“According to the College of [British] Policing guidelines, public nudity is only considered an offense if it intends to cause alarm or distress.”
Something I find interesting is how British and American laws regarding public indecency are worded very similarly but interpreted very differently. In the US, most states define public indecency as something to the effect of “exposing one’s [genitals, nether regions, breasts, buttocks, or whatnot] under circumstances likely to cause affront or alarm.”
British authorities interpret the law such that non-sexual nudity is generally allowed while their American counterparts interpret the same language to generally prohibit any and all nudity unless it occurs in a place where nudity is not unexpected, such as locker rooms or doctors offices. The number of places in America where nudity is not unexpected is declining rapidly.
Interesting observation that I believe is largely true. Interestingly in the US there are multiple examples of people who were arrested for mere nudity but were able to beat the charges in court because it was determined that their intent was not lewd or lascivious (Chad Merrill Smith in CA in 1971 being a notable one) — however I’m sure there are just as many or more examples where the law was interpreted incorrectly, to your point.
I’ve read some of the caselaw in cases involving public nudity, but I’m not to the point where I feel comfortable giving people advice about the legality of non-lewd public nudity. Many of the cases have bad fact patterns where it is obvious the defendant was acting lewdly or engaging in sexual abuse, sometimes of minors. The thing to keep in mind is that for there to be an appellate court opinion, the defendant must have been found guilty and then must have gone to the trouble of appealing. I plan to do some research on the practical enforcement of anti-nudity laws. I’ve already posted requests for information on a few nudist subs, but I didn’t get much response. I’d like to talk to people who have had contact with law enforcement regarding nude behaviors. I’d like to find out (well, first you have to determine what the conduct was and rule out bad behavior, and I don’t 100% trust people to self report on that) the result of the interaction with police, whether they were let off with a warning, cited, or arrested, and what was the final disposition. I’m sure most people plead guilty, perhaps after bargaining down to a less-serious offense. I want to know this because I think people need to have a realistic idea of the risk of law enforcement interaction as well as the actual consequences of such interaction so they can gauge whether the benefits are worth the risk. I suspect that most American nudists overestimate the legal consequences of being caught nude. The biggest fear, of course--and perhaps a legitimate one, though the chances are remote --involves the risk of being put on some sort of sex offender registry.
Some nudists are entirely adverse to risk, so they will only hike in places where there is no risk of being cited or arrested, so they limit their naked activities to resorts or private property. There’s nothing wrong with that, but personally I am willing to take some reasonable level of risk so that I can enjoy hiking public lands in the altogether.
I think you’re right that most people probably overestimate the risks. The legality is probably often times added to other social fears about being caught nude and then becomes a good enough excuse to avoid the risk altogether. I’m like you. I try to use my best judgement as to whether or not there’s any risk of being caught and I’ll go for it if it feels pretty safe. I haven’t had any unfortunate run-ins yet (but a few close calls).
I’ll be interested to hear if you’re able to conduct this research into past cases. I wouldn’t even know where to start trying to track people down who have had run-ins with the law over nudity. I wonder if there are any attorneys who have handled more than a few of these kinds of cases.
Jun 25, 2023·edited Jun 25, 2023Liked by Evan Nicks
In California there is a general rule that simple nudity is not illegal but that any sexual act makes it lewd and prosecutable. However, agencies and local jurisdictions are able to pass ordinances against simple nudity. So one needs to search the local ordinances.
However it can be perfectly legal and the police will still harass or detain you if anyone calls in a complaint. The police will either not know the law or know the law and not care. You'll walk but you will have been harassed.
In the last Bay to Breakers, several nudies were ordered by a park ranger to dress or be cited. The ranger was later corrected by management that nudity was allowed in the event. That does not remove the erroneous harassment he performed.
I was so excited to glance down at my Substack and see the notification that Planet Nude had a new “News of the Nude” Installment. I frequently enjoy my weekend mornings nude, enjoying a nice cup of tea, reading. I actually woke up early this morning in anticipation! As always, well done Evan. And get this....someone else posted a link on Tumblr before I could get to it! There is certainly an audience for good naturist content. Nice to see.
