse chin beard, as she obviously was no stranger to depilatory creams or razors.

Suddenly Nicole's true intentions were revealed - she was there really only to write a story, not to be a nudist. The rest of the article is a series of complaints about the facilities, the food, the work, the bugs, and the people.

After more rambling in the article about Germans, nudism, and Rousseau in an attempt to highbrow her report, Nicole gets to the heart of her own problem - she is an exhibitionist and not a nudist.

Since I hadn't considered the possible influence of my own exhibitionism in deciding to go naturist, I certainly hadn't contemplated its conditions. Evidently, I didn't think that enforced exhibitionism was as fun as it might sound. Evidently, I wanted to choose who looked and when...I'd modeled for fetishists, taken my clothes off for artists, and even posed for pornographic anime illustrators. Still, it's unsettling to sit around watching Australian soaps ass naked under the pretext of candor and communal good feelings while people steal clandestine glances at your vagina.

Dan and Nicole ended up hating their boss, the resort dogs, and the entire clothes-free experience in general. They arrived as cynics, and did everything they could while they were there to convince themselves that they were better than everyone else. The entire article is dishonest - Nicole did not want to be a nudist, she was looking for someplace where she would be worshipped as a goddess. She should open up a website where men buy subscriptions to see her nude photos and fantasize over her for Onanistic satisfaction, or get a job as a stripper.

Tags: nudism, naturism, nudist, nudists, naturist, naturists, nudity, nudes, bare, au naturel, nude, naked

Confessions of a Smoothie

When I was in my early twenties I shaved off all my pubes.

I spent the next few months avoiding any sort of nudity in front of others. Nobody shaved their pubic hair in the 1970s.

Why made me do it back then? Part of it was a sexual thrill, I must admit, another part was to just want to see what it all looked like down there without any dressing.

Another time in my mid-thirties I shaved my entire body, arm hair, pits and all. Total smoothie. I did this when my wife was away for two weeks visiting family across the country. I really liked the feeling, but I let it grow back naturally, aside from a little trim now and then. My wife never noticed, or if she did, she never said anything. I was not really all that hairy back then, anyway.

So, two years ago I came out of the closet as a nudist, and suddenly my skin, hair and all, was out in the open. As I would pass by a mirror, I began to notice my hair, which had gotten a bit out of control. The hair which used to be on the top of my head had relocated to my back, and my buttocks.

I've been buzzing and shaving my head for a few years now, so it was not a great leap to begin working on the rest of the body. Armed with only a Mach III razor and a beard trimmer, I began hacking away at the forest that had covered my back. That led to shaving the buttocks and parts of the upper thighs. I shaved the pubes except for a manly landing strip.

So I once again looked in the mirror. The back was fine, but all that chest and belly hair now looked out of place. So that all came off, too.

I stayed like that for a couple of weeks, but I kept looking at my leg hair and eventually decided that had to go, too, And the armpit hair. The forearm hair remains, although trimmed.

Now I want to stress that I have always been straight sexually, and am very secure with my own "manliness" (not that there's anything wrong with the alternative). Shaving armpits and legs is socially a very feminine thing to do, but it does not feel that way to me. I just like it.

Shaving is not going to be for everyone. All I'm saying is that if you have any inclination to shave, you should at least try it once. Hair does grow back. Be sure to do a lot of research on the Internet to find the right tools based upon your own hair and skin types. Never, ever dry shave, or use a disposable razor.

You need to be able to set aside all the social and cultural stereotypes of masculinity and femininity. Women should be able to let their armpit and leg hair grow if they wish, and men should be able to shave wherever they please. With nudists, the skin is what you see, so you might as well groom it to your own satisfaction.

Here's a link to a positive article on being a "smoothie".

Tags: nudism, naturism, nudist, nudists, naturist, naturists, nudity, nudes, bare, au naturel, nude, naked

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The Fascist Communications Commission (FCC)

All hail the F.C.C.

