Nicely written article. As nudists aren't we all pushing back against the norms of society? This is the way at least my wife and I perceive it. As such we have informed most of our friends and families that we are nudists, even a few business associates along the way. Often times it opens up the conversation about what we do as nudists. Most have no idea, only preconceived notions. We have pushed the boundaries of being nude when others have dropped by the house. Also, we find and hike non nude hiking trails nude where we occasionally encounter others that also have questions but many find it very enlightening.
In The Nudist Idea, Cec Cinder defines Nudism according to five criteria, "Group Activity," "Mixed sex," "Complete," "Social, not primarily religious or political," and such that "There should be an awareness among the participants, and this awareness ought to be shared, even if only tacitly, that they are nude as a form of social protest, however informal, however well intended, however humble or even apologetic this protest may translate." We're naked, for goodness' sake, in a world where our basic biological identities are obliged to go masked.
This makes me think of the late Andrew Martinez. (From Wikipedia) "...attended classes at the University of California, Berkeley. In September 1992, his second year in college, he began appearing unclad in public and led a campus "nude-in" to protest social repression. Campus police first arrested him that fall for indecent exposure when he jogged unclothed near southside dormitories late on a Saturday night. The county prosecutor refused to prosecute, concluding that nudity without lewd behavior was not illegal.
Martinez began strolling around campus unclothed, citing philosophical reasons. He explained that when he dressed in expensive, uncomfortable, stylish, "appropriate" attire, he hid the fact that his personal belief was that clothes were useless in his environment except as a tool for class and gender differentiation. The university then banned nudity on campus.
Martinez wrote a 1992 guest column in the Oakland Tribune: "When I walk around nude, I am acting how I think it is reasonable to act, not how middle-class values tell me I should act. I am refusing to hide my dissent in normalcy even though it is very easy to do so." Martinez, who typically attended classes wearing only sandals and a backpack, became a cause célèbre at the university for a while, participating in a number of nude events on campus and performances by the Bay Area nude performance group the X-Plicit Players. "
And, of course, there is Andy Tabbat, "The San Francisco Naked Guy", profiled on an earlier episode of 'Naked Age'.
Folks like these make (or made) attempts to normalize the naked body and realize that living a naked life, although not 'mainstream', is perfectly alright.
I remember Martinez. The big problem came from when he attended classes nude. Some female students said he made them extremely uncomfortable and accused him of staring at them and handling his genitals, tho others never felt a problem. That's where the move to ban nudity on campus came from. The larger ban in Berkeley came after some women accused him of following them too closely. Said it made them nervous and fearful.
I don't have a clue as to whether the accusations were true but an awful lot of the objections simply seem to be that he made people uncomfortable. A college is going to be ultrasensitive to this sort of thing and Berkeley reacted to pressure by a combination of gender feminists and social conservatives..
The same was true when Frisco limited public nudity. (5-4 vote for a partial ban. Unrelated to Martinez.) Most San Franciscans were not worked up about it. It was a specific group of businessmen in the Castro District who felt it was depressing their sales and then a few social conservatives chimed in.
The lesson is that a small and energetic minority can have their way because it isn't worth the effort to stand up against them if most people don't care. We aren't ready for nudity to be just another fashion option.
"The lesson is that a small and energetic minority can have their way because it isn't worth the effort to stand up against them if most people don't care."
This is PRECISELY the point. If we want our fair share of public recreation areas to use without clothing restrictions then we will have to push our so-called leaders for it. Sitting on our bare butts will only result in losing ground.
I would say that nudism has completely caved to the mainstream requirement that it stay in its closet or be treated as perverse. There's a small subset who engage in naked bile rides or haunt nude beaches but most are quite content in their expensive nudist ghettos. The most radical applications of nudity came from groups not associated with nudism and a few nudists joined in and now they are pop culture.
Interesting concept. I am curious how you would define subversiveness from a nudist perspective. Past naturist leaders had specific ideas of what looks like. Baxandall spoke of naturism civilizing society through public spaces for non sexual nudity. Decamps spoke of the naturist social project a different way of social life on many levels.
Curious what does subversiveness look like to you?