The problem -- so many articles, so many thoughts, so many comments come to mind! I don’t want to hijack your post. So, I’ll just limit to a few, and break them up.
Naturists in a Pub -- I’ve got a few mixed emotions on this one. While I don’t support anyone attacking the naturist couple or the establishment, practicality tells me most people wouldn’t expect to go into a pub for lunch and see people nude. So, pushback had to be expected. Do the non-naturist pub-goers deserve some kind of warning, some type of notice? Seems the establishment owes that to their patrons. Their willingness to host naturists in the all together, is something I applaud, even though nude pubbing doesn’t sound like my cup of tea. But we can’t expect others to not bat an eye. How they chose to respond was certainly over the top. Glad to see many in the community came together to support the Pub. We’ll see how it plays out.
Garden Nudity in the UK -- I agree that BN are the heroes in the story. I’m not a Brit but lived in the UK for several years. I’ve been very impressed with their advocacy and getting naturism out into the mainstream. At least, from my vantage point.
The various constabulary’s have also seemed to take a generally balanced approach. Of course, there are exceptions. I applaud the advice -- “let neighbours know what you're up to before you head out into the sunshine with no clothes on, as well as trying to set up camp in an area of your garden that is screened from view.”
Sounds great, until your neighbors freak out after you tell them. But, all depends on how you message it. I had neighbors in the UK that I’m convinced wouldn’t have batted an eye if we had gone nude in our garden. My wife agrees. But, out of fear of the unknown, we never broached the subject.
I am very open with my nudism but I haven’t found the gumption or gall to tell my neighbors. For one, I live in a condo building, so it feels like “close quarters” and I’m never nude outside my front door. Sometimes I will sit nude on my back balcony which is viewable from the street and by other neighbors, but partially obscured by a tree. In this case, I am okay with taking a little risk because I’m on my own property and I’m hardly going to go door to door to ask permission. If someone has an issue with it I would expect them to come tell me (or post about it on the Nextdoor app) and so far I haven’t had either happen (so far as I know). Personally, while there’s some visibility, I’ve never felt eyes on me or seen someone see me, so if someone can see me I am left to assume they quietly enjoy it 😂
Last comment -- I love the photo you chose on the header. One of my favorite retro home nudist photos ever. There is so much going on, despite the generally minimalist look of the room -- the very cool loungers, the idea of sharing a morning beverage and paper review au naturel, and don’t even get me started on her awesome hair! If she was wearing pearls, it would put it over the top! It’s like a naturist short story in one picture. Love it! Great choice!
That couple was Audrey and Ray and they were very prominent Southern California nudists in the 60s! Photographed by well known photographer publishers like Ed Lange, Martin Collier, and Ken Price they had several profiles in various nudist mags but rarely or never included their last names. I had to do a little editing to the image to make it safe for work (it originally featured a female nipple. Gasp!)
I knew you’d be able to give me “The Paul Harvey” on it. Is a nipple out of bounds for Substack? If so, I better pay closer attention to what I post! Thx Evan!
Substack is pretty lenient about it (although like all services their terms are intentionally vague about nudity)—but I am over cautious with my thumbnail images because they end up getting embedded on Facebook and other sites when you share the link, and that’s where you have the problem. So generally I’m okay with nudity in my images as long as it’s not the thumbnail
Understandable. I know you’ve had some challenges in this area and it makes sense to be cautious. But bummer that you had to photoshop such a splendidly beautiful photo. Worth it if it draws in a few naturist-curious readers from non-naturist venues.
I hesitated to comment on the photo for fear of appearing shallow in the face of all the wonderful words. Thanks for putting it better than I could have, David. I noticed the chairs before the fact that there are nude people in them.
“According to the College of [British] Policing guidelines, public nudity is only considered an offense if it intends to cause alarm or distress.”
