Public Nudity acceptable or not?

[Harpyja]

I liked the arrangement we had in Florida when I lived there. Nudity wasn't illegal, but lewd behavior was, and of course anyone could make their own rules for private property like stores or whatever. I mean, you're going to get arrested for shopping naked at the local Sears.

But I remember this one little hippy grocery that had Naked Tuesdays. Every Tuesday, naked people got a discount.

Welcome to Florida.

It worked out fine. In all those years I can't remember hearing about any problems with the law anywhere in the state.

What part of Florida do you live in?

 

[Mirrorglass]

Tasering someone for public nudity seems like a clear case of taking a sledgehammer to crack a nut (or two)

As in it looks awesome but it sucks cleaning up afterwards?

 

[Safe-Keeper]

Really? So would you want your 5 year old daughter to see a man bollock-naked in the middle of department store? Really?

So what do you propose we do with locker rooms? Blindfold the children?

 

[Jekyll's Guest]

So what do you propose we do with locker rooms? Blindfold the children?

Notice these things always have a naked man as the source of horror.

I wonder how many people are pro public breast feeding but reel in horror at the idea of John Thomas taking the air.

 

[Jekyll's Guest]

In fact it always seems to come down to a young girl seeing a naked man as the scare.

Are even men sold on the concept of the male body as a deviant, sexualized thing?

 

[quarky]

Being willing to be naked in a public setting is akin to proclaiming that one has control over their "lower chakras".

When I was an avid skinny-dipper with two young daughters, I had a sex-life. It wasn't because I had become asexual. Nudity imposes restraint and a modicum of control over one's thoughts.

To fail at that is instantly obvious.
Like transparency or full disclosure.

 

[tsig]

Yes, that's why I said "consistently." Though such control is usually possible, I'm sure there are some moments when it takes, well, everyone by surprise.

And from what I understand, the younger one is, the less consistent control there is. I'm sure practice makes better, if not perfect.

At 65 I have much more "control" than i had at 18.

 

[Epok]

I think people should stop worrying about BS. Your genitals are not more germy than your hands. I don't wash my hands after urinating because my penis is cleaner than my mouth and most bathrooms are nasty.

When it comes to sex most women will ATM but they won't eat off the floor. Its all about being offended and being an American I believe that being offended does not give you a right to tell me to stop. If I kiss a man in public should it be outlawed because it offends you? If I scratch my balls in public should I be arrested because it offends you? What is the difference between scratching your genitals in public and scratching your face in public? The difference is that it offends most people and they wanna control other people's actions. If I wanna be a jerk then I have a right to be that way. As long as I don't hurt you physically then it shouldn't matter.

The law is not about right and wrong, it is about legal and illegal. Would you support a law that said "Jews must wear a Star of David"? No laws are perfect but we abide by them because we have to rip others off to make a living. Their cannot be a few rich people without a multitude of poor people. Society doesn't work unless you fool the masses. So I say let people think that underwear will stop diseases. I prosper that way. Let's give them scare tactics to trick them into conforming. That is the way it has always been done and its never gonna stop.

Now, this is a satirical comment and you should not take it too seriously but there are laws against being nude in certain places and you are never gonna change them no matter how you rationalize it.

 

[slingblade]

Serious Epok is serious.

 

[Checkmite]

Reason: erection is strictly forbidden and socially stigmatized at nude beaches. Men do their best to avoid it, and those who cannot, go away and stay away.

See this is another thing. Most pro-nudists, in describing nude beaches, indicate that they are the most sexless places on Earth, and that obvious male physical arousal is "frowned upon" - socially stigmatized, as you say. The argument by itself is probably great against someone whose problem with nude beaches is that they're afraid of all the horny men and free sex that they're afraid must be rampant at such places.

