Why Would Anyone Want To Go Naked In Public?

[naomi24]

From a discussion in News it appears a number of people here support the idea - but why?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-29800016

[B00]

I personally wouldn't- I dislike my body, certainly wouldn't expose it to other poor ***, but I do support his (and others) right to do so.

[naomi24]

Jayne, this isn’t a burka issue. That’s about concealing identity by wearing a mask. I'd rather we kept this thread on track.

[ummmm]

I don't have body issues but I hate being naked.

[ludwig]

// If you cover MORE up, like the Muslims ... you are wrong.
If you cover LESS up, like this chap ... you are wrong. //

It's a fair point Jayne, but I'd argue that's not what we're saying. What we're saying is that in this society, we like faces to be uncovered and willies to be covered in public. That doesn't make it right or wrong - it's just how the majority of us prefer things to be here.

Anyone who can't live with that should probably go and live somewhere where they don't mind willies being on show, unless they're prepared to spend time in prison like this hiker bloke.

None us would go to your proverbial african village and tell them to cover up - not nowadays anyway, but what we would say is, if you're going to come to Britain you need to put some trousers on.

In answer to the question - I don't know. I've never felt constricted by clothes. Clothes are good - I like wearing them.

[whiskeryron]

Why not

http://tinypic.com/r/34615sg/8

[RATTER15]

I hasten to add that generally speaking there is nothing sexual about being naked on the beech, I have very rarely seen an erection on a naturist beech but of course it can happen, not all erections are due to sexual arousal.

[mikey4444]

When I was in my teens and early twenties, I used to back-pack around the Greek Islands and did my share of nudie sunbathing, which was very common on some islands, like the Cyclades. But I would not be a pretty sight these days I'm afraid and I don't think anybody should be exposed to my bits and pieces any more !

[-Talbot-]

You can't compare this to the burka issue (unless women are made to cover up their bits, whereas the blokes can hang loose)

[joggerjayne]

I don't think the burka issue is off track. It only goes off track if we try to disguise the burka issue as a security thing. It has nothing to do with security. If I see a group of women in the supermarket in full burkas, I don't think "they're going to commit a security offence". I just think "it's not right to make them cover up like that".

It's a question of particular cultures.

We don't like faces covered. We do like willies covered.

We don't mind men's chest on display around the town. We object to women's chests on display around the town.

Women in thong swimwear, showing our bums, are sexy and liberated. Men in thong swimwear, showing their bums, are a bit weird.

It's a whole set of arbitrary rules, based around what society conditions us to think about particular body parts.

If we support a culture that forbids men from exposing their nether regions in public, we must also respect and support a culture that forbids women from exposing their faces in public.

[B00]

"we must also respect and support a culture that forbids women from exposing their faces in public. "

I agree, providing the women are dressing in that ridiculous way because they want to.

[jim360]

But it's not about respecting "a culture that forbids men from exposing their nether regions in public". It's about forbidding (or frowning on) people in general. One is discrimination. The other is not. That is a massive difference worth noting. In the meantime there are places where people are allowed to dress however they want (or, rather, don't). But part of being a member of society is to accept its arbitrary rules, which in this case includes that, whoever you are, at least have some clothes on please. Other people don't want or need to see that, and they too should be respected. It's not discrimination against a particular subset of society, and therefore there is no parallel with the burka issue.

[naomi24]

Jayne, I have asked why people want to go naked in public. That is the question.

[joggerjayne]

Just to add to the "discrimination" argument ...

Islam doesn't only require (some) women to cover their faces.

Men are not permitted to shave their beards. All faces have to be covered, either by facial hair, or by a facial cover.

When you look at National Geographic, and there are pictures of native tribes people with no clothes on ... why do we not think ... that's disgusting, tell them to put some trousers on.

[joggerjayne]

Okay, to answer the question, Naomi ...

Because culturally, some people feel comfortable like that.

You might as well ask ...

Why would some people want to a particular fashion, or a beige anorak, or a hat.

[jno]

as OG says, the real question is why cover up. Sometimes it's so you won't get cold, but mostly it's because religion has spent millennia making people ashamed of their bodies and convinced that we're somehow better than unclothed animals. You'd think that a century of Darwinian teaching would have overturned this, but apparently we're still brainwashed.

[mallyh]

if i had a beautiful body then yes ,but when people pour water over me and push me back into the sea,no lol

[jno]

beige anorak? My word, that is primitive.

[joggerjayne]

// Why Would Anyone Want To Go Naked In Public? //

Answer nr. 2

So you get a nice suntanned bum. Brown legs, and a pasty white bum, just looks all wrong.

[andy-hughes]

This seems to be an argument about individual freedoms versus cultural acceptance.

I can understand that people enjoy the 'freedom' of nudity, but as a culture, we have decided that we will not go naked, and I think that society's cultural values should be respected.

I align this thinking by having no personal objection to burkas for the same reason, it is culturally accepted by some eastern societies, and they prefer to carry on that culture here.

I can think of no examples where any culture that lives naked as a matter of course would wish to continue to do so when visiting western countries.

It is a purely personal viewpoint, but I have always found something rather attention-seeking about naturism and nude beaches - rather less a case of enjoying the freedom than enjoying being different, but that is not based on any personal experience, merely a viewpoint.

In the case of this gentleman, I think he is attention seeking, and either has a wish to be notorious, which he achieves, or he has a mental aberation, which should be appropriately addressed.

[naomi24]

Jayne, //Because culturally, some people feel comfortable like that.//

But that isn't our culture so it doesn't explain why some of us want to do it.