Public Indecency & How it Affects Nudists & Naturists

Walking nude through a neighborhood

In many areas of the US, nudists can be arrested for Indecent Exposure if seen naked in public areas. But what is Public Indecency?



According to Wikepedia - "In the United States, indecent exposure refers to conduct undertaken in a non-private or (in some jurisdictions) publicly viewable location, which is deemed indecent in nature, such as nudity, masturbation or sexual intercourse in public view"

So basically it is what society deems indecent to see in public. I can understand Masturbation, or intercourse, but our simple naked bodies are indecent? Does this really make sense to anyone? Sure, some don't want to see it, and we have been heavily conditioned to believe it's wrong, but that in and of itself doesn't make our bodies indecent and should not be the basis for a law. Society does not have the right to create laws just because something offends them.









It’s difficult to say why nudity makes us so uneasy, but it’s clear that our aversion to nakedness is longstanding and probably religious in nature. When upholding anti-indecency laws, several judges have pointed to the Bible. But religion should be separated from our laws according to the separation of church and state. But it's also likely that it's because we have for so long hidden our bodies from each other with clothes, therefore when we finally do see a naked body, it elicits a sexual response that many find embarrassing. They feel that if they have these feelings, others will too and therefore it's a bad idea to allow it. What they fail to realize is that the reason they feel that way about nudity is because it is so hidden from us. If they saw nudity often, like many nudists do, they would get over that reaction and it would just seem normal, as proven by millions of nudists worldwide. Sexual innuendo happens far less when nudists get together than when textiles get together.



When arguing against public nudity, phrases using ugly words like Rampant, Deviant, Explicit, Lewd, etc are often used to make our lifestyle look as ugly as possible because the only concern those against public nudity have is to win, at all costs. This means that to them it's ok to use words that are not accurate but not a provable lie either, in order to make nudists and naturists look as immoral and deviant as possible.



We are so heavily conditioned to simply believe what we are told. It often starts at childhood as our parents pass on to their children what they were taught, without really considering 'Why' it's wrong or necessary. So we continue this chain of shame and embarrassment for generations. The only way to stop this is to break the chain with your own children.





Next argument, it's harmful to minors. This is also totally unproven and based solely on opinions. Here's from a study of the effects of nudity on children-



"Exposure to parental nudity was associated with positive, rather than negative, sexual experiences in adolescence, but with reduced sexual experience overall. Boys exposed to parental nudity were less likely to have engaged in theft in adolescence or to have used various psychedelic drugs and marijuana. There is no evidence that children are harmed by nonsexualized social nudity, and there is good reason to believe they are benefited by it. Proposals for laws banning to children the innocent experience of being human, appearing human, and seeing others as such are unwarranted, unfounded, and have no scholarly basis."

Ok, next argument. Then it's to maintain our moral standards and modesty. That is a matter of personal preference. I find it immoral to force others to wear clothing and to be ashamed of our naked bodies. And modesty is defined as "Modesty and demureness is a mode of dress and deportment intended to avoid encouraging sexual attraction in others". Well nudists have long known that it is much sexier and attractive to wear clothing, especially bikinis, mini skirts, etc, as in the photo below, (from http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51v1VWRc1-L.jpg) Being around a bunch of naked people is not a sexual turn on. Erections are pretty much non existent, and harrassment in public areas is also non existent, or MUCH less than in the general, clothed public.

This is much more erotic that simple nudity

It's time to seriously re-evaluate our laws making public nudity illegal. And lets leave religion out of it and base the laws on PROOF. If there's no proof of harm, then the law should NOT exist.





Being arrested for public nudity is wrong

(The image above is from https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS2CuYhZpVxd6jPUb4dZPCTd4OxhP16LsJ4oDpxKgctD96_9nNK)



I hope this helps and this is just some more information to help you understand why we need to end the laws that can ruin a persons life for being seen naked, doing nothing sexual or perverted.



Thank you,

Guy Purcella

Nudist/naturist and human rights activist