To people like me who aren't under such impressions, the argument doesn't have the appropriate effect. When I see a statement like, "Male arousal isn't a pandemic on nude beaches and in fact it's considered shameful", the two thoughts that come to my mind are 1) erections are a natural thing, and 2) how does one of a person's natural body functions and reactions being considered shameful fit into that whole "there's nothing shameful or obscene about the human form" line? I'm sorry, but you can't sell me that whole line about how children benefit from or are better off in a nudist lifestyle simply by virtue of "not being ashamed of being naked" - as if a dislike of being naked around strangers is some kind of handicap in modern society - and then pull the whole "erections are shameful" bit. It's a non-sequitur. If conservative families eschew nudity because they equate nudity with sex and their religion says sex is shameful, how much help is it to a child to remove nudity from the equation but still pound into their heads that sex and being aroused is shameful? Males go through an age set when control over that particular reaction of their body is completely, 100% nonexistent, period - which means those males are going to be having erections on nude beaches whether they want to or not. Since male arousal is so stigmatized, that has to be as embarrassing at the very least as it is for any clothed kid who has an erection in class. I mean geez, at least the kid with the pants has half a chance of surviving an episode unnoticed. The kid at the nude beach isn't so lucky...or do the parents take special care to make sure he knows such a thing is natural and normal before they visibly cold-shoulder an adult who has one? It almost seems as if the whole nudist attitude about sex - practically, that it "doesn't exist" - is just as potentially "damaging" as the typical religious aversion to all things sexual.

For those who insist that a kid who grows up in a clothed family will or could possibly develop "issues" because of it, how likely is the possibility that a kid who grows up in a nudist family could become so afraid of having an erection that they develop "issues" because of that?

 

[Rikeln]

It should depend on attractivness. If you're ugly and fat stay clothed.

 

[Mirrorglass]

I think people should stop worrying about BS. Your genitals are not more germy than your hands. I don't wash my hands after urinating because my penis is cleaner than my mouth and most bathrooms are nasty.

So basically, whenever you touch your penis, your hands get cleaner?

On a completely unrelated note, do you own a toothbrush?

 

[Nosi]

It's the sick need to go around looking for things to be outraged about that horrifies me. Peering in windows and looking over walls to find objectionable things.


My wife and I just got back from house sitting. The place has a pool, and I mostly swam 'au naturel'.

I didn't parade around the yard or anything, no putting one foot up on a wall and waving to the neighbors. I'd simply slip off my clothes right by the pool and slip in, then grab a towel on exiting.

While shamefully drying myself, hiding behind a pillar, I thought about the reaction should a neighbor happen to spot me somehow, and got myself quite annoyed.

Male nudity is pushed as some kind of sick, sexualized state. People seeing a naked woman may perhaps be mildly upset, but nothing like the offense, and probable legal intervention that would be caused by seeing a naked man. It's like the naked male state is automatically equated with perversion, whereas a naked woman is more 'natural'.


My wife and I have a little toddler, and he'll often share a bath with one of us. I guarantee there are lots of people who wouldn't bat an eyelid of a little boy bathing with mommy, but would see something suspect or deviant in him bathing with daddy.


Sorry if this is a bit of a tangent, just a brain dump really. On OP, I'm against nudity in truly public places, but think the way we treat nudity on private property is ridiculous. I don't see any reason for being naked at McDonalds, whereas you shouldn't have to slink out of the shower in case next door is having a birthday party.

In my opinion we shouldn't go out of our way to be nude or clothed, and be more easy going about the overlaps.

You've a point. People do tend to fear the nude male as apposed the nude female. Male humans are generally bigger and stronger, with a few exceptions such as Grace Jones and Pee Wee Herman.

But for the male in question, isn't letting that oh so vulnerable penis and testicles hang free a little scary? God help you if a cat jumps on your bare lap...

 

[FreshHat]

(snip) You can just walk into a supermarket nude if you want to? (snip)

You can at the A&P, the one where the letters don't stand for Atlantic & Pacific, but rather...well, never mind!

Canadians of a certain age may well remember the slogan used in the 1970s by the now long defunct Dominion supermarket chain :

 

[Uncayimmy]

I think people should stop worrying about BS. Your genitals are not more germy than your hands. I don't wash my hands after urinating because my penis is cleaner than my mouth and most bathrooms are nasty.

Your genitals are more "germy" than your hands in that there's coliform bacteria running around down there.

When it comes to sex most women will ATM but they won't eat off the floor. Its all about being offended and being an American I believe that being offended does not give you a right to tell me to stop. If I kiss a man in public should it be outlawed because it offends you? If I scratch my balls in public should I be arrested because it offends you? What is the difference between scratching your genitals in public and scratching your face in public? The difference is that it offends most people and they wanna control other people's actions. If I wanna be a jerk then I have a right to be that way. As long as I don't hurt you physically then it shouldn't matter.