Have you ever seen any of the "CSI" programs? They air when many children are still awake. It's good, clean family entertainment.

Graphic images, including close-ups of corpses with gunshot wounds, autopsies, and other bloody injuries, are common. Other graphic scenes have depicted cannibalism, a fully nude female corpse, and mutilated victims of a deranged killer. Sexual situations are extremely graphic. In the past, scenes included a man with a biting fetish, men receiving S&M beatings from a dominatrix in a sex club, a grown man with a sexual desire to dress like and be treated as an infant, and a woman making a sex video for her 15-year-old stepson. A recent episode included footage of a dead child and a teenaged girl being beaten during a botched exorcism. [parentstv.org]

Sounds positively indecent, doesn't it?

Well, not according to the F.C.C. which turns its back on violence and hatred, but levies huge fines for simple human nudity. The government agency showed that it is completely clueless and out of control when it levied a $1.43 million dollar fine against ABC for showing a woman's nude backside in a 2003 episode of "NYPD Blue".

"We find that the programming at issue is within the scope of our indecency definition because it depicts sexual organs and excretory organs -- specifically an adult woman's buttocks," the FCC wrote. "Although ABC argues, without citing any authority, that the buttocks are not a sexual organ, we reject this argument, which runs counter to both case law and common sense."

The commission levied the maximum fine it could at the time against ABC. It then multiplied the $27,500 fine by the 52 ABC stations that aired the episode during Central Standard Time and Mountain Standard Time.

I really don't have words sufficient to express how horrified I am by this completely absurd and dangerous action, which not only defies basic logic, but is contrary to any freedoms supposedly guaranteed by the Constitution. This is far too much power for any government agency to have, legislating a twisted version of morality that encourages murder and mayhem, and denies normal and healthy human sexuality. And the F. C. C. has the audacity to claim that its action is justified by "common sense"!

The Fascists and the Nazis used censorship and violence to achieve their goals. You still think it can't happen in America?

Tags: nudism, naturism, nudist, nudists, naturist, naturists, nudity, nudes, bare, au naturel, nude, naked

A Gentleman and a Jerk

OK, this has nothing to do with nudism.

When Heath Ledger died this week, the talking heads were falling all over themselves to see who could come up with the most entertaining speculation. Maybe he committed suicide. Some said he was depressed. Others said that playing The Joker in the new Batman film scarred him. Others said he was a drug addict. Rumors, rumors, rumors.

And one person actually mocked the tragic death. Fox News' John Gibson went on the air with "Brokeback Mountain" jokes, laughed that maybe Ledger killed himself after watching the Democrats debate, and generally dismissed the actor as a "weirdo". Links to stories about Gibson's horrifyingly inappropriate and callous comments are here and here and here.

But then came a gift, a series of eloquent words strung together that erased all the ugliness which has ensued, and immediately showed how ignorant, shallow, and cruel all the media types really are. On Oprah's show, actor Daniel Day-Lewis took a moment to comment on Ledger's death, and showed some true emotion as he reflected upon the death of a man.

"It seems somehow strange to be talking about anything else. Not that there's anything to say really except to express one's regret and to say from the bottom of one's heart to his family and to his friends that I'm sorry for their trouble," he said."

I didn't know him," Day-Lewis said. "I have an impression, a strong impression, I would have liked him very much as a man if I had. I'd already marveled at some of his work, and had looked forward so much to seeing the work that he would do in the future."

The video link is here.

It really is not that hard to show some compassion when somebody dies. To most people, compassion comes naturally, it is simply being human. The 24 hour news cycle has spawned an army of robotic idiots, latching on to anyone's personal tragedy in order to compete for ratings. The more outrageous the comment, the more people tune in. Death is entertainment.

The real tragedy in Ledger's death lies in those who were closest to him - his daughter, his family, his friends - who have lost a father, a son, a companion. If we cease to be able to comprehend this clearly, then we have lost yet another slice of our own humanity, and are heading down a path of moral bankruptcy.

