Should public nudity be legal?

[MisterMaggot]

I am defining public nudity as being naked in public i.e. the street, the park, the mall, picking the kids up from school etc. I do not include nudity used to cause distress (such as a flasher who opens his trench coat in front of a schoolgirl requesting she touch his penis) in this definition.

Clothes are a necessity. We need clothes to keep warm and provide additional comfort. However when the climate permits it nudity can be comfortable.

In most tribal societies everyone is naked as there is no need for clothes. This doesn't cause any harm, if anything they have a much healthier body image than those living in nations where the media decide what is 'normal'. Some argue that children must not be exposed to nudity, however if children are damaged by viewing nudity why do we allow them to see nude statues and paintings? Why are they allowed to view their own bodies?

In Victorian England it was unacceptable for a woman to show her ankles, why has this changed? If someone today is offended by women's ankles don't they still have a right not to be offended? What if someone is offended by black/gay/fat/ugly people?

We are quick to criticize Islamic nations where women are forced to wear a burka or hijab, yet we impose are own standards of decency on others. This is hypocrisy.

What right do people have to be offended by someones physical body? What justification is there for prohibiting nudity in public?

[Kayla]

most people look funny naked

when i was 6 i saw a flasher playing with his thingy in a public park and i just totally cracked up

[Piltdownbrain]

We come into the world naked,,,,.The culture you are born into determines legalities. If you be an anarchist or nihilist go naked, you have no one to answer to if you live away from a cultural zone of the prohibition of public nakedness. Be wary of sudden blizzards friend!

[KaydeeDID88]

yes and no....

i know some place in west virginia that have a small nudist colony that allow for it, but i dont feel like we should have to see it every where, like in our stores, schools, work.

its ok be allowed in some areas where the people are not parading around with children every where and other people trying to do their jobs.

[HexHammer]

Imo the problem is that some people look hideous naked, therefore it's good to cover it up!

[James Markham]

I agree with hexhammer, if tramps and old people were all naked, I think I'd rather be blind.

[jackles]

Can you imagine eating out in the nude.it might put some people of there chocalate pudding.

[Skip]

People in nudist colonies don't freak out, even though some of them are beautiful and some are ugly and most are ordinary. Some people look terrible dressed - and some have terrible taste in clothing.

What's the difference between a string bikini and nudity? What's the difference between a topless bar or strip club and a beach? What's the difference between peeking into the girls' (or boys') locker room and leaving the door open? What's the difference between adult movies and prime time movies? What's the difference between allowing a public glimpse of an ankle or a knee? between a male chest and female one? skinny jeans and ballet tights? Africa and Florida?

The lines are already so indistinct as to be nearly invisible, and the moral distinctions are confusing, at best.
How we feel about our own and other people's bodies is a matter of custom. What you're used to is normal, and you can get used to something new a lot faster than you expect to.

[HexHammer]

Fugly people in bikinis are primarily to find at beaches and nearby urban area, not EVERYWHERE! If nudity was legalized fugly people in bikinis would potentially be found at any possible location, no thanks!

[Arising_uk]

Would it not lead most to take more care of their bodies?

Give a greater appreciation of the diversity of our bodies? Plus an appreciation of the sameness.

Provoke more honesty in our relationships?

Decrease violence?

[Skip]

I think we need to be concerned about much bigger threats than having our aesthetic sense offended. Some people are physically appealing, no matter what they wear. Some people are not, and we have to get used to them because so many of the fugly are in public office, constantly shown on podiums, television, magazine covers and the front page of newspapers.

But think! Naked people present very little public threat. How many guns and how much extra ammunition can they carry? Their disguises would have to be clever makeup, beyond most muggers' or terrorist's capability. Even that little bit of plastic explosive they could conceal would cause more discomfort to them than to their victims.

I'm not for stripping everyone by force. I'm okay with letting Muslim women keep their faces covered, and letting young men wear hoodies wherever they like, or ski masks and parkas. But if you allow people to wear less clothing, as well as more, at least you can swiftly eliminate the scantily-clad and naked ones from suspicion and concentrate all your paranoia on the over-dressed.

[EagerForTruth]

Hmm...it is really a question of whether ALL (or at least a very high majority of them) are comfortable and mature enough to handle nudity in society at large. I agree that for my own priorities, I am completely unconcerned about other's appearances and find it silly so many people find what feel to me like largely random arbitrary lines they don't want crossed or it will "offend" them. A behavior by another person that affects neither me nor society shouldn't offend, in fact by definition there is exactly that, a lack of "offending" another.

Of course if you really try to imagine the cascading consequences of significant numbers of people walking around nude, it can get a little touchy. Even without a malicious intent, what if a male sees something rather....exciting....and reacts? Then that cascades down to more and more people, causing disturbance of any number of things. I mean ideally everyone could just learn to live naturally alongside each other, but both 1) I think it'd be extremely unlikely EVERYONE would remain WHOLLY able to refrain from tolerating all of the possibilities down the line, and 2) indeed to argue living naturally in a highly unnatural society is contradictory. Apparently the amount of contradiction varies by culture and region as the different standards for dress vary, along with any number of other societal standards.

In my case what I'd be comfortable with is far more tolerant than the standard we've come to compromise on as a whole.

[bobevenson]

Neither public nor private nudity should be legal (it's a slippery slope).

[mattsidedish]

Nudity from origin (and the need for clothes) comes more from the whole "Adam and Eve" story in the bible. Man, once first introduced to sin, becomes knowledgeable of good and evil and becomes self conscious. Being embarrassed about yourself is natural, whether you believe the story or not. We naturally have a tendency to critique ourselves and others. Being there are perverts out there who automatically get off to just the thought of the opposite sex without clothes, I find it a very difficult issue to allow people to roam the streets naked. Whether right or wrong, ethical or unethical, infringement of rights or no infringement of rights, you have to follow the law or face the punishment of the law. If your justification for breaking the law is that "well, it's more comfortable," then I see a weak suggestion here. Nudity is restricted in most places because of society's connotation upon those who have no problem being nude.

I think what it boils down to is the way that society views those who aren't conscious about their body. It comes from history. If someone is open enough to let their business hang out, they are open enough to let other people do what they want with it. It's a belief of status and personal pride. Right or wrong, it's a habit of society that dates back thousands of years.

[uwot]

Being there are perverts out there who automatically get off to just the thought of the opposite sex without clothes, I find it a very difficult issue to allow people to roam the streets naked.

I have to think a bit harder these days, but I just about still qualify as a pervert by that criterion. I was at art school at my most hormonal and while I drew many bodies that in other circumstances would have excited me for non artistic reasons, I drew many more that would not have provoked me so, but I never saw an ugly body.

If someone is open enough to let their business hang out, they are open enough to let other people do what they want with it.

I think you have to be careful with this line of reasoning; it could descend into justification for harassment of people who dress in ways that some describe as provocative.