Nicely written article. As nudists aren't we all pushing back against the norms of society? This is the way at least my wife and I perceive it. As such we have informed most of our friends and families that we are nudists, even a few business associates along the way. Often times it opens up the conversation about what we do as nudists. Most have no idea, only preconceived notions. We have pushed the boundaries of being nude when others have dropped by the house. Also, we find and hike non nude hiking trails nude where we occasionally encounter others that also have questions but many find it very enlightening.
In The Nudist Idea, Cec Cinder defines Nudism according to five criteria, "Group Activity," "Mixed sex," "Complete," "Social, not primarily religious or political," and such that "There should be an awareness among the participants, and this awareness ought to be shared, even if only tacitly, that they are nude as a form of social protest, however informal, however well intended, however humble or even apologetic this protest may translate." We're naked, for goodness' sake, in a world where our basic biological identities are obliged to go masked.
This makes me think of the late Andrew Martinez. (From Wikipedia) "...attended classes at the University of California, Berkeley. In September 1992, his second year in college, he began appearing unclad in public and led a campus "nude-in" to protest social repression. Campus police first arrested him that fall for indecent exposure when he jogged unclothed near southside dormitories late on a Saturday night. The county prosecutor refused to prosecute, concluding that nudity without lewd behavior was not illegal.
Martinez began strolling around campus unclothed, citing philosophical reasons. He explained that when he dressed in expensive, uncomfortable, stylish, "appropriate" attire, he hid the fact that his personal belief was that clothes were useless in his environment except as a tool for class and gender differentiation. The university then banned nudity on campus.
Martinez wrote a 1992 guest column in the Oakland Tribune: "When I walk around nude, I am acting how I think it is reasonable to act, not how middle-class values tell me I should act. I am refusing to hide my dissent in normalcy even though it is very easy to do so." Martinez, who typically attended classes wearing only sandals and a backpack, became a cause célèbre at the university for a while, participating in a number of nude events on campus and performances by the Bay Area nude performance group the X-Plicit Players. "
And, of course, there is Andy Tabbat, "The San Francisco Naked Guy", profiled on an earlier episode of 'Naked Age'.
Folks like these make (or made) attempts to normalize the naked body and realize that living a naked life, although not 'mainstream', is perfectly alright.
I remember Martinez. The big problem came from when he attended classes nude. Some female students said he made them extremely uncomfortable and accused him of staring at them and handling his genitals, tho others never felt a problem. That's where the move to ban nudity on campus came from. The larger ban in Berkeley came after some women accused him of following them too closely. Said it made them nervous and fearful.
I don't have a clue as to whether the accusations were true but an awful lot of the objections simply seem to be that he made people uncomfortable. A college is going to be ultrasensitive to this sort of thing and Berkeley reacted to pressure by a combination of gender feminists and social conservatives..
The same was true when Frisco limited public nudity. (5-4 vote for a partial ban. Unrelated to Martinez.) Most San Franciscans were not worked up about it. It was a specific group of businessmen in the Castro District who felt it was depressing their sales and then a few social conservatives chimed in.
The lesson is that a small and energetic minority can have their way because it isn't worth the effort to stand up against them if most people don't care. We aren't ready for nudity to be just another fashion option.
"The lesson is that a small and energetic minority can have their way because it isn't worth the effort to stand up against them if most people don't care."
This is PRECISELY the point. If we want our fair share of public recreation areas to use without clothing restrictions then we will have to push our so-called leaders for it. Sitting on our bare butts will only result in losing ground.
There is still plenty of room for subversiveness.
I would say that nudism has completely caved to the mainstream requirement that it stay in its closet or be treated as perverse. There's a small subset who engage in naked bile rides or haunt nude beaches but most are quite content in their expensive nudist ghettos. The most radical applications of nudity came from groups not associated with nudism and a few nudists joined in and now they are pop culture.
Interesting concept. I am curious how you would define subversiveness from a nudist perspective. Past naturist leaders had specific ideas of what looks like. Baxandall spoke of naturism civilizing society through public spaces for non sexual nudity. Decamps spoke of the naturist social project a different way of social life on many levels.
Curious what does subversiveness look like to you?
"Nudity" is not an entity unto itself, it is simply a fact of our natural state of being. The way we were created.
We have to keep reminding others of this fact.