Thank you, Daniel Day-Lewis, for reminding us so effectively of what it is to be a gentleman.

Tags: nudism, naturism, nudist, nudists, naturist, naturists, nudity, nudes, bare, au naturel, nude, naked

Is This a Crime? (Part Two)

Yet another incident of students photographing themselves nude has surfaced, this time in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

40 Parkland High School students have been threatened by prosecutors with possession of child pornography when a video and photos of girls having sex and exposing their breasts were transmitted by cell phone to students and elsewhere.

When you read the article, there is no indication that anyone at all is concerned that the kids are having sex or taking their clothes off. That's because anyone with a pulse knows that children are engaging in sexual activity and there's really nothing anyone can do about it except to educate them about contraception and safe sex. Abstinence does not work.

What upsets people in this incident is the images of that sex. It's OK to have sex, it's OK to know about sex, it's OK to talk about sex, but it's not OK to photograph sex. Suddenly with photographic evidence that high school kids with hormones are sexually active, it becomes "child pornography" and the sex authorities all swoop in for the kill.

This is not child pornography. It's kids being stupid and experimenting with sex. Child pornography is abuse, it is exploitation, it is the adult use of images of underage children engaged in sexual activity for gratification and profit. A bunch of high school kids photographing each other in the nude and then sharing the images among themselves is not child pornography. It's dumb, but it should not be a crime.

Call the parents, take away the cell phones, bring in a counselor if you must, but leave the state police and prosecutors out of this. There is not a child pornography ring at this high school, and the unnecessary criminalization of what happened can only serve to ruin many young lives.

As I've said before, society has to come to terms with the fact that technology has brought about the virtual end of privacy. Just about everything we do in public is subject to surreptitious imaging, either by the government, or by anyone passing by with a camera phone. Celebrities are photographed to such an extreme that we know when they are not wearing underwear, or are having their menstrual period, or are snorting coke.

There is always a price to pay for having a free society, and sometimes that price seems quite high, but when one considers the alternative, a police state that seeks to control all human behavior, it's frightening.

Without police intervention, these kids will have learned their own lesson by realizing that those images that they took, or posed for, will be available forever in cyberspace. It's inevitable that someday in the not too distant future people will stop caring if such images become ubiquitous. Maybe we should all just post nude photos of ourselves on the Internet now and get it over with.

Tags: nudism, naturism, nudist, nudists, naturist, naturists, nudity, nudes, bare, au naturel, nude, naked

The Daily Newds 1/24/08

• A 22 year-old woman complained to police when she found out that some nude photos that she had posed for when she was 17 were posted on the Internet. The photographer who took the photos has been arrested and charged with possession or promotion of child pornography. [ssnewstelegram.com]
• Charleston artist Kamille Corry is having a gallery show of her figure works.

  "The human figure, in all its infinite beauty of rhythm, expressiveness, anatomical structure and design, is inexorably infused with the most complex of features: the individual soul," says Corry when explaining her fascination with the subject of nudes. [charleston.net]

• Europe's growing naturist community likes what New Zealand has to offer. [homesworldwide.co.uk]
• Portland artist Tamera Bremer has recovered the nude self-portrait rug that was stolen while on exhibit. [oregonlive.com]
• The food at Bob Evans Restaurants might be "down on the farm", but apparently breastfeeding is not. [wbaltv.com]
• An advice columnist states that parental nudity is not harmful to children "so long as it happens naturally and isn't made a big deal of", and then she advises a woman to make a big deal out of it. [dailyrecord.co.uk]
• It's amazing how strippers and drag shows are suddenly wonderful things when charity is the beneficiary. [http://www.pontefractandcastlefordexpress.co.uk/news/Full-Monty-in-Ponte.3701766.jp]
• A Canadian city which placed a steel plate over genitals of a nude statue has been ordered to pay the artist $15,000 in damages. [theglobeandmail.com]
• Reese Witherspoon is against on-screen nudity.