No argument from me. I remember my sisters getting grossed out and then pissed off at me as I taught their sons (my nephews) to spit up in the air and catch it in the mouth. Why this is gross is beyond me. What happened during the brief flight up and down?

Now, this is a satirical comment and you should not take it too seriously but there are laws against being nude in certain places and you are never gonna change them no matter how you rationalize it.

Agreed.

 

[Wowbagger]

Why this is gross is beyond me. What happened during the brief flight up and down?

It has to do with the innate human distinction between fluids outside the body and those inside, and how those that get outside are instinctually revulsive. It's part of our evolutionary heritage, in fact.

 

[Uncayimmy]

It has to do with the innate human distinction between fluids outside the body and those inside, and how those that get outside are instinctually revulsive. It's part of our evolutionary heritage, in fact.

Oh, I understand that. But (allegedly) we have moved beyond instinctive reactions and can reason these things out. BTW, the funniest thing about spitting and catching it your mouth is that you're supposed to practice in private so nobody sees the mess. My nephews, of course, ended up with spit all over their faces and shirts. That was 20 years ago, and my sisters still talk about it.

I'm still the cool uncle, though, which is why I go by UncaYimmy.

 

[23_Tauri]

As in it looks awesome but it sucks cleaning up afterwards?

No, as in using an disproportionate level of force to get a job done. And a play on words on the word 'nuts'.

A sledgehammer to crack a nut

 

[dafydd]

See this is another thing. Most pro-nudists, in describing nude beaches, indicate that they are the most sexless places on Earth, and that obvious male physical arousal is "frowned upon" - socially stigmatized, as you say. The argument by itself is probably great against someone whose problem with nude beaches is that they're afraid of all the horny men and free sex that they're afraid must be rampant at such places.

To people like me who aren't under such impressions, the argument doesn't have the appropriate effect. When I see a statement like, "Male arousal isn't a pandemic on nude beaches and in fact it's considered shameful", the two thoughts that come to my mind are 1) erections are a natural thing, and 2) how does one of a person's natural body functions and reactions being considered shameful fit into that whole "there's nothing shameful or obscene about the human form" line? I'm sorry, but you can't sell me that whole line about how children benefit from or are better off in a nudist lifestyle simply by virtue of "not being ashamed of being naked" - as if a dislike of being naked around strangers is some kind of handicap in modern society - and then pull the whole "erections are shameful" bit. It's a non-sequitur. If conservative families eschew nudity because they equate nudity with sex and their religion says sex is shameful, how much help is it to a child to remove nudity from the equation but still pound into their heads that sex and being aroused is shameful? Males go through an age set when control over that particular reaction of their body is completely, 100% nonexistent, period - which means those males are going to be having erections on nude beaches whether they want to or not. Since male arousal is so stigmatized, that has to be as embarrassing at the very least as it is for any clothed kid who has an erection in class. I mean geez, at least the kid with the pants has half a chance of surviving an episode unnoticed. The kid at the nude beach isn't so lucky...or do the parents take special care to make sure he knows such a thing is natural and normal before they visibly cold-shoulder an adult who has one? It almost seems as if the whole nudist attitude about sex - practically, that it "doesn't exist" - is just as potentially "damaging" as the typical religious aversion to all things sexual.

For those who insist that a kid who grows up in a clothed family will or could possibly develop "issues" because of it, how likely is the possibility that a kid who grows up in a nudist family could become so afraid of having an erection that they develop "issues" because of that?

I go to a mixed (family) sauna and I have yet to see an erection.Not that I'm looking for one.

 

[luchog]

That's a symptom of something besides homelessness. The condition of being without a home doesn't cause one to soil him- or herself.

I get really tired of the stereotypes attached to people without a conventional home. It's bigotry.

It's observation.

Here, as with most places, the majority of the permanent homeless population fall into two categories -- end-stage drug and alcohol abusers, and the mentally ill -- with the latter making up the majority. Personal hygiene is typically not a major concern of the former; and can be very difficult for the latter to manage on a consistent basis.

I fail to see how nudity is going to make this situation any different.