Something I find interesting is how British and American laws regarding public indecency are worded very similarly but interpreted very differently. In the US, most states define public indecency as something to the effect of “exposing one’s [genitals, nether regions, breasts, buttocks, or whatnot] under circumstances likely to cause affront or alarm.”
British authorities interpret the law such that non-sexual nudity is generally allowed while their American counterparts interpret the same language to generally prohibit any and all nudity unless it occurs in a place where nudity is not unexpected, such as locker rooms or doctors offices. The number of places in America where nudity is not unexpected is declining rapidly.
Interesting observation that I believe is largely true. Interestingly in the US there are multiple examples of people who were arrested for mere nudity but were able to beat the charges in court because it was determined that their intent was not lewd or lascivious (Chad Merrill Smith in CA in 1971 being a notable one) — however I’m sure there are just as many or more examples where the law was interpreted incorrectly, to your point.
I’ve read some of the caselaw in cases involving public nudity, but I’m not to the point where I feel comfortable giving people advice about the legality of non-lewd public nudity. Many of the cases have bad fact patterns where it is obvious the defendant was acting lewdly or engaging in sexual abuse, sometimes of minors. The thing to keep in mind is that for there to be an appellate court opinion, the defendant must have been found guilty and then must have gone to the trouble of appealing. I plan to do some research on the practical enforcement of anti-nudity laws. I’ve already posted requests for information on a few nudist subs, but I didn’t get much response. I’d like to talk to people who have had contact with law enforcement regarding nude behaviors. I’d like to find out (well, first you have to determine what the conduct was and rule out bad behavior, and I don’t 100% trust people to self report on that) the result of the interaction with police, whether they were let off with a warning, cited, or arrested, and what was the final disposition. I’m sure most people plead guilty, perhaps after bargaining down to a less-serious offense. I want to know this because I think people need to have a realistic idea of the risk of law enforcement interaction as well as the actual consequences of such interaction so they can gauge whether the benefits are worth the risk. I suspect that most American nudists overestimate the legal consequences of being caught nude. The biggest fear, of course--and perhaps a legitimate one, though the chances are remote --involves the risk of being put on some sort of sex offender registry.
Some nudists are entirely adverse to risk, so they will only hike in places where there is no risk of being cited or arrested, so they limit their naked activities to resorts or private property. There’s nothing wrong with that, but personally I am willing to take some reasonable level of risk so that I can enjoy hiking public lands in the altogether.
I think you’re right that most people probably overestimate the risks. The legality is probably often times added to other social fears about being caught nude and then becomes a good enough excuse to avoid the risk altogether. I’m like you. I try to use my best judgement as to whether or not there’s any risk of being caught and I’ll go for it if it feels pretty safe. I haven’t had any unfortunate run-ins yet (but a few close calls).
I’ll be interested to hear if you’re able to conduct this research into past cases. I wouldn’t even know where to start trying to track people down who have had run-ins with the law over nudity. I wonder if there are any attorneys who have handled more than a few of these kinds of cases.
In California there is a general rule that simple nudity is not illegal but that any sexual act makes it lewd and prosecutable. However, agencies and local jurisdictions are able to pass ordinances against simple nudity. So one needs to search the local ordinances.
However it can be perfectly legal and the police will still harass or detain you if anyone calls in a complaint. The police will either not know the law or know the law and not care. You'll walk but you will have been harassed.
In the last Bay to Breakers, several nudies were ordered by a park ranger to dress or be cited. The ranger was later corrected by management that nudity was allowed in the event. That does not remove the erroneous harassment he performed.
Evan: this is such a great collection of news articles, and your writing style is so enjoyable. Keep up the great work! Upgrading to paid....
Thank you so much for the kind words and the support! Very much appreciate your readership 🥰
Another great compilation! Thanks, Evan!
Thank you!!
I was so excited to glance down at my Substack and see the notification that Planet Nude had a new “News of the Nude” Installment. I frequently enjoy my weekend mornings nude, enjoying a nice cup of tea, reading. I actually woke up early this morning in anticipation! As always, well done Evan. And get this....someone else posted a link on Tumblr before I could get to it! There is certainly an audience for good naturist content. Nice to see.