  "If [actresses] take their clothes off, they objectify themselves," she tells the UK edition of Glamour. "I am flabbergasted by how many legitimate actresses do it." [huffingtonpost.com]

• The new First Lady of France Carla Bruni once greeted a journalist with the words "sorry for being topless". [dailymail.co.uk]
• Kathleen Turner writes about her steamy nude scenes in the movie "Body Heat".

  So, wearing just a bathrobe, I launched into introductions: “Hi, I’m Kathleen. You’re the camera operator? Oh, that’s wonderful. Oh, you’re the focus puller? Uh-huh. Props? Nice.”Handshakes all round. Then Bill Hurt and I stripped naked in front of all these people we’d just met and started filming this graphic sex scene. Afterwards, I felt terribly vulnerable and shaken. [fashion.ie]

• The International Museum of Women explores the meaning behind clothes.

  “[Our bra] is part of who we are,” begins, Brenda Jiménez, a Mexican artist, whose writing appears with a series of photographs depicting women wearing bras over their clothes. “Initially, it was designed to hide our attributes; now it is designed to show them off. We wear it when we want to feel comfortable, secure and frisky; or we just don’t wear it at allWhy [is it that] some women wear the skimpiest bikinis and feel clothed, but feel naked in their bras, or underwear for that matter.” [egypttoday.com]

• An attorney representing an Oakland man who was strip-searched after a drunk driving arrest says that nudity is the "most dehumanizing thing you can do to somebody". [sfgate.com]
• A woman who attended a Greek stage production which featured full-frontal male nudity regrets sitting in the front row. [cyprus-mail.com]
• A mother experienced a dilemma at a YMCA when she took her 4 year-old son and 6 year-old daughter into the locker room, and nudity ensued. Be sure to read all the comments which follow the article, people really do have serious issues with the human body. [ajc.com]
• Some people are upset over the amount of skin shown by a model on a sign for a Florida gentleman's club. Apparently they've never been to the beach. [9news.com]
• A New Zealand artist is an exhibitionist at his own exhibitions. [scoop.co.nz]
• You know that we're in a recession when lawmakers in Santa Fe are proposing a "titty tax". [kob.com]
• Artist James May is not interested in painting perfect bodies, and finding interesting nude subjects can be a challenge. "It's really not a good idea to just go up to people on the street and ask them to pose naked for you." [clarionledger.com]

Tags: nudism, naturism, nudist, nudists, naturist, naturists, nudity, nudes, bare, au naturel, nude, naked

Stealing Your Soul

The belief that a photograph can steal your soul is still held by many cultures, from Native Americans to Australian Aborigines. It is a religious superstition which evolved from the mirror, which was seen as having the power to steal souls, and that breaking mirrors was bad luck. One would think that progressive civilizations would have set aside such foolish beliefs, but fear of images is very much alive today.

Photographs of some Orange County high school water polo athletes have turned up on gay porn web sites, right alongside graphic nude photos of young men engaging in sex acts.

The presence of the photos on these Web sites has alarmed local parents, coaches and school officials and traumatized high school athletes who were unaware they were being photographed. In some cases, boys have sought counseling after learning their photos were on the Web sites, parents said.

It's just as if their souls had been stolen.

Some of the comments from students and parents are as follows: "It made me sick to my stomach"; "I feel my life wasn't respected as it should"; "It's disgusting"; "This is why we have to enact some stricter laws to protect our kids."

Chances are the taking and posting of the photographs was legal according to the First Amendment. Was it a lousy and even creepy thing to do? Of course, but the overreaction of people in this case is alarming. These are, after all, merely images. Had they been published in Sports Illustrated along with the bikini models, there would have been no outcry, but the association of the students with gay porn has set people off like an atomic bomb.

I have news for you. Every single Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue has served as masturbatory material for millions of young males all around the world, so we had better start banning all images of high school students from that magazine, too.

