Nudity and protest - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Public nudity or nude in public refers to nudity not in an entirely private context. It refers to a person appearing nude in a public place or to be seen from a public place. It also includes nudity in a semi-public place, where the general public is free to enter, such as a shopping mall...

has sometimes been used to attract more attention to a public protest

Protest

A protest is an expression of objection, by words or by actions, to particular events, policies or situations. Protests can take many different forms, from individual statements to mass demonstrations...

, a tactic used by the Doukhobor

Doukhobor

The Doukhobors or Dukhobors , earlierDukhobortsy are a group of Russian origin.The Doukhobors were one of the sects - later defined as a religious philosophy, ethnic group, social movement, or simply a "way of life" - known generically as Spiritual Christianity. The origin of the Doukhobors is...

s in the early 20th century, and later (particularly from the 1960s onwards) used more widely. Modern slogans include "Disrobe for disarmament", "Nudes, not nukes!", "Naked For Peace", "Less Gas More Ass!" and "I'd rather go naked than wear fur!".

Cultural and legal acceptance

Acceptance

Acceptance is a person's agreement to experience a situation, to follow a process or condition without attempting to change it, protest, or exit....

of public nudity varies regionally. For nudity in public areas, there are in many countries areas such as nude beach

Nude beach

A nude beach is a beach where users are legally at liberty to be nude. Sometimes the terms clothing-optional beach or free beach are used. Nude bathing is one of the most common forms of nudity in public. As beaches are usually on public lands, any member of the public is entitled to use the...

es, officially designated or tolerated. People who unexpectedly encounter nudity in a public place outside these areas tend to be taken by surprise. Some opponents claim that it is indecent exposure

Indecent exposure

Indecent exposure is the deliberate exposure in public or in view of the general public by a person of a portion or portions of his or her body, in circumstances where the exposure is contrary to local moral or other standards of appropriate behavior. Indecent exposure laws vary in different...

when nudity occurs in lewd (or otherwise sexualized) contexts. In particular, opponents sometimes protest that it is inappropriate for children to encounter public nudity.

Even where the general public is fairly tolerant of public nudity, it is still notorious enough to be used as a deliberate, often successful means to attract publicity, either by those in traditional social nudity circles (such as naturists and nudists) promoting their way of life or by others for various purposes, such as commercial nudity in advertising or staging nude events as a forum for a usually unrelated messages, such as various nude biker tours

Clothing-optional bike rides

A clothing-optional bike ride is a cycling event in which nudity is permitted or expected. There are many clothing-optional cycling events around the world. Some rides are political, recreational, artistic or a unique combination...

(such as World Naked Bike Ride

World Naked Bike Ride

World Naked Bike Ride is an international clothing-optional bike ride in which participants plan, meet and ride together en masse on human-powered transport , to "deliver a vision of a cleaner, safer, body-positive world."The dress code motto is "Bare as you dare"...

) demonstrating for different causes or celebrities revealing their natural state by removing a fur coat to support a campaign against fur sales.

Another common distinction, also considered by censoring authorities, is that gratuitous nudity is perceived as more offensive than the same degree of physical exposure in a functional context, where the action could not conveniently be performed dressed, either in reality or in a fictitious scene in art. The intent can also be invoked: whether the nudity is meant to affect observers; e.g., streaking

Streaking

Streaking is the act of running nude through a public place.-History:On 5 July 1799, a Friday evening at 7 o'clock, a naked man was arrested at the Mansion House, London, and sent to the Poultry Compter...

can be considered unacceptably provocative, nude sun tanning

Sun tanning

Sun tanning or simply tanning is the process whereby skin color is darkened or tanned. The process is most often a result of exposure to ultraviolet radiation from the sun or from artificial sources, such as a tanning bed, but can also be a result of windburn or reflected light...

viewed mildly as rather inoffensive.

At a Lollapalooza

Lollapalooza

Lollapalooza is an annual music festival featuring popular alternative rock, heavy metal, punk rock and hip hop bands, dance and comedy performances, and craft booths. It has also provided a platform for non-profit and political groups. The music festival hosts more than 160,000 people over a...

appearance in 1993 in Philadelphia, rather than perform their music, members of the band Rage Against the Machine

Rage Against the Machine

Rage Against the Machine is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1991, the group's line-up consists of vocalist Zack de la Rocha, bassist and backing vocalist Tim Commerford, guitarist Tom Morello and drummer Brad Wilk...

stood onstage naked with duct-tape on their mouths and the letters "PMRC" painted on their chests for 15 minutes in protest against censorship by the Parents Music Resource Center

Parents Music Resource Center

The Parents Music Resource Center was an American committee formed in 1985 with the goal of increasing parental control over the access of children to music deemed to be violent, have drug use or be sexual.The committee was founded by four women: Tipper Gore, wife of Senator and later Vice...