The problem -- so many articles, so many thoughts, so many comments come to mind! I don’t want to hijack your post. So, I’ll just limit to a few, and break them up.
Once again, thanks for the work Evan.
Thanks David! I appreciate your contributions to the comments. Don’t ever feel bad about it!
Naturists in a Pub -- I’ve got a few mixed emotions on this one. While I don’t support anyone attacking the naturist couple or the establishment, practicality tells me most people wouldn’t expect to go into a pub for lunch and see people nude. So, pushback had to be expected. Do the non-naturist pub-goers deserve some kind of warning, some type of notice? Seems the establishment owes that to their patrons. Their willingness to host naturists in the all together, is something I applaud, even though nude pubbing doesn’t sound like my cup of tea. But we can’t expect others to not bat an eye. How they chose to respond was certainly over the top. Glad to see many in the community came together to support the Pub. We’ll see how it plays out.
Garden Nudity in the UK -- I agree that BN are the heroes in the story. I’m not a Brit but lived in the UK for several years. I’ve been very impressed with their advocacy and getting naturism out into the mainstream. At least, from my vantage point.
The various constabulary’s have also seemed to take a generally balanced approach. Of course, there are exceptions. I applaud the advice -- “let neighbours know what you're up to before you head out into the sunshine with no clothes on, as well as trying to set up camp in an area of your garden that is screened from view.”
Sounds great, until your neighbors freak out after you tell them. But, all depends on how you message it. I had neighbors in the UK that I’m convinced wouldn’t have batted an eye if we had gone nude in our garden. My wife agrees. But, out of fear of the unknown, we never broached the subject.
I am very open with my nudism but I haven’t found the gumption or gall to tell my neighbors. For one, I live in a condo building, so it feels like “close quarters” and I’m never nude outside my front door. Sometimes I will sit nude on my back balcony which is viewable from the street and by other neighbors, but partially obscured by a tree. In this case, I am okay with taking a little risk because I’m on my own property and I’m hardly going to go door to door to ask permission. If someone has an issue with it I would expect them to come tell me (or post about it on the Nextdoor app) and so far I haven’t had either happen (so far as I know). Personally, while there’s some visibility, I’ve never felt eyes on me or seen someone see me, so if someone can see me I am left to assume they quietly enjoy it 😂
Last comment -- I love the photo you chose on the header. One of my favorite retro home nudist photos ever. There is so much going on, despite the generally minimalist look of the room -- the very cool loungers, the idea of sharing a morning beverage and paper review au naturel, and don’t even get me started on her awesome hair! If she was wearing pearls, it would put it over the top! It’s like a naturist short story in one picture. Love it! Great choice!
That couple was Audrey and Ray and they were very prominent Southern California nudists in the 60s! Photographed by well known photographer publishers like Ed Lange, Martin Collier, and Ken Price they had several profiles in various nudist mags but rarely or never included their last names. I had to do a little editing to the image to make it safe for work (it originally featured a female nipple. Gasp!)
I knew you’d be able to give me “The Paul Harvey” on it. Is a nipple out of bounds for Substack? If so, I better pay closer attention to what I post! Thx Evan!
Substack is pretty lenient about it (although like all services their terms are intentionally vague about nudity)—but I am over cautious with my thumbnail images because they end up getting embedded on Facebook and other sites when you share the link, and that’s where you have the problem. So generally I’m okay with nudity in my images as long as it’s not the thumbnail
Understandable. I know you’ve had some challenges in this area and it makes sense to be cautious. But bummer that you had to photoshop such a splendidly beautiful photo. Worth it if it draws in a few naturist-curious readers from non-naturist venues.
I hesitated to comment on the photo for fear of appearing shallow in the face of all the wonderful words. Thanks for putting it better than I could have, David. I noticed the chairs before the fact that there are nude people in them.