People had better get used to the fact that there is no longer any reasonable expectation of privacy in this world. From digital cameras, camera phones, video cameras, surveillance cameras, etc., everyone who is out in public is likely having his or her "soul stolen" by someone somewhere. In London, it is estimated that a person is caught on camera 300 times in an average day. It's very difficult to argue that the taking of photographs at public events should be illegal when the government is putting cameras everywhere.

The metaphorical toothpaste is out of the tube. The lesson learned from Prohibition was that the banning of alcoholic beverages was an unenforceable law. It is likely that the control of digital content will also be unenforceable. We simply have to get used to the fact that if we take one step outside our homes, our image is in the public domain, but our souls still remain our own.

Tags: nudism, naturism, nudist, nudists, naturist, naturists, nudity, nudes, bare, au naturel, nude, naked

The Weekend Newds 1/19/08

• Lady Godiva rides again, this time to promote a new film. [Manchester Evening News]
• A visit to a nude photo exhibit leaves a South African woman feeling uneasy.

  I decide to move past my initial awkwardness and view the anonymous breasts and buttocks as the art pieces they are intended to be. Or more for the interesting issues they might highlight about the ‘lookist’ era we’re all living in — where the female form is a highly politicised subject, and the right body measurements could make one seem like a better person. [thetimes.co.za]

• A local bar hired two topless dancers, which prompted the City Council of Grafton, North Dakota, to begin regulating strippers.

  "My problem isn't the idea of strippers, it's the negative collateral effects that come with stripping that I want to keep out of town," he (Mayor Todd Burianek) said. "It's the increased drug trafficking and immoral violations of law that have shown to coincide with strippers.
  
  "I'm not some prude who hasn't seen these things," he said. "It just feels creepy in my town." [The Jamestown Sun]

• A New Zealand photographer has had his artwork selected for a New York gallery showing.

  "In my images I challenge the view that the contemporary queer nude male is a specimen of physical perfection," he explains. [gaynz.com]

• A flasher who claimed that his penchant for exposing himself in public is the result of an obsessive compulsive disorder has escaped a prison sentence. [dailypost.co.uk]
• Dadaism meets burlesque at a new Toronto show.

  "In a traditional show, where there's a big reveal, you go to nude. With this, we start the whole thing off naked. There's still some traditional burlesque. But we've moved on." [thestar.com]

• What's more exciting than nude swimming? Doing it with a shark. [ocregister.com]
• A Massachusetts man who used faces of 14 year old campers and pasted them on images of adults engaging in sexual activity had his child pornography conviction overturned by the State Supreme Court.

  "This case really is about thought control and not about child pornography," said assistant appellate defender Theodore Lothstein, who argued the appeal before the Supreme Court last summer. "It doesn't give license to do much of anything but look at things in your own home. . . . The behavior it protects is by its nature behavior that nobody knows is happening." [nashuatelegraph.com]

• Bette Midler is beginning a two year run in Vegas.

  “I’d like to have nudes,” she says about her show, with a mischievous grin. “Not nude nudes, but a new kind of Vegas nude. A showgirl who can do a lot of things. A little bit naughty, but pretty nice all around.” [parade.com]

• The world's most famous male nude statue could be getting a new home. [chron.com]
• A Nigerian student condemns the use of nudity in worship.

  ...the nude person is treating God with contempt and abusing his mercy and grace. This is especially because the Bible reminds us that our bodies are temples of the holy spirit and that God lives in them. On the other hand, a person who goes nude is not only treating his/her self with disrespect but he/she is denying him/herself the desired dignity of the human person. [thetidenews.com]

• If you are in New York City and have an extra forty bucks, you can partake in the "Naked at the Met Scavenger Hunt" which involves searching for artwork containing nudes throughout the museum. [nytimes.com]
• A substitute teacher in Connecticut was fired for showing "The Simpsons Movie" to 3rd, 4th and 5th graders. The movie has a brief glimpse of Bart's cartoon penis, as well as a scene where two male police officers share a kiss. The teacher is suing the New Haven school board. [foxnews.com]

Tags: nudism, naturism, nudist, nudists, naturist, naturists, nudity, nudes, bare, au naturel, nude, naked

More Bad Press for Nudists

A 47 year-old Colorado man has been accused of sexually assaulting an 8 year-old girl. The story prominently refers to him as a "nudist".