Animal rights and welfare

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is an American animal rights organization based in Norfolk, Virginia, and led by Ingrid Newkirk, its international president. A non-profit corporation with 300 employees and two million members and supporters, it claims to be the largest animal rights...

, an animal rights group, is best known for its highly visible, often controversial campaigns. (See below.) The Lettuce Ladies, young women dressed in bikinis which appear to be made of lettuce, gather in city centers to hand out leaflets about veganism

Veganism

Veganism is the practice of eliminating the use of animal products. Ethical vegans reject the commodity status of animals and the use of animal products for any purpose, while dietary vegans or strict vegetarians eliminate them from their diet only...

. Every year the Running of the Nudes

Running of the Nudes

The Running of the Nudes, like the well-known Running of the Bulls, takes place in Pamplona, Spain. The Running of the Nudes occurs two days before the Running of the Bulls, just before the start of the nine-day festival of San Fermín...

campaign sees PETA activists run naked through Pamplona

Pamplona

Pamplona is the historial capital city of Navarre, in Spain, and of the former kingdom of Navarre.The city is famous worldwide for the San Fermín festival, from July 6 to 14, in which the running of the bulls is one of the main attractions...

, Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

in a parody of the annual Running of the Bulls tradition. Supermodels such as Christy Turlington

Christy Turlington

Christy Turlington Burns is an American model best known for representing Calvin Klein from 1987 to 2007. She has worked on dozens of modeling contracts with companies including Maybelline Cosmetics and Versace. Turlington starred in her fashion documentary Catwalk and Isaac Mizrahi's Unzipped...

and Naomi Campbell

Naomi Campbell

Naomi Campbell is a British model. Scouted at the age of 15, she established herself among the top three most recognisable and in-demand models of the late 1980s and early 1990s, and she was one of six models of her generation declared "supermodels" by the fashion world...

have posed naked on billboards with the slogan "I'd rather go naked than wear fur" emblazoned across their chests.

Peace and anti-war

Several groups and individuals have used nudity in anti-war

Anti-war

An anti-war movement is a social movement, usually in opposition to a particular nation's decision to start or carry on an armed conflict, unconditional of a maybe-existing just cause. The term can also refer to pacifism, which is the opposition to all use of military force during conflicts. Many...

demonstrations. Some groups include: Breasts Not Bombs and Artists for Peace/Artists Against War, which later became the Work Less Party of British Columbia

Work Less Party of British Columbia

The Work Less Party is a political party in the Canadian province of British Columbia. The party was founded in 2003 by Conrad Schmidt. It has a federal wing and also participates in municipal politics...

in Vancouver, BC, Canada. The latter is known for its Naked Bike Rides which Conrad Schmidt

Conrad Schmidt

Conrad Schmidt is a social activist, filmmaker and writer living in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada who is best known for his role in founding the Work Less Party of British Columbia and for creating the internationally known World Naked Bike Ride protest.-Biography:Schmidt was born and raised...

later evolved into World Naked Bike Ride

World Naked Bike Ride

.

Groups also started to use nudity to protest the Iraq War. Groups using their bodies to form words and symbols to convey their message included Baring Witness, US-based/founded by Donna Sheehan, which inspired other groups on all seven continents to stage similar events, including Bare Witness, based in the UK.

Clothing-optional bike rides

See Clothing-optional bike rides
Clothing-optional bike rides
A clothing-optional bike ride is a cycling event in which nudity is permitted or expected. There are many clothing-optional cycling events around the world. Some rides are political, recreational, artistic or a unique combination...

.

World Naked Bike Ride

(WNBR) is an international clothing-optional bike ride in which participants plan, meet and ride together en masse on human-powered transport

Human-powered transport

Human-powered transport is the transport of person and/or goods using human muscle power. Like animal-powered transport, human-powered transport has existed since time immemorial in the form of walking, running and swimming...

(the vast majority on bicycle

Bicycle

A bicycle, also known as a bike, pushbike or cycle, is a human-powered, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A person who rides a bicycle is called a cyclist, or bicyclist....

s, and fewer on skateboard

Skateboard

A skateboard is typically a specially designed plywood board combined with a polyurethane coating used for making smoother slides and stronger durability, used primarily for the activity of skateboarding. The first skateboards to reach public notice came out of the surfing craze of the early 1960s,...

s, rollerblade

Rollerblade

Rollerblade is a brand of inline skates owned by Nordica, part of the Tecnica Group of Trevignano, Treviso, Italy.The company was started by Scott Olsen and Brennan Olson in Minneapolis as Ole's Innovative Sports; when they sold the company, it became Rollerblade, Inc...

s, roller skates

Roller skating

Roller skating is the traveling on smooth surfaces with roller skates. It is a form of recreation as well as a sport, and can also be a form of transportation. Skates generally come in two basic varieties: quad roller skates and inline skates or blades, though some have experimented with a...