The girl's mother defended Cardillo and said she considers him family. She and Cardillo are both nudists and she "is comfortable with her daughter being nude as long as everyone is comfortable," the woman told detectives.

The man is accused of sleeping naked with the girl, sharing a hot tub in the nude, using a sex toy on her, touching and tickling her all over, and drinking her urine. It really makes me want to vomit. The man faces a possible life sentence if convicted, and they should throw the mother in with him.

Tags: nudism, naturism, nudist, nudists, naturist, naturists, nudity, nudes, bare, au naturel, nude, naked

Suggestion for Stephen Gough

Please put on your clothes for at least long enough to keep you from being arrested again. While I certainly agree that you should have the right to not wear clothes if that is your choice, spending all of your time behind bars is not going to change anything. Your trek across England was inspirational, but your confrontations with police and judges borders upon the pathetic. Nudists and naturists need to work within the system in order to change public perceptions and laws, and gather support. While it is true that sometimes one person can make a difference, such as in the case of Gandhi, or Rosa Parks - well, Stephen, you do not appear to be another Gandhi. Do what is necessary to stay out of jail and stop pissing people off, you are doing more harm than good.

Tags: nudism, naturism, nudist, nudists, naturist, naturists, nudity, nudes, bare, au naturel, nude, naked

If Nudists Had a Sports Mascot...

...it would have to be "Scrotie", the mascot for the Rhode Island School of Design hockey team, the "Nads". Imagine the students all yelling "Go Nads" with collegiate fervor. Hell, I got rejected from RISD in 1972, but I don't hold it against them, if only for their team names, which include "The Jugs" for women's soccer, and "The Balls" for basketball. That doesn't leave too much for baseball, does it? [UnBeige] via [The Daily Dish]

Tags: nudism, naturism, nudist, nudists, naturist, naturists, nudity, nudes, bare, au naturel, nude, naked

The Daily Newds 1/17/08

• A Vietnamese artist has won two gold medals at Japan's International Asahi Shimbun photo contest, both for nudes. Quoc Dinh ignored the advice from other photographers who advised him not to focus on nudes because it was a "sensitive" subject matter. [Vietnam.net]
• A junior high school soccer coach in Japan who made students run laps in the nude has committed suicide. [myfoxstl.com]
• One of the top ten Miami activities is to take it all off on Haulover Beach. [southbeach-usa.com]
• Nude artists' models in Italy are protesting poor wages by putting their clothes back on. [Yahoo! News]
• Sienna Miller has won a court case against a photographer who distributed nude photos of her taken on a movie set. [Yahoo! News]
• A Wisconsin town with no adult businesses has joined the long list of jurisdictions to pass an anti-nudity ordinance as a preventive measure. [postcrescent.com]
• A senior at James Madison University explores the art of the nude female form in different cultures.

  “In the contemporary college setting, I think we’re constantly bombarded with marketing which uses the body and sex to advertise objects which are completely unrelated,” Stewart said. “So I became interested in how past cultures used the female body in visual media, and to what ends.” [The Breeze]

• A Florida teen could face felony child pornography charges over nude photos of juveniles found on a MySpace page. [firstcoastnews.com]
• No longer "Banned in Boston", full male nudity takes the stage in three productions at the Boston Center for the Arts. [bostonherald.com]
• A Vancouver Federal Court judge has ruled that Canada Post cannot refuse delivery of a Sex Party pamphlet even though it contains an image of an erect penis. [xtra.ca]

Tags: nudism, naturism, nudist, nudists, naturist, naturists, nudity, nudes, bare, au naturel, nude, naked