) to "protest oil dependency and celebrate the power and individuality of our bodies". This represents one of the few events that combines elements that could be described as pro nudity and pro cycling (as well as environmental).

Many of the political rides have their roots from Critical Mass

Critical Mass

Critical Mass is a cycling event typically held on the last Friday of every month in over 300 cities around the world. The ride was originally founded in 1992 in San Francisco. The purpose of Critical Mass is not usually formalized beyond the direct action of meeting at a set location and time and...

and are often described or categorized as a form of political protest

Protest

, street theatre

Street theatre

Street theatre is a form of theatrical performance and presentation in outdoor public spaces without a specific paying audience. These spaces can be anywhere, including shopping centres, car parks, recreational reserves and street corners. They are especially seen in outdoor spaces where there are...

, party

Party

A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, or recreation. A party will typically feature food and beverages, and often music and dancing as well....

-on-wheels, streaking

Streaking

, public nudity

Public nudity

and clothing-optional recreation

Naturism

Naturism or nudism is a cultural and political movement practising, advocating and defending social nudity in private and in public. It may also refer to a lifestyle based on personal, family and/or social nudism....

and thus attracts a wide-range of participants. Since 1996 Critical Tits has been hosting a "raucous topless bicycle joyride" on Friday afternoon at the annual Burning Man Festival in Nevada.

Manifestación Ciclonudista Mundial has had rides predating WNBR (since 2001) in Spain

Spain

and has since spread to other Spanish and Italian speaking countries in Europe.

Public nudity movements

Not all people who engage in public nudity see themselves as nudists or naturists or belong to traditional naturist or nudist organizations. Several activists, such as Vincent Bethell, claim that associations with naturism or nudism are unnecessary. Others will point out that many people who participate in events such as clothing-optional bike rides

Clothing-optional bike rides

or visit clothing-optional beaches

Nude beach

do so casually and without association or formal affiliation to groups or movements. Activist Daniel Johnson

Daniel Lorenz Johnson

Daniel Lorenz Johnson is an American permaculturist, artist, activist, community organizer and writer who has worked for the advancement of various progressive/social liberalist causes through interdisciplinary, collaborative projects involving grassroots politics, media art and popular culture...

believes that labels and affiliations overly complicate a relatively simple phenomenon, alienate others from a fear of over-commitment or undesirable stereotypes, and thus get in the way of integrating nudity into everyday life.

The Freedom to be Yourself

The Freedom to be Yourself campaign was founded in 1999 by Vincent Bethell. The group, according to Vincent Bethell is about "the right to be naked in public". The campaign is about non-sexual public nakedness...

campaign (TFTBY) or (FTBY) was founded in 1998 by Vincent Bethell. The group, according to Vincent Bethell is about "the right to be naked in public

Public nudity

". Supporters of the TFTBY organized several grassroots naked protests in public in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

; there have also been protests in Brighton, Bristol, Birmingham, Coventry, and some in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.

Terri Sue Webb

Terri Sue Webb

Terri Sue Webb is an activist living in Bend, Oregon, who was one of few activists in the United States active in The Freedom to be Yourself campaign. She has been imprisoned and released multiple times for public nudity. On several occasions, she has remained fully nude while incarcerated, often...

is an activist living in Bend, Oregon

Bend, Oregon

Bend is a city in and the county seat of Deschutes County, Oregon, United States, and the principal city of the Bend, Oregon Metropolitan Statistical Area. Bend is Central Oregon's largest city, and, despite its modest size, is the de facto metropolis of the region, owing to the low population...

, who was one of few activists in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

active in The Freedom to be Yourself

The Freedom to be Yourself

(TFTBY) or (FTBY) campaign. She has been imprisoned and released multiple times for public nudity

Public nudity

. On several occasions she has remained fully nude while incarcerated, often resulting in a much longer jail sentence. There has been quite a bit of media coverage of her activities. Daniel Johnson

Daniel Lorenz Johnson

went nude with her in public on two occasions in 2001 and 2002.

UK activism

Vincent Bethell made legal history in January 2001 by being the first defendant to stand trial naked in a UK court. The trial was at Southwark Crown Court London. Vincent was naked throughout this court case, furthermore he was found unanimously not guilty. Stephen Gough

Stephen Gough

Stephen Gough , also known as Steve Gough and the Naked Rambler, is a British former Royal Marine turned activist from Eastleigh, Hampshire, famous for walking the length of Great Britain from Land's End to John o' Groats in 2003–2004 with nothing on except boots, socks, rucksack and sometimes a...

, also known as "Steve Gough" and "the naked rambler", is an activist from Eastleigh

Eastleigh

Eastleigh is a railway town in Hampshire, England, and the main town in the Eastleigh borough which is part of Southampton Urban Area. The town lies between Southampton and Winchester, and is part of the South Hampshire conurbation...

, Hampshire

Hampshire

Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...

, famous for walking the length of Great Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

from Land's End

Land's End

Land's End is a headland and small settlement in west Cornwall, England, within the United Kingdom. It is located on the Penwith peninsula approximately eight miles west-southwest of Penzance....

to John o' Groats

John o' Groats

John o' Groats is a village in the Highland council area of Scotland. Part of the county of Caithness, John o' Groats is popular with tourists because it is usually regarded as the most northerly settlement of mainland Great Britain, although this is not a claim made by the inhabitants...

in 2003–2004 and again in 2005-2006 (that year accompanied by his girlfriend Melanie Roberts), with nothing on except boots, socks, rucksack and sometimes a hat. He has been arrested several times and put in prison in the course of his rambles. In his last walk he was only arrested twice in England, and released almost immediately, but due to the different legal system and laws in Scotland, he was arrested many more times after crossing the border and spent time in HMP Edinburgh, then moved to HMP Barlinnie Glasgow in June 2008. (This reference will yield more details of Gough's experience in Scotland).

Richard Collins has been cycling naked through his home town of Cambridge, England for some time. He has been organizing several protests on the TFTBY Stop Segregation discussion group (no longer in existence). Richard has been arrested numerous times and released, although he was convicted of an offence under section 5, Public Order Act 1986, in Bournemouth, England, on 13 June after his nude cycling attracted complaints approximately 12-months earlier. Richard says: "My outings are NOT protests as such but 'activities'. Simply me having fun! And exercising my right to nude freedom!"

German movements

Wald-FKK – German movement for the liberalisation of public nudity. Founder Peter Niehenke was fined several times for indecent exposure because he went running nude in public spaces Homepage in German
Nacktwandern – German movement for the freedom to hike in the nude. Homepage in German
Integral Nactiv - Nacktiv is a combination of the German word "nackt" (naked) and "aktiv" (active).

Liberia, Africa

In Liberia

Liberia

Liberia , officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Sierra Leone on the west, Guinea on the north and Côte d'Ivoire on the east. Liberia's coastline is composed of mostly mangrove forests while the more sparsely populated inland consists of forests that open...

, the end of the Second Liberian Civil War

Second Liberian Civil War

The Second Liberian Civil War began in 1999 when a rebel group backed by the government of neighbouring Guinea, the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy , emerged in northern Liberia. In early 2003, a second rebel group, the Movement for Democracy in Liberia, emerged in the south, and...

came about as a result of Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace

Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace

Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace is a peace movement started by women in Liberia, Africa thatbrought an end to the Second Liberian Civil War in 2003. Organized by social worker Leymah Gbowee, the movement started with local women praying and singing in a fish market...

threatening to strip their clothes in a protest.

Ukrainian movement

In Ukraine

Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

the protest group FEMEN

FEMEN

FEMEN is a Ukrainian protest group based in Kiev, founded in 2008. The organisation became internationally known for organizing topless protests against sex tourists, international marriage agencies, sexism and other social, national and international ills...

(founded in 2008) regularly stages topless protests against sex tourists, international marriage agencies, sexism and other social ills. These protest got worldwide press coverage. The group comprises some 20 topless activists and 300 fully clothed members. FEMEN justifies its provocative methods stating "This is the only way to be heard in this country. If we staged simple protests with banners, then our claims would not have been noticed". FEMEN receives small financial backing by individuals.

Netherlands

Robbert Broekstra (now deceased) was involved in a group called "Friends of Nature". The would often go for naked excursions on public lands, sometimes in urban areas, often taking pictures. He was also involved in INIC (International Naturist Information Center). He authored the book Robbert Broekstra's Nude World (1997) and his group appeared in "Naked Travels 1", by Charles MacFarland

Charles MacFarland

Charles MacFarland is an Australian videographer, photographer, and producer who makes films through his company Synetech Video featuring naked people in social settings. Locations include naturist resorts and beaches all over the world, including France, the United States, Canada, and Australia...

Urbanudista

There is a group led by Avril X called UrbaNudismo that has led several casual nudity excursions in high visibility public urban environments in Brazil as well as some Western European countries.

FKK, Nudism, Naturism, Free Beach movement

In 1969, in Denmark, 300 individuals participated in a massive naked "wade-in" at a Danish beach. The event helped push forward dramatic reformation in public policy. It is now possible and allowed to be naked at any public beach in Denmark with only two major exceptions: Holmsland Klit and Hennestrand. The remaining 4,700 kilometers of Danish coast are clothing-optional.

United States

Naturist Action Committee
Naturist Action Committee
The Naturist Action Committee is a nine-member volunteer committee that functions as the political adjunct to The Naturist Society , based in Oshkosh, Wisconsin...

- NAC is a non-profit donor-supported organization that promotes and defends naturist interests in the courts, before legislative bodies, at universities, and to local business communities
The Naturist Society
The Naturist Society
The Naturist Society is a national naturist organization based in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, USA. It publishes a quarterly periodical called Nude & Natural which documents and coordinates naturist activities and provides information about issues related to naturism. The Naturist Society was established...

(TNS)
Friends of Disco Beach, Magnuson Beach Bares, Seattle Free Beach Campaign and Body Freedom Collaborative
Body Freedom Collaborative
The Body Freedom Collaborative is a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing the integration and acceptance of non-sexual social nudity in a variety of public and private settings...

in Seattle
Free Beach USA

Australia

http://www.edit.com.au/sartor/index.htm Save Sandon Point Nude Installation Protest

Topfreedom

Although exposure of women's breast

Breast

The breast is the upper ventral region of the torso of a primate, in left and right sides, which in a female contains the mammary gland that secretes milk used to feed infants.Both men and women develop breasts from the same embryological tissues...

s is considered perfectly acceptable in some western countries in appropriate settings, such as while suntanning, in the United States of America exposure of female nipples is still considered criminal by many states and not usually allowed in public (see Public indecency). Public breastfeeding, since the exposure it involves is functional, may be looked upon more mildly, but still it is sometimes considered problematic. Courts in some US jurisdictions where legal challenges have arisen, and other North American jurisdictions like Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

have legalized the exposure of women's nipples, but not on equal protection grounds (see United States Constitution/Amendment Fourteen). Those grounds are the basis of the movement of "topfree equality," which promotes equal rights for women to have no clothing above the waist; the term "topfree" rather than "topless" is used to avoid the latter term's sexual connotations.

Topfree Equal Rights Association (TERA)

The Topfree Equal Rights Association (TERA) is a Canadian organization for helping women who have legal troubles exercising their rights to go 'topfree' where men are able to. Their Web site states that they serve both Canada and the United States.

The organization also aims to inform and educate the public about topfreedom. They campaign to change laws against topfreedom which exist in most North American jurisdiction

Jurisdiction

Jurisdiction is the practical authority granted to a formally constituted legal body or to a political leader to deal with and make pronouncements on legal matters and, by implication, to administer justice within a defined area of responsibility...

s, which laws they see as sex discrimination

Sexism

Sexism, also known as gender discrimination or sex discrimination, is the application of the belief or attitude that there are characteristics implicit to one's gender that indirectly affect one's abilities in unrelated areas...

and inhibiting to breastfeeding.

Filmography

Being Human A film by Lisa Seidenberg, 31 minutes, 2003 Metro Video
Taboo - 40 Years of Censorship. Part 1 of 4: Shock of the Nude; BBC2 Television series ran at 9:50 pm (40 mins). Aired Wednesday, 21 Nov 2001.

Videos and pictures

External links

Skin-Freedom activism - Stop Racist Human Skin Phobia.
Naked Protest blog
World Naked Bike Ride official site – general information and other resources
World Naked Bike Ride wiki site – lists upcoming and past events, provides information for joining existing and creating new rides
BBC article about Steve Gough following his first successful walk.
BBC article about Steve Gough following his second successful walk.
University of Edinburgh, School of Law, Scots Law News has many references to Gough.

Videos

UrbaNudista YouTube Video

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Animal rights and welfare

Peace and anti-war

Clothing-optional bike rides

Public nudity movements

The Freedom to be Yourself

UK activism

German movements

Liberia, Africa

Ukrainian movement

Netherlands

Urbanudista

FKK, Nudism, Naturism, Free Beach movement

United States

Australia

Topfreedom

Topfree Equal Rights Association (TERA)

See also

Filmography

Videos and pictures

External links

Videos